The Anatomy of Story Paperback – October 14, 2008

While I have a few criticisms, I'm still giving this 5 stars because The Anatomy of Story is by far the best book I've ever read on the subject of writing. Reading it has truly been a revelation and I'm so glad to have found it. I've read several other books and was always left with a sense that something fundamental was missing from them. This book fills in all the gaps. Instead of platitudes, Truby gives us explanations, multiple examples and insightful techniques for each point he makes. I was amazed by how many ideas are in this book that I had not seen anywhere else: four-corner opposition, psychological and moral need, attack by an ally, audience revelation - any one of these ideas by themselves are worth the price of the book, yet we get all of these and more in The Anatomy of Story.Don't waste your time on another re-hash of two plot points and a climax; buy The Anatomy of Story instead and prepare to bring your writing skill to a new level. But beware, there is so much new information in this book that you may want to read it twice (like I had to) in order to see the "big picture". Be sure to have your hi-lighter handy, then do the 9 exercises. Did I mention the exercises? Oh yes, that's almost the best part! 22 steps is a lot to weave together, so Truby lays out 9 exercises which guide us through each step in a detailed manner. The completion of the 9 exercises will leave you with a full first-draft story that you will be proud to have written.This is not a "color by numbers" approach. Think of the 22 steps like 22 tools for your writer's tool box; you may use them (or not) as you see fit. Either way, you'll have a clear understanding of how, why and when to use them.If you are an aspiring writer like I am, then you and I have a kinship. As a comrade of sorts, I highly recommend this book to you.

This guy is so thorough and so insightful, with such great explanations that I think this book is a must have for those who want to write original and well crafted stories. I've read a few books on screenwriting, some good ones and some not so good ones. I read another one recently where the writer confused a teaching-book with a comedy club. But this one, The Anatomy of a Story - is professional, well-thought-through, great explanations, lots and lots of "aha! insights" and great details. To be honest, it starts our a bit slow, and the very first chapter is a bit boring... but then it starts. Here is how the greatest writers handle this... here is how great writing includes that, pays attention to this or that structure. While in the very beginning I thought "oh, no... this is dragging here..." - now, 100 pages into it, I can't put it down. Great insights and instructions on every page. Good purchase!

I've read over a hundred books on writing and I can now throw out my entire library and replace it with this one book. In fact this book is still ten times better than everything I have put together on writing.There are simply explained techniques in this book that took me over ten years to figure out (and I only had a crude grasp of how it worked after pouring through dozens of books).Over the past ten years all of the top money making films have been loaded with the techniques in this book. Harry Potter Pirates of the Caribbean X-Men Avengers Iron Man The Dark Knight LOTR etc.The author has worked on over a thousand movies and TV shows - LOST West Wing Star Trek etc.This book will give you such a great understanding of STORYTELLING that you will know why a movie or book fails - it does not use the techniques in this book.If you want to become a great writer you need to get this book.NOTE: This book is NOT formula writing but it is a compilation of the best techniques ever discovered to help authors tell a fantastic story.After using the techniques in this book my writing has drastically improved and my novels get four and five star reviews on Amazon.

This book is definitely everything except light and short. It is a pleasure to read, because there are no lengthy rambles or metaphorical journeys before the author gets to the point. However, there is more than enough language about what an unnamed, common author is doing wrong. Sometimes the defensive language the author used got on my nerves, but I can certainly believe all the vitriol the internet can create. The further I got into the book, the more the pages were filled with concrete, highly detailed examples and less with defensive language.This is the main reason why I’m giving this book four stars instead of five.From a practical standpoint this book is well thought out: key information is easy to find, techniques and options are clearly marked out. Chapters are tightly structured and well named once one learns the author’s special vocabulary. This is a happy middle ground between a textbook and a reference book, which is why I’ll return to it time again.There is a lot more in this book than I expected. More than I can hope to use in any one project, which is why I believe this book will be so useful going forward.