A Writer's Guide to

The Anatomy of Story

22 Steps to Becoming a Master Storyteller

You can find the full notes here.

• A story's moral argument, or theme, is the exploration and consequent answer(s) to the question, "What's the proper way to live in this world?"
• Every character is a manifestation of a different argument for or against the story's theme. In this way, characters grow out of theme.
• Through desire, characters drive plot, thus making plot a second order manifestation of theme.
• The "22 Steps" are elements and stages usually found in the process of seeking a goal (i.e. the hero's desire).
• Structure is content. Theme should be expressed structurally--through story, rather than by story.
• A story must at a minimum consist of 7 elements: Weakness and Need, Desire, Opponent, Plan, Battle, Self-Revelation, New Equilibrium.
• Character values can be highlighted and accentuated by contrast with other opposing characters. Truby recommends the use of "four-corner opposition" to lay out a web of a hero and three opponents who all take fundamentally different approaches to the story's theme.
• A symbol is an image or idea that gains meaning through repeated use and differing context. Symbols can be representations of larger ideas, characters, structures, or themes.
• Story worlds can function as physical representations of a character's current stage in their overall inner journey.
• Revelations must be logical, must build in intensity, and must come at an increasing pace.
• Conflict is not the clashing of two personalities, but rather of two opposing sets of beliefs.
• The end of the scene is the point of the scene and thus should end with a keyword or line that gets at the purpose of the scene.

The Dramatic Code: "I Desire, Therefore I am."

• Story is fueled by desire. As Truby points out, drama is not "I think, therefore I am" but rather "I desire, therefore I am." This desire becomes the external spine of the story, driving all action. Without this fuel there is no story movement.
• But at the exact same time as a story is a tale of external desire, it is also a tale of internal growth. And the two are intrinsically linked. Internal growth must be accomplished before external desire can be attained.
• Because stories are rooted in desire, they explore the human psychology involved in the goal seeking process--the dramatic code. And true to life as we know it, the process of goal seeking necessarily includes obstacles, challenges, conflict, and failure. We as storytellers are psychologists. We must come to understand not only how our characters take action but more importantly why they take action.

The Psychology of Stories and Change

• We've all got hang-ups, flaws, and weaknesses. And much of the time we're content with hiding these flaws from ourselves and from others. But there are some desires that can't be accomplished unless we consciously rid ourselves of these weaknesses.
• There's a funny thing about humans, though. When faced with failure, there's one place we are guaranteed to look last: ourselves. We will fail over and over without once questioning if the problem lies within us. We'll criticize those around us, we'll throw up justifications for our actions, we'll even debase our own morals in the pursuit of desire, but we won't dare look within. There's little objectivity when it comes to oneself. It's the reason doctors shouldn't diagnose themselves and it's the reason lawyers hire outside lawyers. We become delusional and lack rational thought when it comes to ourselves. Everyone around us can see what ails us, but we're the absolute last to see it.
• Stories are an exploration of this cycle of being human. Desiring, failing, blaming, justifying, spiraling, facing death, giving up, and only then reflecting when no other options are available to us. And upon introspection, if we're lucky, we have self-revelation. And with that self-revelation we can take new action to right our wrongs, thus overcoming the roadblocks that previously stood in between us and our desire. We reach a new equilibrium without the flaw that prevented us from attaining our desire. Then we come up with a new desire. Repeat cycle.
• Our delusion and lack of objectivity when it comes to ourselves is the reason that the self-revelation step comes last--because introspection is the last option we consider.
• The titular 22 Steps to becoming a master storyteller in The Anatomy of Story are designed to follow the real cycle of personal growth and change.

• Premise Worksheet
• Creating Your Characters
• Outlining the Moral Argument
• Creating the Story World
• Creating Your Plot
• Writing Scenes