The science of storytelling
/ Will Storr.
- 272 pages ; 21 cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Chapter 1: Creating a world. -- Where does a story begin? -- Moments of change; the control-seeking brain -- Curiosity -- The model-making brain; how we read; grammar; filmic word order; simplicity; active versus passive language; specific detail; show-not-tell -- World-making in fantasy and science fiction -- The domesticated brain; theory of mind in animism and religion; how theory-of-mind mistakes create drama -- Salience; creating tension with detail -- Neural models; poetry; metaphor -- Cause and effect; literary versus mass-market storytelling -- Change is not enough -- Chapter 2: The flawed self. -- The flawed self; the theory of control -- Personality and plot -- Personality and setting -- Personality and point of view -- Cuture and character; western versus eastern story -- Anatomy of a flawed self; the ignition point -- Fictional memories; moral delusions; antagoinsts and moral idealism; antagonists and toxic self-esteem; the hero-maker narrative -- David and Goliath -- How flawed characters create meaning -- Chapter 3: The dramatic questions. -- Confabulation and the deluded character -- The two levels of story; how subconscious character struggle creates plot -- Modernist stories -- Wanting and needing -- Dialogue -- The roots of the dramatic question; social emotions; heroes and villains; moral outrage -- Status play -- King Lear; humiliation -- Stories as tribal propaganda -- Antiheroes; empathy -- Origin damage -- Chapter 4: Plots, endings and meaning. -- Goal directedness; video games; personal projects; eudaemonia; plots -- Plot as recipe versus plot as symphony of change -- The final battle -- Endings; control; the God moment -- Story as a simulacrum of consciousness; transportation -- The power of story -- The lesson of story -- The consolation of story -- Appendix: The sacred flaw approach.
Why stories make us human and how to tell them better. There have been many attempts to understand what makes a good story – but few have used a scientific approach. In this incisive, thought-provoking book, award-winning writer Will Storr demonstrates how master storytellers manipulate and compel us. Applying dazzling psychological research and cutting-edge neuroscience to the foundations of our myths and archetypes, he shows how we can use these tools to tell better stories – and make sense of our chaotic modern world.