6) “Shutter Island” – The First Plot Point Cometh

In the 16th scene of Shutter Island, at about the 32 minute mark in the movie, and on the 89th page of the paperback movie reissue of Dennis Lehane’s bestselling novel by the same name, something happens. Something huge. Everything changes because of what happens. And because none of us really understood what this story […]

5) “Shutter Island” – Evaluating the Part 1 Scenes

If you’ve just arrived, you’ve landed in the middle of a multi-part series that deconstructs – some call it eviscerates – Dennis Lehane’s Shutter Island, and the movie based on it.  In yesterday’s post we identified and positioned each of the 15 scenes that comprise the story’s opening act (also known as Part 1 for […]

4) “Shutter Island” – The Opening Act (continued)

Yesterday we took a 10,000 foot view of the opening act of Shutter Island, both the book and the movie.  The focus was on the first scene (aboard the ferry taking Teddy and “Chuck” to the island) and how it established a context of deception for all that is to follow. Chuck, of course, is […]

3) “Shutter Island” — The Opening Act

Wherein we deconstruct the first quartile – Part 1 of the novel, Act I of the screenplay – of Dennis Lehane’s masterpiece of deception and psychological drama. The posts in this series are numbered sequentially for your clarity and amusement.  (RSS Feed readers will have received this twice… my bad, I apologize.  It’s a button […]

2) The Deconstruction of “Shutter Island” – A Primer

The first in a series of posts that deconstructs and analyzes Dennis Lehane’s Shutter Island – both the book and the movie. Welcome to Shutter Island.  A place – and a story – in which nothing is what it seems. If you haven’t recently seen the movie or read the novel – preferably both – […]

Two More Stellar – and Current – Story Structure Case Studies

Coming Monday – the deconstruction of Dennis Lehane’s Shutter Island – the book and the movie.  Refer to the past two Storyfix posts for more about this exciting exercise in understanding the role of structure, character, theme and concept in storytelling. If you can’t read the book or see the movie before Monday (or before […]

Coming Monday: The Deconstruction and Analysis of “Shutter Island” by Dennis Lehane

But then, you probably knew that already. If this is news to you, I suggest you review the last couple of posts here on Storyfix, and then come on down.  Love to have you join us. If you aren’t sure what a “deconstruction” is, it’s an analysis of the structure of a novel or a film […]

1) Welcome to Shutter Island

Perhaps the first question I should address is: why are we deconstructing this particular story? I offer you several compelling reasons. First, Shutter Island comes from the brilliant mind of perhaps the most critically acclaimed of today’s thriller writers, Dennis Lehane.  If we’re going to sit at someone’s feet and take notes, might as well […]

My New Favorite Storytelling Analogy

A while ago I promised you Shutter Island.   Specifically, a deconstruction. I’ve read the novel, seen the movie, read the book again, got the t-shirt.   Been there, done that, did it again, loved it even more. So later this week we’ll launch into this.  I highly recommend you see the movie, and if you have time, […]

Breaking In, Breaking Out, and Just Plain Catching a Break

We all know what breaking in means.  It means selling your first novel or screenplay.  It means breaking in to the business. Many writers know what the term breaking out means, but few of us care about it – or should care about it – unless we’re already published.  It means emerging from the anonymous […]