Nobody Wants to Read Your Sh*t: Why That Is And What You Can Do About It

by Steven Pressfield

1) Every story must have a concept. It must put a unique and original spin, twist or framing device upon the material. 2) Every story must be about something. It must have a theme. 3) Every story must have a beginning, a middle, and an end. Act One, Act Two, Act Three. 4) Every story must have a hero. 5) Every story must have a villain. 6) Every story must start with an Inciting Incident, embedded within which is the story’s climax. 7) Every story must escalate through Act Two in terms of energy, stakes, complication and significance/meaning as it progresses. 8) Every story must build to a climax centered around a clash between the hero and the villain that pays off everything that came before and that pays it off on-theme.