The Anatomy of Story: 22 Steps to Becoming a Master Storyteller

by John Truby

Hero Michael Corleone. • Weaknesses Michael is young, inexperienced, untested, and overconfident. • Psychological Need Michael must overcome his sense of superiority and self-righteousness. • Moral Need He needs to avoid becoming ruthless like the other Mafia bosses while still protecting his family. • Problem Rival gang members shoot Michael’s father, the head of the family. • Desire He wants to take revenge on the men who shot his father and thereby protect his family. • Opponent Michael’s first opponent is Sollozzo. However, his true opponent is the more powerful Barzini, who is the hidden power behind Sollozzo and wants to bring the entire Corleone family down. Michael and Barzini compete over the survival of the Corleone family and who will control crime in New York. • Plan Michael’s first plan is to kill Sollozzo and his protector, the police captain. His second plan is to kill the heads of the other families in a single strike. • Battle The final battle is a crosscut between Michael’s appearance at his nephew’s baptism and the killing of the heads of the five Mafia families. At the baptism, Michael says that he believes in God. Clemenza fires a shotgun into some men getting off an elevator. Moe Green is shot in the eye. Michael, following the liturgy of the baptism, renounces Satan. Another gunman shoots one of the heads of the families in a revolving door. Barzini is shot. Tom sends Tessio off to be murdered. Michael has Carlo strangled. • Psychological Self-Revela...