I'm reading John Truby's "Anatomy of Story:22 Steps to Becoming a Master Storyteller."
What attracted me to Truby is his rejection of Syd Field's mechanical, schematic approach: the set-up must occur by page 10, there must be a major plot point on page 30, at the close of Act I, etc. The advantage of Field's approach is that it's specific. It gives you a definite template to follow, at least as far as the basic "three act structure" goes. A major disadvantage is it doesn't offer much guidance as to filling out your story between the plot points and act breaks.
Truby views the screenplay as a cohesive whole, and his key concept is the "designing principle," the original way of organizing the material, so that all the parts hang together.
Sometimes, the designing principle is an original way of conceptualizing the story. Example:"The Godfather." There had been many stories of Mafia families before, but this film was the first to structure it as a fairy tale about the youngest brother becoming king.
Sometimes, the writer can use a fictional journey a la Joseph Conrad in "Heart of Darkness" to provide a designing principle for a complex narrative.
The designing principle can also be a symbol (central symbol, grand metaphor, root metaphor). Truby is short on examples here, though he does mention the island in Shakespeare's "The Tempest," the whale in Melville's "Moby Dick," and a couple of others. I have a feeling Truby will develop this idea further in later chapters.
The designing principle can also be a plot device that forces the protagonist to face a weakness. Examples:
In "Tootsie," a man confronts his male Chauvinism when he is forced to live as a woman;
in "A Christmas Carol," the three ghosts force a miser to confront the things in his life that have made lose his Christmas spirit; and
in "It's a Wonderful Life," an angel forces a suicidal man to see what the world would be like had he never been born.
The designing principle, particularly with regard to plot devices, seems to me a useful concept for crafting a screenplay. As for other types of designing principles, they're a little bit harder for me to grasp, at least at this point in my reading of "Anatomy of Story."
What attracted me to Truby is his rejection of Syd Field's mechanical, schematic approach: the set-up must occur by page 10, there must be a major plot point on page 30, at the close of Act I, etc. The advantage of Field's approach is that it's specific. It gives you a definite template to follow, at least as far as the basic "three act structure" goes. A major disadvantage is it doesn't offer much guidance as to filling out your story between the plot points and act breaks.
Truby views the screenplay as a cohesive whole, and his key concept is the "designing principle," the original way of organizing the material, so that all the parts hang together.
Sometimes, the designing principle is an original way of conceptualizing the story. Example:"The Godfather." There had been many stories of Mafia families before, but this film was the first to structure it as a fairy tale about the youngest brother becoming king.
Sometimes, the writer can use a fictional journey a la Joseph Conrad in "Heart of Darkness" to provide a designing principle for a complex narrative.
The designing principle can also be a symbol (central symbol, grand metaphor, root metaphor). Truby is short on examples here, though he does mention the island in Shakespeare's "The Tempest," the whale in Melville's "Moby Dick," and a couple of others. I have a feeling Truby will develop this idea further in later chapters.
The designing principle can also be a plot device that forces the protagonist to face a weakness. Examples:
In "Tootsie," a man confronts his male Chauvinism when he is forced to live as a woman;
in "A Christmas Carol," the three ghosts force a miser to confront the things in his life that have made lose his Christmas spirit; and
in "It's a Wonderful Life," an angel forces a suicidal man to see what the world would be like had he never been born.
The designing principle, particularly with regard to plot devices, seems to me a useful concept for crafting a screenplay. As for other types of designing principles, they're a little bit harder for me to grasp, at least at this point in my reading of "Anatomy of Story."
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lullabee:
THANKS FOR THE ADD SWEETY!!!
tovi:
I love your tag on my set!