Emotional Structure: Creating the Story Beneath the Plot: A Guide for Screenwriters
by Peter Dunne
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Book Summary Information
Author: Peter DunneEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2006-04-01
ISBN: 188495653X
Number of pages: 244
Publisher: Linden Publishing
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9781884956539
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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Book Reviews of Emotional Structure: Creating the Story Beneath the Plot: A Guide for Screenwriters
Book Review: Gets to the heart of the story
Summary: 5 Stars
Apologies for the bad pun in the title. :)
I've read all the usual books over the last six years as I've tried to master this screenwriting thing (it's much harder than it looks). McKee, Field, Seger et. al. sit on my bookshelf. But Dunne's work is by far the best of them and ranks up there with Egri's "The Art of Dramatic Writing." Most of those other books deal with the nuts and bolts of craft whereas Dunne takes us deeper to find the emotional core of your characters that will drive the story forward. And really, movies are all about emotion.
Yes, there's a formula (i.e. structure) that Dunne suggests we follow, but anyone with half a clue how to write a story knows this is a necessary evil to transfer the knowledge from Dunne to us eager writers. Those who rail against the "Hollywood formula" just don't get it. Everything has a structure, and if you think guys like Dunne don't know the rules are meant to broken then you're fooling yourself. Dunne renders all the bickering over formula moot by elevating character's feelings as the crucial aspect of any story. And he provides a number of excellent methods to help dig deep and figure out what those are. Dunne also points out that the real glue that binds any story is the up and down emotional journey of the protagonist. Great stories are more than a random string of plot points. It's the protag's inner turmoil that gives each scene meaning.
In many ways this is all writing 101. When I think back to some of my first creative writing classes my profs always hammered into us that emotion is what it's about. Somewhere along the line of learning about three act structure, subtext and plot that gets forgotten. This was a reminder of what was missing from my stories. I thank Peter Dunne for that. I'm sure beginning writers will get a lot out of this, but it's writers further along in their craft who will benefit the most.
I can't recommend this book enough. If you're serious about writing a screenplay then buy this today.
More Emotional Structure: Creating the Story Beneath the Plot: A Guide for Screenwriters reviews:
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1 2 3 4
Summary of Emotional Structure: Creating the Story Beneath the Plot: A Guide for Screenwriters
The leap from concept to final draft is great, and the task is filled with hard work and horrors. It is here that most writers struggle to get the plot right at the expense of the story's real power. The result is a script that is logical in every way, yet
unmoving. Emotional Structure, by Emmy- and Peabody-Award winning producer, writer, and teacher, Peter Dunne, is for these times, when the plot fits nicely into place like pieces in a puzzle, yet an elemental, terribly important something remains missing.
unmoving. Emotional Structure, by Emmy- and Peabody-Award winning producer, writer, and teacher, Peter Dunne, is for these times, when the plot fits nicely into place like pieces in a puzzle, yet an elemental, terribly important something remains missing.
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