Story summary – part 1 (pages 1-100)

Found the first one hundred pages of the book OK, but part of me wanted to throw it over my shoulder like a whisky stained, fag burnt self help book, that’s just a sack of empty SFA. However every time I was about to throw in the towel out popped something; a little ray of sunshine if you will that cleared some cloud cover to some of the problems I’ve been circling in my own writing and before I knew it I’d turned another page and on we went… me and Mr McKee the guru, the snake charmer (oh I like that) and his story on Story. 

Items in this part include: -

Extract: Pretty much a straight copy in the form of a golden nugget quote from the book.

Definition: One of Mr McKee’s little terms that helps cherry pick key components.

Film Reference: This is where a direct film reference helps to give some perspective.

Extract:Page 12

Story isn’t a flight from reality but a vehicle that carries us on our search for reality, our best effort to make sense out of the anarchy of our existence.

Extract: P 17

The writer shapes story around a perception of what’s worth living for, what’s worth dying for…

time to die...

Extract:P24

Truth is located behind, beyond, inside, below the surface of things, holding reality together or tearing it apart…

Extract:P31

From an instant to eternity, from the intracranial to the intergalactic, the life story of each and every character offers encyclopedic possibilities. The mark of a master is to select only a few moments but give us a lifetime.

 Definition: P34

A Story Event creates meaningful change in the life situation of a character that is expressed and experienced in terms of a value and ACHIEVED THROUGH CONFLICT.

Extract: P35

What value is at stake in my characters life at the start of the chapter.  Then turn to the end of the chapter and ask where is the value now? Has it flipped from positive to negative? If the value hasn’t changed then you should ask, why is this chapter in my book?

Extract: P65

Each tale you create says to the audience: “I believe life is like this.” Every moment must be filled with your passionate conviction or we smell a phony.

Film Reference:Dangerous Liaisons P83

Despite the antiquated setting, within minutes the audiance felt intimately at home with it’s corrupted aristocats – they are us!!!

Extract:P94

Given a certain conjunction of events, we too could part company with reality…. our toughest task in life is self-analysis as we try tofathom our humanity and bring peace to the wars within.

Extract & Definition: P95

The most important question we ask when we write a love story is what’s to stop them. Who are the blocking characters / forces.

Pages 100-200 next.