Customer Reviews

Story Structure Architect: A Writer's Guide to Building Dramatic Situations and Compelling Characters

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Part 1 - Drafting a Plan

Six basic conflict types you need to decide upon as you structure your story. The 21 genres listed, though not extensive (the fantasy genre was highly lacking), helped realize that there are other niches open to me as a writer and not pigeon-hole myself.

Part 2 - Building the Structure

Eleven structures from the traditional 3-Act format to some non-traditional formats. No 4- or 5-Act structures covered here, but when you think about what is presented you can have some creativity in combining elements of different structures or taking away.

Part 3 - Adding Stories

Fifty-five dramatic situations that expand on the traditional 36 are explained well with examples from contemporary movies/books.

Character types and their motivations are presents which drive the types of story options listed. This helped me consider some additional motivations for my characters in my stories.

Overall this is a fantastic reference.

The book is practically a book of lists to pick and choose and consider as you construct your story. No fifteen examples to support a point and fill pages. The author keeps things straight and to the point letting the 270 pages consist of meaty, helpful information and not fluff. A must have for any reference library.

I just bought this book recently and devoured all of its contents from beginning to end in one long sitting. UNLIKE so many other books that claim to help a writer flesh out their novel and then only give vague refrences as to character and plot, this book just about details step-by-step how one can go about doing it.

Another reviewer commented that the print in the book is 'too small' and that it is very hard to read -NO. It has the same print size of any paperback novel.

Another reviewer said something about an error relating to the book saying that the book states that stories are either plot related or character related with the other taking second and then gives examples which are actually the same as each other. Well, i have the book in front of me and this is NOT true. What the book says is that (and you can skim the other reviews to find the one i'm talking about) plot driven stories have the characters REACTING to the events of the story and that character driven stories have the characters ACTING to cause the plot to further itself.

What this means is that in a character driven story if the main character(s) stop deciding to act, which will further the plot of the story because of what they then do, then the story would simply be over. Think of it like your main character deciding that they need milk for their cereal and decide to go to the store to get some. That decision furthers the plot but at any time during their trip to the store they could just as easily decide that they change their mind and don't need milk after all. Then they could just turn around and the story of them taking a trip to the store to buy milk would be over with their decision.

Plot driven stories are like if you are driving to the store to pick up some milk and then on the way there your tire blows out causing your car to veer off the road. When you wake from the crash you try to call on your cell phone for help but just as the operator picks up the line your battery dies. Then you are forced to walk and as you do a storm comes and drops tornados down all around you.

Can you see the difference? That is what the book explains and i think that the reviewer whom i mentioned earlier missed that point.

Anywho, this is a very well written book that explains the information within so well that it is hard not to understand it. Not only is there a great amount of detail to what is stated inside but there are numerous examples to follow and guide the reader.

In my opinion: buy it. I'm glad i did.

Schmidt provides excellent coverage of the variegated structures of plot. The book is divided into four parts. The first explains how to plan a narrative. The second explains how to structure a plot. The third is a compendium of story structures. The fourth is a brief guide to research.

In the Part 1, Schmidt emphasizes character motivation and conflict. Unlike many books of its kind, "Story" clearly explains the relation between the "throughline," the conflict and the genre. If you aim to produce marketable works, this point is crucial. Schmidt covers this material at just the right depth, neither too theoretical nor too paraphrased.

However, in Part 1 you will find the only error in the book. The author makes a distinction between plot-driven stories and character-driven stories, but it is a distinction without a difference. According to Ms. Schmidt, a plot-driven story moves forward by events that "cause the characters to react to those events. Characters are secondary to the plot." On the other hand, a character-driven story moves ahead by "action and choices." Character-driven stories advance by the actions and choices of characters, while plot driven stories advance by the reactions of characters to events. The distinction claimed evaporates when we see that reactions invariably involve choices and actions, and moving ahead by "action and choices" invariably involves reaction to events.

For over 2,000 years, a good plot has been understood to be the logical and probable actions of characters. This is a plot-driven story. In some rare cases, the characters are not people, perhaps not even living. The long descriptive pieces in Hugo's "Toilers of the Sea" are a good example. A kind of story is told, but the characters are the Chanel Islands. So, to tell a story some kind of character must act. Good stories have logical and probable actions, but all stories have a plot.

The character-driven story places the focus on the development and changes in a character's character. Thus, character-driven (in this context) doesn't mean "an actor in a story" but rather "a characteristic property that defines the apparent individual nature of something." Character-driven stories tell of the events that change the nature, personality, or individuating property of a character in the story.

In short, character-driven stories are a species of plot-driven stories that show how a character's character changes. (That's a mouthful!) A good example to study is "Heart of Darkness."

Part 2, is very interesting. Schmidt explains all the traditional plot structures, and even some modern twists on them.

Part 3, is the reason I bought the book. The author compiles a very comprehensive list of story structures, along with questions and examples. I can now stop relying on Bocaccio's "Decameron" for my story ideas!

Part 4 is very brief, but enough to get you going.

It's a good book. I'm glad I bought it.

When I first picked up this book I thought it was a simple little how-to book. I was wrong. This book has a wealth of information. It strips away the flowery prose most how-to-write books use and leaves the meat.

Don't just read this book. Study it, take notes. Write out the information and put it in an order that makes sense to you. If you're like most writers I know, you'll learn more by hand writing notes than simply skimming over the pages.

With this book and Victoria's other book "45 Master Characters", you are lifted above the tree tops to see the way. I'll never read another book or watch another movie without looking for the threads in the fabric of the plot. Victoria has truly written a standard that will stand as well as George Polti's "Thirty-Six Dramatic Situations", which she extends and clarifies. These two books are destined to become the corner stones of my writing library. Also, the binding and cover of this book are sturdy and critical passages are fonted in blue. There are insightful quoatations and cool margin borders for writing in the margins.

Great work!

I can't wait for her next book: The Holistic Writing Method. If its as good as her first too, it's sure to be a standard as well.

Written clearly and without any extra bells and whistles, this book guides a writer through the steps needed to get to a layered and in-depth novel or screen/play. Using classic and modern examples, just as in her previous book 45 Master Characters, Schmidt lays out the possible and probably plotlines, subplots or ideas that can enrich almost any story. Just as her previous book may seem, at first look, to be a guide to creating stereotypes or generic stories, but is instead a fresh look at the stories and characters that exist in almost every culture. These are stories and characters that we resonate with and can see ourselves in.

I hope she has another book in her because I have great confidence in Schmidt as a writer and a teacher.

I'm not one of those guys who've read a thousand books on writing, so I'm not a pro. In fact, this is only the 3rd book I'm reading about fictional writing.

I bought this book hoping to find some help about structure and plot. What I found is that it gives the reader a lot of titles, but it under-develops the content of them, providing fewer examples than those I thought needed. I ended up with lists of structure models, dramatic situations and so on, but with very little clues on how to apply them.

In a way, I found that the author didn't know as much about the topic being discussed as she was supposed. It's like she's learned it from college, but lacks the deep, experiential understanding.

It's still a helpful book, but very shallow. I found "How to write a damn good novel" and "Writing fiction for dummies" much more enlightening.

I can not tell you enough how impressed i was with this book!!!! This book changed my life!! I was working on a few books at the time and i was feeling rather overwhelmed; my storie was flopping in the middle, it just didn't seem to be going aywhere! I basically gave up and didn't plan to finish at all when i saw this book and thought, "Well, maybe this is the motivation i need." After the first few pages i was on a roll!! I worked and worked into the wee hours of the morning and had my entire story, from start to finish, planned out in a very satisfactory manner!!! This book saved my writing career!! THANKS SO MUCH!!

This book is filled with terrific information - if you have a magnifying glass to read it! I am not kidding when I say that most of the text is in what appears to be Font Size 9. To make matters worse, it's tremendously LIGHT printing. I'll never understand why a publisher would have huge amounts of white space on the pages and then use print that is so faint and so small that the reader has to struggle to read all of the writer's terrific advice. This book is ripe with good information that is unnecessarily hard to access.

This is a fantastic book! It coalesces all the various competing worlds of story structure. I have been studying novel construction for decades and this book finally gave me a schematic all-encompassing understanding and all the detail that I needed. I wish this book had been written in 1983. This is a godsend. If you are trying to seriously write novels, get this book right away!