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4.07 AVERAGE
4.07 AVERAGE
informative
reflective
medium-paced
informative
medium-paced
I have never really thought about how stories are constructed. I’m not even sure I realised it was something that had a formula or a theory. I thought it was a flash of inspiration only the gifted ever have. This book, by a British screenwriter, was a revelation to me in that respect. It covered the theory of stories and why there seems to be some universal traits between tales going all the way to antiquity.
While I learned a lot there was times especially in part 1 when it really delved into the weeds that I started to lose a little interest. In contrast I found the chapter on dialogue and exposition by far the most interesting. What is good exposition, what is bad? It’s something I have never thought about and I know in the future I am going to be more conscious of it.
If you are not familiar with British TV you will not get a lot of the references; he uses examples from EastEnders, a British soap, quite regularly. He does use US movies as well so it will not be all foreign.
I don’t know how much someone immersed in the world of writing or screenwriting would get out of this but as a total newbie I took a lot even though it was a little dry at times.
While I learned a lot there was times especially in part 1 when it really delved into the weeds that I started to lose a little interest. In contrast I found the chapter on dialogue and exposition by far the most interesting. What is good exposition, what is bad? It’s something I have never thought about and I know in the future I am going to be more conscious of it.
If you are not familiar with British TV you will not get a lot of the references; he uses examples from EastEnders, a British soap, quite regularly. He does use US movies as well so it will not be all foreign.
I don’t know how much someone immersed in the world of writing or screenwriting would get out of this but as a total newbie I took a lot even though it was a little dry at times.
informative
reflective
medium-paced
my favorite book on storytelling! I would suggest this to every writer at the start of their career like me.
Really made me think about the structure of stories, scenes as well as the reasons why we like to experience stories.
informative
medium-paced
There is a lot of interesting analysis and pearls of wisdom within this book, but it is let down by the author's insistence on trying to prove there is one unifying shape to all narrative forms. This is partly due to his reliance on Campbell's 'Hero of a thousand faces', which has been thoroughly discredited by folklorists (although Yorke appears oblivious to this). Campbell's work selected only those stories from around the world that fitted the 'hero's journey', and many of them only did so because of poor translations. Yorke apparently didn't bother to read any criticism of Campbell or any non-Western myths and legends (or even read many Western ones for himself). Instead he relies on Campbell's 'hero's journey' to claim this is the one and only method all humans use to understand the world around them. But with Campbell proven wrong, Yorke's argument collapses.
Yorke also seems inconsistent in his use of terms. While claiming all storytelling uses the same story shape, he says this only applies to archetypal stories. At other times he strongly implies he is only talking about successful stories, i.e. those that have stood the test of time or are well-formed. At one point he says non-fiction TV discovered this story shape around 2000 and so gave rise to reality TV and a new style of documentary that borrowed from fiction. Not only does this admit the existence of other narrative forms, but he then ties himself in knots by claiming that this story shape they discovered was actually already there (because it is universal). So what actually did they discover? I'm not convinced Yorke himself knows.
Ultimately, as I say, Yorke gives some useful insights into narrative structure, it is just a shame he wastes so much space on a poorly argued and unnecessary theory of a unifying narrative structure.
informative
inspiring
fast-paced
When I started my journey writing short stories, this was one I was brought up with every time I did a google search. And in truth, it was a great introduction to the story writing experience, I was captivated from page one and thrown into the splendid world of story theory, where the academic writing is as marvellous as the craft itself. It was a writer-nerd's bliss. It studied and broke down films into swallow sized chunks that could easily be detained and understood.
Now, you probably ask why I only gave it three stars. Here's the thing... It was great most of the time. There were bits where it was five stars, ten out ten, brilliant, fab, wonderful and intelligently superb. But then there were the other bits, I'm thinking of when he runs out of structures and starts going abstract in the later half of the book. Which is brilliant, using the idea of pop music and composer work to explain complex ideas is brilliant. However, it gets wordy, off track, un-engaging and irrelevant. There is a reason it took me so long to read.
So I feel like there are parts that a five stars, and parts that are one star. So three stars was the best I could give it. I still absolutely love this book, don't get me wrong. I've learnt so much and I'll keep coming back to it... but in a world of dualities; the good the bad, the right and wrong, here we see that Yorke went into the woods, got lost, and eventually got out but with a bundle of 'flesh wounds'.
- Evelyn
Now, you probably ask why I only gave it three stars. Here's the thing... It was great most of the time. There were bits where it was five stars, ten out ten, brilliant, fab, wonderful and intelligently superb. But then there were the other bits, I'm thinking of when he runs out of structures and starts going abstract in the later half of the book. Which is brilliant, using the idea of pop music and composer work to explain complex ideas is brilliant. However, it gets wordy, off track, un-engaging and irrelevant. There is a reason it took me so long to read.
So I feel like there are parts that a five stars, and parts that are one star. So three stars was the best I could give it. I still absolutely love this book, don't get me wrong. I've learnt so much and I'll keep coming back to it... but in a world of dualities; the good the bad, the right and wrong, here we see that Yorke went into the woods, got lost, and eventually got out but with a bundle of 'flesh wounds'.
- Evelyn