Review

I was mostly ambivalent about reading this book. I liked the concept of it, and the chapter lengths. I was interested in reading it and understanding the craft better. I was ambivalent because these were things I had read about elsewhere, and I was not creating any notes. Not notes which are basically quotes that I put the end of this book-note. But rather notes that are evergreen.

That changed when I was travelling from Helsinki to Mumbai. I picked up this book after having watched Sinners and Jurassic World. And I began reading about the foolscrap story grid, etc. It happened when Shawn talked about constructing a story, about the maths behind it. That motivated me to write - How to craft a story.

I wrote most of that note while I was on the airplane. I could not complete the note. I was excited to find out how I could think about the rest of the 35 chapters, but that did not really come.

What I was hoping for was a guide on how to write that first draft. I got parts of it, but the story grid is mostly a tool to edit. I think. A tool to see if the story works.

Maybe I need to figure it out for myself. Whatever works for me. I like the idea of having a list of manageable things to do, a list of scenes to write. I want the orchestrator me, to tell the writer me, hey go write this scene. 1000-2000 words is manageable for me.

That is after all, all the time I get.

Anyway. Enjoyed this book. This will be a good tool to use.

Notes

That’s what the controlling idea/theme is all about. Taking a value that we all rely on to live peacefully day to day, challenging its stolidity and then paying it off with its confirmation or its vulnerability.

Resolutions and turning them masterfully so that they are unexpected, yet on reflection obvious, is what takes a very good Story from entertaining to memorable.