The Science of Storytelling. Will Storr

      

      THE SCIENCE OF STORYTELLING

      Will Storr

       Copyright

      William Collins

      An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers

      1 London Bridge Street

      London SE1 9GF

       www.WilliamCollinsBooks.com

      This eBook first published in Great Britain by 4th Estate in 2019

      Copyright © William Storr 2019

      Cover design by Jack Smyth

      William Storr asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

      A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

      All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins

      Source ISBN: 9780008276935

      Ebook Edition © April 2019 ISBN: 9780008276959

      Version: 2020-02-18

       Dedication

      For my firstborn, Parker

       Epigraph

      ‘Ah, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp,

      Or what’s a heaven for?’

       Robert Browning (1812–1889)

      Contents

       COVER

       TITLE PAGE

COPYRIGHT

DEDICATION

EPIGRAPH

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER ONE: CREATING A WORLD

1.0 Where does a story begin?

1.1 Moments of change; the control-seeking brain

1.2 Curiosity

1.3 The model-making brain; how we read; grammar; filmic word order; simplicity; active versus passive language; specific detail; show-not-tell

1.4 World-making in fantasy and science fiction

1.5 The domesticated brain; theory of mind in animism and religion; how theory-of-mind mistakes create drama

1.6 Salience; creating tension with detail

1.7 Neural models; poetry; metaphor

1.8 Cause and effect; literary versus mass-market storytelling

1.9 Change is not enough

       CHAPTER TWO: THE FLAWED SELF

       2.0 The flawed self; the theory of control

       2.1 Personality and plot

       2.2 Personality and setting

       2.3 Personality and point of view

       2.4 Culture and character; Western versus Eastern story

       2.5 Anatomy of a flawed self; the ignition point

       2.6 Fictional memories; moral delusions; antagonists and moral idealism; antagonists and toxic self-esteem; the hero-maker narrative

       2.7 David and Goliath

       2.8 How flawed characters create meaning

       CHAPTER THREE: THE DRAMATIC QUESTION

       3.0 Confabulation and the deluded character; the dramatic question

       3.1 Multiple selves; the three-dimensional character

       3.2 The two levels of story; how subconscious character struggle creates plot

       3.3 Modernist stories