The Story Solution: 23 Actions All Great Heroes Must Take Kindle Edition

Absolutely amazing for fiction writers especially!!

This a very good book that breaks down screenplays into "23 Hero Goal Sequences" which, without, will leave your movie wandering or boring - or even more likely, with a writer who simply runs out of story a couple thirds through the script. (That has certainly happened to me.)Is it "formulaic"? Yes, and no. Edson is very clear, and correct, that the human brain has evolved over millennia to engage in stories in which occur in a certain sequence of events which, when put in the right order, will be emotionally compelling. We're hard-wired for tales of heroes overcoming obstacles and growing, or confronting obstacles and failing to grow. But they need to do particular things in particular orders to grab the audience.Nothing about this structure design he lays out prohibits creativity or talent, or will save a lack of it. I've read a good dozen of story structure books and taken a couple of good classes on the subject, and nothing is this clear and specific. It really helped me analyze my story from an objective point of view and discover its weaknesses.I really appreciate his admonishment to fully structure your story using the 23 sequences, before beginning to sit down and write a scene, because, once written it's very hard to "kill your darlings."Great book!

Never before have I read a book about story structure that is THIS BRILLIANT.I've read books that encourage authors to write down a character's likes and dislikes, behavioural nuances, as well as other such hogwash. These books fail to realise that a character liking the colour blue and who flicks their hair when they're nervous DOES NOT make for a compelling character. Advice like this has lead to an abundance of hair-flicking Mary Sue characters who passively wade through their story until they accidentally stumble across The End.Eric distills characters down to their most important function. Reality is, stories shouldn't happen DESPITE the characters- stories should happen BECAUSE of the characters. Eric shows us how to do things right."23 Actions"... although this book does detail these 23 actions in the latter part of the book, everything before this is also gold. I could never figure out why my dialogue was always so weak. Now I know.If you've ever suffered from a plot that flounders and sags half-way through, or had trouble bringing stories to a proper resolution, or had difficulty writing characters who make things happen, or if you've even suffered from writer's block, I recommend reading this book.The only writers I WOULDN'T recommend this book for are those who 1) are half-way through a book already (because reading this book will make you want to scrap everything and start over again, or 2) are greatly opposed to the idea of planning out your story in advance.This book still leaves the hard work up to the writer. But Eric sets the writer on the correct path.Needless to say, I've applied Eric's advice to my own work, and it's already 100 times stronger for it. I can't believe that following the advice of one book has had such a dramatic effect on the quality of my storytelling.

The 3-star reviews here claim that all the 4 and 5 star reviews must have been paid for. Maybe. But I've actually read the book and found it very powerful.The title of one review below -- "Don't look for easy solutions here" -- kind of says it all. That reviewer was pretty clearly looking for easy solutions, and then complains that the "Steps" are formulaic. So, which is it? Were you expecting "easy solutions" WOULDN'T be formulaic?That same reviewer also says that the section on character development is very strong, and with that I agree. But even though I am a novelist, and not a screenwriter, I found the 23 steps very informative. I have no plans to follow the steps as laid out, but reading them did make me think a good deal about the classic structure of story, and gave me some good ideas about "the dreaded middle" of my current novel.I think a writer must approach books of this type with caution, and realize that they are always going to reflect the opinion of the authors. But what else should they do? Take what you can from it, and pursue your own ideas and inspiration.

With STORY SOLUTION, Eric Edson gives 20-23 (no less than, no greater than) steps that your protagonist must make to have a clear, tight, meaningful story. Don't worry, there's plenty of room for creativity; just check any of your favorite movies---they ALL follow these steps in one way or another.***FOR BEGINNING SCREENWRITERS: Please don't make the same mistake as me in buying over a dozen books on screenwriting. To be honest, there's more than OVER a dozen good books on screenwriting. But, as happened with me, it's easy to get into READING about writing instead of doing what writers do…….write. For this reason, to save you time and money, I strongly recommend purchasing this book AND Inside Story: The Power of The Transformational Arc (by Dara Marks). The two books give you the BIGGEST advantage in avoiding two of the biggest pitfalls: Weak structure (Story Solution) and deep, emotional story that hooks us from the beginning with CHARACTERS that we care about (Inside Story).I don't mean to recommend the additional book as a knock on SS; I just really find that SS does an EXCELLENT job on structure. Inside Story does an EXCELLENT job on THEME, which Marks blends AMAZINGINGLY into story.But, to return to SS: Over 80% of the screenplays that have issues, poor structure and bland protagonists fill that pile. Make it to the next round of that famous screenwriting contest and purchase this book.Once again, a thoroughly enjoyable [email protected]