The definitive book(s) on storytelling?

[AdvanTech]

Hey all,

Just wondering if there's an informational/educational books on storytelling in general (doesn't have to do with filmmaking at all) that's worth a read? I feel like that's something I'm lacking the fundamentals of.

Cheers:beer:

 

[Mattykins]

Story by Robert McKee is pretty good for that stuff.

 

[Blaine]

The Hero with a Thousand Faces - Joseph Campbell

 

[Jim Brennan]

The Hero's Journey, and I second the other suggestions.

 

[AdvanTech]

Thanks for the quick replies so far! I :heart: dvxuser

 

[slimjimmed]

The most productive thing you can do is to write everyday. Making mistakes is how you learn what works and doesn't work better than any book will ever tell you.

 

[Batutta]

Aristotle's Poetics, which can be downloaded here--

http://www.leeds.ac.uk/classics/resources/poetics/poettran.htm

And I got a lot of practical writing help from this book, which is for manuscript writing but I found a lot of it applies to screenwriting--

http://www.amazon.com/First-Five-Pa...=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1216006488&sr=8-4

 

[AdvanTech]

The most productive thing you can do is to write everyday. Making mistakes is how you learn what works and doesn't work better than any book will ever tell you.

I'd much rather understand what makes a good story and then apply it. I understand your call for action though. I think that way about a lot of people for a lot of things.

 

[Jim Brennan]

Yeah, the lesson is never let the fact that you are unsure of something stop you from writing. Read, research, workshop, but never at the price of not writing.