Into the woods : how stories work and why we tell them / John Yorke.
Publisher: UK : Penguin Books, 2014Description: xvii, 309 pages : illustrations (black and white) ; 20 cmContent type: text | still image Media type: unmediated Carrier type: volume001: 43906ISBN: 9780141978109 (pbk.) :Subject(s): Plots (Drama, novel, etc.) | Motion picture authorship -- Philosophy | LiteratureDDC classification: 809.924 YOR LOC classification: PN151 | .Y58 2014Summary: 'Into The Woods' is a revelation of the fundamental structure and meaning of all stories from the man responsible for more hours of drama on British television than anyone else, John Yorke. We all love stories. Many of us love to tell them, and even dream of making a living from them. But what is a story? Hundreds of books about screenwriting and storytelling have been written, but none of them ask 'Why?' Why do we tell stories? And why do all stories function in an eerily similar way?Item type | Current library | Collection | Call number | Copy number | Status | Date due | Barcode | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Short Term Loan | MAIN LIBRARY Book | 809.924 YOR (Browse shelf(Opens below)) | 2 | Available | 113592 | |||
Short Term Loan | MAIN LIBRARY Book | 809.924 YOR (Browse shelf(Opens below)) | 3 | Available | 111341 |
Browsing MAIN LIBRARY shelves, Shelving location: Book, Collection: PRINT Close shelf browser (Hides shelf browser)
809.923 LAC Narrative and genre : key concepts in media studies / | 809.924 YOR Into the woods : how stories work and why we tell them / | 809.924 YOR Into the woods : how stories work and why we tell them / | 809.924 YOR Into the woods : how stories work and why we tell them / | 809.93353 PEN Storytelling in the digital age / | 810.29 SET Wild animals I have known : and 200 drawings/ | 811.54 BUK The pleasures of the damned : poems, 1951-1993 / |
Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
We all love stories. But why do we tell them? And why do all stories function in an eerily similar way? John Yorke, creator of the BBC Writers' Academy, has brought a vast array of drama to British screens. Here he takes us on a journey to the heart of storytelling, revealing that there truly is a unifying shape to narrative forms - one that echoes the fairytale journey into the woods and, like any great art, comes from deep within. From ancient myths to big-budget blockbusters, he gets to the root of the stories that are all around us, every day.
Originally published: 2013.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
'Into The Woods' is a revelation of the fundamental structure and meaning of all stories from the man responsible for more hours of drama on British television than anyone else, John Yorke. We all love stories. Many of us love to tell them, and even dream of making a living from them. But what is a story? Hundreds of books about screenwriting and storytelling have been written, but none of them ask 'Why?' Why do we tell stories? And why do all stories function in an eerily similar way?
Excerpt provided by Syndetics
Praise for Into The Woods: A Five-Act Journey Into Story | |
Copyright | |
Introduction | |
ACT I | HOME |
1. | What is a Story? |
2. | Three-Act Structure |
3. | Five-Act Structure |
4. | The Importance of Change |
5. | How We Tell Stories |
ACT II | WOODLAND, DAY |
6. | Fractals |
7. | Acts |
8. | The Inciting Incident |
9. | Scenes |
10. | Putting It All Together |
ACT III | THE FOREST |
11. | Showing and Telling |
ACT IV | THE ROAD BACK, NIGHT |
12. | Character and Characterization |
13. | Character and Structural Design |
14. | Character Individuation |
15. | Dialogue and Characterization |
16. | Exposition |
17. | Subtext |
ACT V | HOME AGAIN, CHANGED |
18. | Television and the Triumph of Structure |
19. | Series and Mini-Series Structure |
20. | Change in Drama Series |
21. | Home Again |
22. | Why? |
APPENDICES | |
I. | Act Structure of Raiders of the Lost Ark |
II. | Hamlet - The Structural Form |
III. | Being John Malkovich - The Structural Form |
IV. | My Zinc Bed - The Structural Form |
V. | The Godfather - The Structural Form |
VI. | First and Last Act Parallels: Some Further Examples |
VII. | A Lightning Guide to Screenwriting Gurus |
Notes | |
Bibliography | |
Acknowledgements | |
Credits | |
Index | |
About the Author | |
About Into the Woods |
Reviews provided by Syndetics
Publishers Weekly Review
Yorke, the former head of BBC Drama, has a formidable understanding of how story (really, plot) works, and a myriad of examples to back up his ideas. ".With only eight notes in an octave, we don't simply run out of music, but.we start to see that a very simple pattern contains within it the possibility of endless permutations." Yorke is an excellent guide to those variations in story and how they shape take dramatic form in the narratives of film, theater, and novels. He's dismissive both of screenwriting gurus who put forward simple plans for writing television shows and movies, as well as those who dismiss the idea that any kind of structure is needed. It's fitting, then, that this book is less an instructional manual than a guide, carefully exploring the possibilities and recurring ideas of story through an extended metaphor of entering then leaving a forest. All of this could be of great benefit to writers who connect to Yorke's voice and theory. Still, Yorke readily admits there is nothing new here; he points out that his ideas date back to the Greeks, and the more compelling problem remains unanswered: how to go about writing story, instead of the easier task of analyzing it in order to prove it fits one's theory. (May) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.There are no comments on this title.