Storynomics: Story-Driven Marketing in the Post-Advertising World

by Robert McKee

Values pump the lifeblood of story. For an event to be meaningful, the mind must sense that the charge of at least one value has undergone change.

at the core of all stories pulses at least one binary value—such as life/death, freedom/tyranny, success/failure, truth/lie, love/hate, and the like. This value changes its charge from negative to positive or the reverse over the course of the telling.

Subject matter for a story contains three major components: a physical and social setting, a protagonist, and a core value.