Story: Style, Structure, Substance, and the Principles of Screenwriting

by Robert McKee

Story is about archetypes, not stereotypes. The archetypal story unearths a universally human experience, then wraps itself inside a unique, culture-specific expression. A stereotypical story reverses this pattern: It suffers a poverty of both content and form. It confines itself to a narrow, culture-specific experience and dresses in stale, nonspecific generalities.

We do not wish to escape life but to find life, to use our minds in fresh, experimental ways, to flex our emotions, to enjoy, to learn, to add depth to our days. Story was written to foster films of archetypal power and beauty that will give the world this dual pleasure.

When talented people write well, it is generally for this reason: They’re moved by a desire to touch the audience.

Filmgoers do not defend their emotions, rather they open to the storyteller in ways even their lovers never know, welcoming laughter, tears, terror, rage, compassion, passion, love, hate—the ritual often exhausts them.

stories are equipment for living.

“Fiction gives life its form.

Each of the arts is defined by its essential form. From symphony to hip-hop, the underlying form of music makes a piece music and not noise.

You must love to write and bear the loneliness.