Story Engineering: Mastering The Six Core Competencies of Successful Writing
Released by Writers Digest Books, February 24, 2011
4.5 Stars on Amazon. 120+ Reviews
Click HERE to read what other noted authors are saying about Story Engineering: Mastering the Six Core Competencies of Successful Writing, by Larry Brooks.
Want a little taste?
Read the Opening Pages below (copyright Larry Brooks, 2011):
Introduction
As a bit of a practicing cynic – due to actually having worked in this business – I’ve found myself asking if the world really needs another book about writing. Another how-to from an author who, frankly and obviously, isn’t exactly a household name. A quick Google reveals there are 2,910,000 available resources on the subject (it also shows 1,660,000 hits on my name, but I’m not kidding myself), many of which I suspect are books. Maybe 2,910,001 won’t make that much difference.
Unless, perhaps, it offers something original, fresh and powerful for writers who are tired of hearing the same old thing delivered in the same old inaccessible way.
I understand guys like Dean Koontz and David Morrell and Stephen King doing it; chances are (here’s that cynic) their publishers suggested it, hoping to cash in on the author’s name. But then I remember, having read a bunch of them myself, that never once have I found a writing book or workshop that cuts to the core issues of the craft in a clear and accessible way, that actually delivers a development model and process based on accepted criteria for effective storytelling. Most teachers eagerly tell you what needs to be done, but few offer anything about how you get it done, step-by-excruciating-ecstatic-step. Mostly they’re about theories, all valid, while delivering less than precise advice. Even Stephen King, an author who I respect, suggests in his book On Writing that once you stumble upon the seed of an idea, you should just sit down and start writing. Yeah, just take off with it and see where it takes you.
Well, I know where that approach takes you: back to the drawing board. Talk about a recipe for a rewrite. Unless you are a master of the form, function and criteria for successful storytelling – and he certainly is – this is a doomed and frankly insane way to begin your story. And yet, it is the default approach for nearly every new writer and a startling percentage of famous ones. But there are so many things wrong with King’s advice that it requires an entire book to counter them. If you’ve tried it, and you remain unpublished – or worse, unfinished – perhaps you already know why. Mr. King suggesting this as a process is like Tiger Woods recommending that you learn the game golf – and remember, in this metaphor we’re talking about the goal of becoming a professional golfer, because being published is absolutely entering the professional ranks of writers – by picking up a club and just swinging. Good luck with that.
Here’s why it’s insane: those professionals who just start writing their stories from an initial idea do so using an informed sensibility about, and working knowledge of , story architecture. It pours out of their head in the right order, with specific structural milestones in place. Newer writers? Not so much. It pours out of their head and basically spills all over the place.
Once you get your head around story architecture and the underlying criteria of it, then you, too, can just sit down and start writing But until then… well, like I said, it’s an insane way to discover your story.
Without the right knowledge, without mastering a formidable list of basics that is rarely talked about coherently, most of us end up being hacks with a dream that never materializes. But the knowledge is out there. In fact it’s here, right in your hands.
Interestingly, there are many books from the screenwriting world that do just what most novel-writing books don’t – they show you what to write, when to write it, what follows what, what should go be where, and why, and the criteria for ensuring your creative choices are effective ones. In other words, how to get it done. A blueprint and a process for something that is overwhelmingly considered – especially by those big name authors – to be a craft that defies blueprinting.
I assure you, they are wrong.
So is this a screenwriting book? It absolutely is if you’re a screenwriter. But it’s intended to apply those same storytelling principles – carefully adapted, revised, reshaped and put into non-screenwriting language – for novelists who heretofore haven’t benefited from the rigid rules of structure and character that apply to screenwriting. Rules, by the way, that actually set screenwriters free to create efficiently, while we novelists are destined to wander a vast landscape of creative choice without the benefit of a single road sign or map. It is that lack of form, function and criteria that makes writing and publishing a good novel so elusive.
Until now.
This book is for writers who have taken all the workshops (or not; it’s also for those who are on Day 1 of their writing journey… you may get to skip the years of pain the rest of us have invested), read all the how-to books and still don’t understand what’s wrong with their writing, and why it doesn’t attract an agent or sell to a publisher.
Don’t get me wrong, writing a great novel will always be hard, even if you do this way. But for different reasons than before, reasons that nobody can help you conquer or understand but you. Because even if you had the same expert instruction and training as Tiger Woods, chances are you’d still find yourself, at best, vying for the club championship instead of a tour card. Such is the quest for greatness regardless of the game.
This book is the culmination of twenty years of developing and teaching writing workshops, as well as writing novels and screenplays. The process model here is original and completely of my own creation – The Six Core Competencies of Successful Storytelling – yet based on the sum total of everything out there we know about what makes fiction work. Will you have heard some of this before? Certainly, the truth is the truth, I didn’t invent it. Have you seen it presented, organized and put into a context for novelists that suddenly makes the process this clear and accessible? That’s for you to decide, but I’m betting you haven’t.
Now, before you assign that last paragraph to ego, let me tell you why I’m really writing this book. Thousands of people have taken my writing workshops, and not a single attendee has told me the big picture of what I teach doesn’t seem viable. Some pick at a few nits, more than a few arrive with grave doubts, but most leave as excited believers, albeit a bit shocked. Even if you only apply a fraction of this – and frankly, you’ll end up doing it your own way anyhow – you’ll be more efficient and effective as a storyteller. I can’t tell you how many times people have told me – and this is the highest praise I can imagine hearing after a workshop – that this is the best thing they’ve ever heard about writing, even after up to thirty years of workshops, and why the hell hasn’t anyone put it together like this in the past? “Why don’t you write this stuff as a book?” I get that a lot. When you regularly hear such feedback, you begin to believe that there is something of value here for writers who are looking to quantify, analyze, calculate and blueprint the writing muse, and do it without the slightest compromise to their creativity or the childlike delight that comes from making up stories and writing them down.
Also, after years of reading and critiquing unpublished and rejected manuscripts from aspiring writers, I began to see patterns in what those stories lacked. Those patterns aligned perfectly with the Six Core Competencies model, which validated this approach as a viable and perhaps groundbreaking process for writing a novel, as well as writing a screenplay, a play or even a short story. One you are about to experience.
So let the journey begin. Open your mind and park your doubt (and your cynicism) until you find yourself in the thick of this, which not only shows you how to approach the craft of storytelling, but why traditional, random, organic, non-structured approaches are at best chaotic and inefficient, and more likely, ineffective. There is no getting around this truth – successful books written in an organic fashion (like King’s) end up covering the exact same ground, meeting the same precise criteria and eliciting the same enthusiastic reader response as successful books written my way. It’s just that the organic writers are in for a very long, often painful haul, and have absolutely no chance whatsoever of publishing their work without extensive rewrites. And even then, they have to return to the basic criteria in those rewrites to stand a chance.
Unless, of course, you are Stephen King or Tiger Woods. Every avocation has its superstar prodigies, those to whom the work comes easy and the fruits arrive plentifully. The rest of us need a little help.
The Six Core Competencies approach starts with the criteria and the architecture of storytelling and uses it as the basis for narrative. Organic writing starts with narrative and an idea — not necessarily in that order — and uses them as a process to discover (or stumble upon, sometimes by omission) the criteria and the architecture. Either way, you can get there. Or not – which is the definition of an unpublished novel. But some people like to walk, while others like to fly.
Oh, one more thing. You should know that my first published novel, DARKNESS BOUND, sold to a major New York publisher on the very first submission, with virtually no changes or rewrites required, and that it went on to be a USA Today bestseller. How? Certainly not because I’m the next Stephen King, a fact history has proven to be true. Rather, because it was designed and written according to the principles of The Six Core Competencies of Successful Storytelling. And it took only eight weeks to write. I’m just sayin’.
~~~~
Interview with Joanna Penn about Story Engineering
To order STORY ENGINEERING: MASTERING THE SIX CORE COMPETENCIES OF SUCCESSFUL WRITING via Amazon.com…
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← Previous Comments
Hi, interest post. I’ll write you later about few questions!
Sure, can’t wait to hear from you! Thanks — Larry
You know I love your para-dig-em for modeling a story. It has helped me immeasurably and I recommend it to everyone I can. I’m delighted it’s going to be a book! Let me know where I can buy it.
I’ve found I’m seeing the mountain where a mole-hill use to be. I realise now how large a task I’ve set before myself. But don’t worry, I’m not deterred just realizing that it’s not going to be a walk in the park. I’m glad to have found your site, it’s a reality check so my head doesn’t detach from my neck. Dreamers such as I, often have that problem I’m told. Thanks for keeping my feet on the ground and my nose to the grind stone. I have written alot of short stories latley here and there. The more I come up with, the more ideas that pop into my head. I’ve noticed my writing change and become more focused and less chaotic. I’m going back to my manuscript and am going to take what I’ve learned and apply it. I will someday get published and I’ll send you a copy.
Stephen King’s notions about writing not for everyone?
Yeah, but, but, but… ;-D
I quite reading his books years ago, as his later stuff didn’t appeal to me like the stuff I grew up on in his early caeer. ;-D
An interesting article, among several I’ve found on your new site, thanks for sending me a heads-up.
I fancy myself a creative writer, and poet, and have several books on writing, and writing promps in my collection, and in addition to sharing my writing on my blog I have a pretty decent blogroll of writing reated site, to which your will be added.
I created something special in the way of a story idea, several years ago, with the idea of expanding on the 2 pieces done so far, and I have another idea, or 2, as well, but life keeps getting in the way, and a sort of writer’s block set in, not to mention I’ve never gotten much in the way of feed back on them, or my poetry, even when shared in an online writing community I once was a member of.
The intro was awesome man.
I can’t wait to get your book. I’m excited about writing again.
Regards
Shane
Seriously, this is torture. When’s it coming man? The intro sells the book!
Sounds great. I am interested in the book. Do you have an ETA?
I have finished two novels but have not tried submitting either one (they need serious help) and I have half-heartedly used the Stephen King writing book as a guide but did find that much of what he said didn’t quite work for me because I don’t have his level of writing expertise.
In other words, I need some more nuts and bolts stuff.
Right now I spend a lot of time writing and re-writing, chopping and cutting and pasting and gluing, without any sort of clear strategy. I guess I have this idea that someday what I am patching together and constantly re-writing will look enough like a publishable novel to actually get published.
I also have a slew of writing books in my library but find most of them to be pretty useless at my current writing level.
Anyway, if you need a guinea pig… I mean test case, or test reader… for your book let me know. I would love to help you by helping me.
Regards,
Matt
So…is it safe to assume that you LOVE torturing those afflicted with gratification NOW gene? You’re just teasing me, aren’t you? The book isn’t written yet and I have to WAIT for it. If I’m right, I bet you DO write fabulous sex scenes. You’ve clearly got a handle on building suspense and anticipation, heightening tension and leaving the reader panting to find out what happens next.
Dang, Larry. Have a heart. Name me a pre-publication reader, add me to your crit group, accidentally share a cope of the WIP with me on Google Docs. Or wait! Here’s a solution! Do an online workshop or somethin’. You could even charge money for it. I’d pay for it.
Failing that, the only alternative is becoming a dedicated fan girl. Horrors. I’ll never be able to face my friends. At least not until they read your stuff.
Nice job.
Sharon
Wait a sec….this is just a teaser? Seriously? I need more and I need it NOW. My spillage runneth over….
This might be a stupid question, but would the basics presented ( example-the four part story structure) apply to preschool or young elementary age story books/picture books as well? (And thank you for what you do. : ) Claudia
Claudia — children’s stories are always shorter and simpler. All of this waters down, but you still need a concept, a great character, a strong theme, good scenes and an appropriate writing voice. So “yes” to those. As for structure, it can be simpler, but you still need the essential element of a hero’s quest and some form of conflict/obstacle to that question. Without conflict there is no story, that’s as true for kids as it is for us. As for picture books, that’s even simpler… the attraction for children in that case is as much the visual as it the storytelling. If you can combine the two, you’re on to something.
Hope this helps.
I can’t wait to read the book. I have King’s “On Writing” and when I finished, I felt like the book was more for advanced or published writers…kind of a reminder book for them…and that he just scratched the surface on things. For example, he mentions a writer’s toolkit, and says “The commonest of all, the bread of writing, is vocabulary.” But he never expounds on it. There are lots of ‘profound’ statements of this magnitude but it was on such a high level, that it wasn’t what I needed.
You do need to put all of this in a book. I’ll be the first in line to buy it…actually, I’d love it if they’d put your book on the Kindle or an ereader.
I’ll be waiting for this one. I’d really like to see more on scenes and how to come up with enough to fill the four parts of a full-length novel.
I simply cannot wait to read this book! It is going to be such a big help. I just *write* and my story builds itself, but I am always looking to sharpen and hone that, to make sure my storyline is flowing but not overflowing (I tend to do that). I have just started my first novel (finally!) after many years of online writing, essays, blog posts, opinion pieces, poetry, erotica, etc. It is a daunting task and I would love to have a look at this book to help me along. We can always learn something new; even those of us who have been writing since we could first hold a Crayon!
Any idea of a release date??
love to hear when you publish the book.
I am going to get your next book. I am excited for it. I found this site through your guest post on copyblogger. I like what you represent. Do you give one on one lessons?
I love your site … I have hit the 1stPP of my writing career thanks to you Mr. Brooks. When I hit the NY Times Best Seller list I will promot your site free of charge — you have my word. Again, thank you.
Can’t wait for this to come out! Thank you for sharing your wisdom. My first three (unpublished) novels were just as you described: “wander[ing] a vast landscape”. I’m eager to learn more about your tried and true methods.
Larry,
Love your site and insight. I’ve referenced you in a few posts lately:
http://nhwn.wordpress.com/2010/09/01/scoring-a-perfect-10-for-your-plot-structure/#comment-230
http://savvyb2bmarketing.com/blog/entry/937381/what-mockingjay-can-teach-us-about-blogging-
Wanted to let you know that your teaching skills are helping my teaching skills. Many thanks,
Wendy
Congratulations on winning the Top Ten Blogs for Writers Contest. Well done.
Larry, please contact me through Write to Done. I’d love to show you off to Write to Done readers with a guest post
Larry,
I’ve read your interview with Randy Ingermanson and, based on the tidbits you shared there, was able to kickstart a story that had stalled badly several months ago.
Today, I’ve worked my way through the series of blog posts on story structure on your blog and, now, this intro.
I must say, I’m now not only excited about the current story, but I’m beginning to see a light at the end of the tunnel for some of the six finished manuscripts gathering dust on the shelves. Stories with good ideas but serious problems I’ve had no idea how to fix and at least two of which have been rewritten over half a dozen times (I have over a dozen versions of one of them!). Yikes!
I’m looking forward to getting your book and going from there.
Thanks much!
I don’t want to spend too much time, because I am on page 155 of the book, and I need to get back…but Larry this book you’ve written is a gift, and it’s like muesli, rich, dense and a little off-putting in terms of taste and texture (meaning it tells you what’s what’s wrong with yours and how you’ve not done it and how you don’t really have a clue) but if you can stick with it, read the concepts again, over and over its very, very good for you…I was one one of those first timers, though it’s my third novel, who sat down without much planning and much clue really and just wrote the thing. I thought it was a great idea, a great concept and amazing arc, yet the thing was growing as I wrote 1800 pages, and I was eclipsing Tolstoi, scary stuff because I knew I was NO Tolstoi, but yet on I went. Then I entered a major contest and began to read the manuscript thinking draft after draft was the way it would all come down for me, and even signed for a conference, and very quickly I realized it was unwieldy, a mess, and that “draft” was a mill stone, as I and soon, sickly I envisioned years of toil, looking at the stacks on the floor a triple phone book, never really getting why it was flat, why some of the characters were 2-d and the thing just didn’t gel. I knew by then I had no clue, I knew what was lacking but it was not until I saw this web site with the 6 Core Competencies that I began to get excited even before it came in the mail. Because I knew what was wrong but I could not put it into words why it fell apart, and here this little book, so dense and so rich and so full of wisdom set me on the right track. I felt like Paul on the road to Tarsus. Now, I don’t know if I can “fix” that thing in a month for the conference I am attending, I sure as heck am gonna try because I feel empowered, and Donald Maass is going to be there. But I know the next book I write will be done with the 6 Core Competences under my belt.
Larry, I am making a bold prediction, but to anyone who thinks they might want to check this book out, GET it now. It will save you years of rejections, of wandering clueless, and worse yet of thinking its all gold when its destined for slush. This manual is the only book out there that will teach you how to write and show you, if your committed to learn, what it takes to get it done right. A common sense approach utilizing relevant, easy to understand examples, you cannot afford to get it. I will not be cracking Stephen King’s On Writing, that’s for dopes or geniuses, neither of which I am. Incidentally, I bought that book a month ago, never got around to reading it.
Hats off LB, you should be very proud. It has changed my life. See you in the stacks.
Best,
J.M.L
It looks like I was one of the first to buy Story Engineering, by Larry Brooks. I had seen it mentioned on the Writer’s Digest site, and then a week later I was in BAM browsing the the authors reference shelf. Having seen the thumbnail of the cover, it jumped out at me immediately. A week later it had been read cover to cover (I was also redoing my yard at the same time, so I couldn’t lock myself in a room and read it straight through). I wrote a novel eighteen years ago (yeah, I admit I just sat and pantsed it on my new 386 Windows 3.1 computer) and then put it aside, not knowing whether it was good or not, nor what to do with it. I write A LOT at work, preparing summaries, reviews, and reports. Every time I have put my hands on a keyboard since that time I’ve thought about that book-and what to do with it. Now that I have read Story Engineering I know more what I’ve got, and what to do with it (yup, a couple of beginner mistakes jumped right out at me). After I hit the “submit” button for this comment I will be starting a beat sheet and reworking my story-the right way. Thanks to Larry for putting all of this information in such a user friendly package. My hope is to be able to start writing full time in a few short years when I retire. With Larry’s help, I feel like I’m a lot closer to that goal. Larry, I owe you a cold one!!!
Just read Routines for Writers where you were the guest speaker. I really appreciated the post. I’d loved to receive a copy of “101 Slightly Unpredictable Tips for Novelists and Screenwriters.” I can send you a copy of my receipt from Amazon where I purchased your new book “Story Engineering.” I think I’m really going to enjoy reading it!
Congrats on your new book. I purchased your EBook, “Story Structure – Demystified” last year. Is this new book “Story Engineering’, all new material, or just a repackaging and publishing of your ebook (which I loved by the way). Great help to us ‘writers’. Thanks.
I just bought your book at lunch from a local BN. Looking forward to getting into it this weekend.
Larry, I purchased Story Engineering via my Kindle as a recommended title. I’m always reading books on how to improve my writing, but yours is nothing short of an eye opening revelation. Practical principles that make me want to write the best story possible (and now I can!) and the fact you also remind us to write because we believe in our story – can’t thank you enough for your book. You’ve truly unveiled story telling techniques. If I had it in hard copy it would be thoroughly yellow from my highlighting and black from my underlining.
Hello,
I bought Story Engineering for my Kindle. I’m reading it now and it is very good. But your book, Story Structure — Demystified keeps popping up under my recommendations list. Since I have the one, do I need the other?
Thank you for your time,
Christina Harper
So, I’ve ordered this book just now. Probably’ll take a couple of days before it arrives, had to import it from the UK (I’m in Holland). But just wanted to give a small shout out to Mr. Brooks, as this blog of yours has helped me greatly in canalising my creativity. Especially concerning the art of story structure (on which you’ve aberrated extentionally), this blog has been a truly enlightning experience. Hence I can’t wait to find the book in my mailbox. I’m really curious to read about your views on and explanations of the rest of the six competencies.
Hi Larry, I am enjoying the book and have a question. In chapter 25 you outline the four parts of a story under the terms, Orphan, Wanderer, Warrior, and Martyr but don’t explore these ideas in the text. Could you explain these four terms because they do seem relevant to the Story Engineering process.
Larry – Finished my first draft knowing so much was so not right. Then ran across your Story Engineering. Ordered it immediately. Read it in two days. I’m saved. It is strange indeed when exactly what one needs appears. As I begin revising, I flip to Story Engineering every few minutes. There’s my answer. Then, you started the Deconstruction of The Help. So did I. Your explanation of The Hook, the Plot Points, the Mid-Point – Ah! my good man. I believe my story has a chance of manifesting itself. I look forward to remainder of the deconstruction. How do we thank you for this? The words Thank You seem rather trite at the moment.
Your book Story Engineering is the best book I’ve read on crafting a novel. Thank-you so much for taking the time to put all of that info into a book. In order to help myself remember all the core competencies and what they each do, I broke them down into those journalist questions you learn about in grade school.
–Concept answers the question “What if?”
–Character answers the question “Who?”
–Theme answers the questions “Why?”
–Story Structure answers the question “How?”
–Scene Execution answers all six “Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How?”
–Writing Voice answers the question (again) “Who?”
(It’s a bit simplistic, I know, but it works if applied loosely.)
As I put together my outline, I keep referring again and again to your book and all my notes (love that kindle thing!). Your book truly does make it all easier or at least all more focused and efficient. Again, thanks!
–Christina
Thank you for writing this book! I took your seminars at the Willamette Writer’s conference several years running, and yours was the one that clicked with me and made the most sense. I was thrilled when you released your book. It helped me crystallize my novel in a way I had not planned, but which will ultimately be a much better book. Keep up the excellent work. –CynthiaS
Dear Larry,
I would like to take advantage of your offer, but unfortunately am unable to find anyway to contact you with the receipt for my paid copy of your book. Can you please direct me to where I can contact you?
Thank you.
I purchased your book “Story Engineering” and I absolutely love it. I have had a book rolling around in my head for a long time. As I’m reading your book and taking notes like crazy, my story is forming. Not much is written down yet. But as I am I going through the process with your book, it is coming together. Thanks so much for writing a book that will help me write mine. I’m glad I found your book. Thanks.
Dear Larry
I’m old… be 80 in January and attempting a novel, so read/buy/beg/borrow books that refer to writing of same…and will be getting S/E . In your latest blog re “postoffice rant” you used the word “jonesing” (re “rabid dog”). I know it must be slang, but ole Webster’s tome doesn’t have a definition…so I’m asking. . . definition?
Thanks
mE
Hi, I just downloaded the Kindle version of Story Engineering. My nephew, 21 and autistic, has been telling me a story which I’m typing as he goes. I’ve never written a short story, let alone a book, so it’s kind of the blind leading the blind here. I’ve been talking to him about motivation and the point of his story. He’s created a slew of characters, describing each one in pretty good detail. And he’s got lots of events and situations, some of which move the story along and others that sidetrack it. I hope I will be able to help him discover the underlying story architecture so we can put everything together to make sense!
I read King’s book, ON WRITING, but when
I finished I saw it as a really excellent memoir.
It is certainly not a book that can guide any but
The most polished and accomplished novelist.
I started creative writing at 40 and I’m now
71. I sold my first ten submissions of short fiction
and essays but that novel, now at 80,000 words, is
still “in progress” because I don’t know how to
move forward with it.
Your into promises much. Please don’t let me down.
I’m off to buy the book now. If it gets me unstuck,
I’ll send you a copy. Thanks for writing this.
Larry,
Now that I’m working on the sequel to MANDARIN YELLOW, I appreciate how useful and important using a beat sheet is. For the first time I truly have an overview of my book and am able to shift around chapters at will within the context of my view (literally and figuratively) of the whole. This has been immeasurably useful to me.
I also was able to place the Pinch Points and Plot Points/Mid-Point Milestone in their rough, approximate locations before I started writing so I had a framework to work within. This made my life much simpler than before and gave both order and structure to my first draft.
This is probably the most useful tool I have come across yet in my brief career as a writer of mysteries. And it’s all thanks to STORY ENGINEERING.
Thanks!
@Steven — thanks for sharing your experience. It’s one of the best and tightest summaries of the power of story architecture yet. So happy to hear it’s helped. Would you like to write a guest post on this, expanding a bit and sharing your experience with my readers? Lemme know. Thanks again for getting it. Larry
I’m going through a phase of reading screenwriting books. Presently reading Kal Bashir’s excellent 2000+ stage Hero’s Journey And Transformation Through A New World / State, which is engrossing. Will read yours afterwards and compare. Like the new website design.
Hey Larry, love your book & website! Has helped me so much cuz I can’t plot my way out of a paper bag. I drew up a graphical representation of how I see the layout and am using it in my novels and my writing classes. My students go “aha!” when they see it. You’ve nailed it and thank you so much for your insight. Keep it up, I’m still ironing out the details in my novels and learning as I read and reread your book. Thanks so much, Alley.
@Alley — good to hear, and thanks for the kind words. I’ll keep going if you will, who knows where this’ll lead us. Thanks again — L.
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