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The Story Grid: What Good Editors Know

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Many readers found that 'The Story Grid: What Good Editors Know' by Shawn Coyne is a comprehensive guide on story structure and editing. The book delves into the importance of structure in storytelling, providing insights on how to use tools like The Story Grid to enhance one's writing process. Coyne uses examples from various genres to illustrate his points, focusing on elements like obligatory scenes, pacing, and character development. Some readers appreciated the detailed information on story creation, while others found the book to be more about revising and editing than initial writing guidance.

Writing/Prose:

The writing style is described as convoluted and repetitive, often burdened by lengthy anecdotes that distract from the main points.

Plot/Storyline:

The plot centers around the structural components of storytelling, specifically highlighting the 5 Commandments that guide story development, while lacking a deep emotional exploration.

Setting:

The setting references mainly relate to film examples and genre conventions, lacking a strong focus on literary settings.

Pacing:

Pacing discussions highlight detailed structural advice through the 5 Commandments, although some reviewers feel sections could be more concise.
When a manuscript that intrigues me arrives, I read it. I don’t take notes. I just read it. If I finish the entire book— twenty-four times out of twenty-five, I’ll abandon it early on as the obvious w...

Notes:

The book outlines the 5 Commandments: Inciting Incident, Complication, Crisis, Climax, Resolution.
Shawn Coyne is criticized for his writing clarity but praised for his ideas.
The book is more focused on structure and editing than on the actual writing process.
It suggests that reading widely in your genre is crucial for understanding obligatory scenes.
The author uses "The Silence of the Lambs" as a key example throughout the book.
Readers recommend using the paperback version for its size and layout for notes.
Some found the book complicated while others loved the structured approach.
Many readers believe the book requires multiple readings to fully grasp its concepts.
Some were disappointed by the lack of detailed information on obligatory scenes for various genres.
The book offers methods for analyzing story structure based on genre conventions.

From The Publisher:

WHAT IS THE STORY GRID?

The Story Grid is a tool developed by editor Shawn Coyne to analyze stories and provide helpful editorial comments. It's like a CT Scan that takes a photo of the global story and tells the editor or writer what is working, what is not, and what must be done to make what works better and fix what's not.

The Story Grid breaks down the component parts of stories to identify the problems. And finding the problems in a story is almost as difficult as the writing of the story itself (maybe even more difficult.)

The Story Grid is a tool with many applications:

1. It will tell a writer if a Story "works" or "doesn't work."

2. It pinpoints story problems but does not emotionally abuse the writer, revealing exactly where a Story (not the person creating the Story...the Story) has failed.

3. It will tell the writer the specific work necessary to fix that Story's problems.

4. It is a tool to re-envision and resuscitate a seemingly irredeemable pile of paper stuck in an attic drawer.

5. It is a tool that can inspire an original creation.

Ratings (1)

It Was OK (1)

Reader Stats (3):

Read It (1)
Want To Read (1)
Not Interested (1)
 
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