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kapsar's review
5.0
This is the third or fourth writing book that I've read. Two have been on technical writing and one has been on the Snowflake method. Each book is useful in a specific context. The first two were for helping me professionally to create great help site material. While the Snowflake method has helped me with the managing the structure of the store. This book is something else. It's about how to tell the story that goes within that structure. Which, given that I'm working on a book right now, is really helpful.
This is not a dry technical book. It's not a "theory of writing" book that you might find at a university that sucks the life out of writing. It frames writing as means to tell a story. It does this through a lot of stories. Funny stories. Stories Chuck has lived. It also does this through stories most people have read or, at least, watched. So if you haven't seen the original Star Wars trilogy or Die Hard you're in for some serious spoilers.
The book provides a number of story telling rules, which I plan to reference frequently. Some of these, I think, are pretty intuitive, some are not. Or maybe, I've just gotten lucky with the writing I've done so far and happened to stumble upon them.
If you're thinking of doing any story telling, either as part of a white collar job or as a professional story teller or just want to tell more interesting stories at parties, this book is for you. He uses stories that he's told at parties a ton of times as a way to frame many of the rules he offers. So this book can certainly help with your boring stories that make my eyes glaze over.
This is not a dry technical book. It's not a "theory of writing" book that you might find at a university that sucks the life out of writing. It frames writing as means to tell a story. It does this through a lot of stories. Funny stories. Stories Chuck has lived. It also does this through stories most people have read or, at least, watched. So if you haven't seen the original Star Wars trilogy or Die Hard you're in for some serious spoilers.
The book provides a number of story telling rules, which I plan to reference frequently. Some of these, I think, are pretty intuitive, some are not. Or maybe, I've just gotten lucky with the writing I've done so far and happened to stumble upon them.
If you're thinking of doing any story telling, either as part of a white collar job or as a professional story teller or just want to tell more interesting stories at parties, this book is for you. He uses stories that he's told at parties a ton of times as a way to frame many of the rules he offers. So this book can certainly help with your boring stories that make my eyes glaze over.
jeidakstorey's review
5.0
Chuck is a genius
Chuck is the real deal. He makes sense of storytelling in ways I’ve never heard before that remind you why writing story is not just incredible but necessary.
Chuck is the real deal. He makes sense of storytelling in ways I’ve never heard before that remind you why writing story is not just incredible but necessary.
lesserknownhero's review
learned that the author may be friends with dudes who are creeps. shelving until I learn if he too is a creep
delphinbella's review
4.0
A writing resource that's actually entertaining as well as informative. I especially liked the chapter on theme.
ian's review
5.0
Amazing book on story telling. Stuck on your plot? Book boring? Characters listless? This is the book for you. Not a writing book per se, but a book on how to structure your story.
A must read for any author, comic book author, game master, or anyone else who wants to know how to tell an amazing story.
A must read for any author, comic book author, game master, or anyone else who wants to know how to tell an amazing story.
joreadsbooks's review
4.0
Read as part of my Improving the Craft: A Self-Designed Curriculum. It's a great little read on how to tell and structure stories. The main thesis of this one is that characters are their problems and the solutions are the story. Really engaging and helpful in the way it dissects character elements and plot beats in popular works like Die Hard and Star Wars.
aceraleigh's review
5.0
I don’t know if it was Chucks language, or the media examples he used, or what, but reading this book drove home concepts that I read about in other books but never quite got before
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