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Book Review: Story by Robert McKee

© Angie Dixon

I won't kid you. Robert McKee's Story is a difficult read. Over 400 pages of dense, technical prose spread out in 19 chapters, an introduction and an epilogue. It's also one of the best books on the craft of writing that's ever been writing. It's worth working your way through 20 or 30 pages a day for the lessons McKee teaches.

While this is a screenwriting book, it's a must-read for every serious novelist, in that it teaches so much about structure and plot.

The first part of the book, "The Writer and the Art of Story," encompasses the introduction, which explains what Story is and is not about-forms, not formulas; archetypes, not stereotypes; originality, not duplication. He follows through on these promises throughout the book.

After laying out his intentions, McKee bemoans the loss of good story and the decline of talent, then goes on to talk about how "craft maximizes talent," pounding home the truth that learning to write is essential even for the most talented writer.

Part Two, "The Structure Spectrum," covers, as it says, structure. McKee explains the elements of story, including the terminology of writing, the three types of plot, and setting, among other things.

McKee's discussions of research and creative choices remind us of the importance of knowing what you're talking about and making conscious choices in your writing.

The pages on genre are valuable to any writer, screen or prose, and his contention that structure is character, character/structure sets us up for his views on the differences between character and characterization, character arc, and character functions within structure.

The final section of Part Two involves structure and meaning, encompassing "aesthetic emotion," premise, "structure as rhetoric," and the "controlling idea."

Part Three, "The Principles of Story Design," explains the "substance of story" and introduces basics of story, including the inciting incident, act and scene design, scene analysis, composition, and crisis/climax/resolution.

In this part McKee talks about The Gap, the "difference between anticipation and result, between the world as the character perceived it before acting and the truth he discovers in action." In other words, that awful moment when things don't go as expected. McKee refers again and again to The Gap.

McKee devotes a lot of time to the inciting incident, which is that moment in the movie (or novel) that sets everything else in motion. Once he finishes this topic, he moves on but continues to refer to inciting incident.

I found the discussion of act design, with its information on plots and subplots, very interesting, and it moved smoothly into scene design, where I learned about turning points and setups/payoffs.