How to Map¸ Understand¸ and Elevate Any Narrative
See How Stories Work
The most compelling stories move us emotionally. Up and down¸ between hope and fear¸ in ways we don't always expect-but that you can harness as a writer¸ editor¸ and critic. This book shows you how to track¸ map¸ and understand the rhythm of a story. Whether you're writing or rewriting¸ editing a manuscript or dismantling your favorite television episode¸ Beating the Story helps you understand how stories get hammered into shape.
Beating the Story combines Laws' insightful and articulate analysis of story beats with all-new transition beats and icons to do for fiction and screenplays what his Hamlet's Hit Points did for narrative games. Read it and see how to map¸ understand¸ and elevate any narrative.
Foreword by John Rogers.
This Beating the Story digital bundle contains five files: The first is a PDF file that appears as the printed book does. The three digital editions in PDF¸ EPUB¸ and Kindle (.mobi) format are digital-native files optimized for those apps and platforms. They're fully bookmarked and hyperlinked. Finally¸ a supplemental file contains large¸ landscape-oriented¸ tabloid-sized beats maps of the stories analyzed within.
For the purchase price of the PDF¸ you get all five files in a single archive.
Robin D. Laws is the author of eight novels plus the short story collection New Tales of the Yellow Sign¸ and has edited five original short fiction anthologies. He designed such tabletop roleplaying games as Hillfolk¸ Feng Shui¸ The Esoterrorists¸ and The Yellow King Roleplaying Game. Hear him discuss writing and story¸ among many other subjects¸ on the award-winning weekly podcast Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff.