Maxwell Alexander Drake - Dynamic Story Creation in Plain English: Drakes Brutal Writing Advice

This is the work of a MadMan. All the characters, thoughts, ideas, and events portrayed in this novel are either fictitious, used fictitiously, are deranged ramblings, or fall under U.S. parody law.

THIS BOOK IS PUBLISHED BY

Drake U

and imprint of

Imagined Interprises, Inc.

by Maxwell Alexander Drake

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed Attention: Permissions Coordinator, at the address below.

Proof Editors - Buzz Clore, Stephan McLeroy,

Greg Laurich, Dylan Birtolo, and Lorraine Stalians

Cover Title Art by

C.E.Rocco

Published in the United States by

Imagined Interprises, Inc.

www.ImaginedInterprises.com

6955 N. Durango Dr. Suite. 1115-391

Las Vegas, NV 89149

ISBN: 978-1-936525-72-0 (Kindle Edition)

First Edition: July 2016

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Available upon Request

T his book is dedicated to all the dreamers out there who desire nothing more than to have their names on a published book. Stop puking words on a page, and start treating writing with the respect it deserves!

Drake

Table of Contents

ACT I

The Mindset of a Writer

Read Me

Disclaimer

Chapter One - The Industry

Introduction

Expectations

Learn the Craft

Breaking Into the Publishing Industry

Notes About this Book

Putting it all Together

Chapter Two - Diagnosis of a Good Story

Why do YOU Want to Write?

Story Creation is All About the Reader

Plot = Events Story

A Character is a Shell for the Reader

Understanding the Reader

Putting it all Together

Chapter Three - The Basics of Story Structure

Story Structure - The Multi-Faceted Jewel

The Character Driven Story

The Event Driven Story

The Objective Driven Story

Inside the Mind of an Academic

Spaghetti

The Basic Plot Arc

A Basic Scene Arc

Putting it all Together

Chapter Four - Loose Ends

Two Types of Writers

Can Structure Limit Creativity?

Putting it all Together

ACT II

The Invisible Layer

Chapter Five - The Code Behind A Story

Genre & Setting

Themes and Subjects Are Not the Same

Theme

Theme - Their Function

Theme - The Invisible Element

Theme - A Fact within the Story

Theme - The Authors Belief

Theme - The Readers Belief

Theme - The Universal Element

Theme - Limited by Nature

Theme - Wrap-up

Major & Minor Themes

The Emotional Impact of Themes

A Theme isnt a Question, its Two Opposing Answers

The Protag & Antag do not always Answer the Theme

Happy Ending, or Tragedy

Conflict - Its More than just a Word

Motif

Symbolism

Symbolism Supporting the Theme

Putting it all Together

ACT III

The Physical Layer

The Invisible Layer - A Lesson Recap

Chapter Six - Theories of the Physical Layer

The Cycle of a Protagonist

Beginning State of the Story

Setting Benchmarks

Loss - The Currency used to Purchase a Readers Love

Motivation - The Driving Force of the Protagonist

Transformation - The Delivery Guy of the Theme

Side Note: The Anchor

The Two Most Important Questions Youll Ever Ask

Reversals

Putting it All Together

Chapter Seven - Acts

The 2/3/5 Act Play Structures

Chapter Eight - Structure in Action

The Heros Journey

The Setup - ACT I of the 3-Act Structure

Creating the EveryMan

The Call to Adventure

Refusal of the Call

The Outside Aid

Moving to the State of Imperfection

Transforming the Protagonist - ACT II of the 3-Act Structure

For Love and Honor

Two Halves Make a Whole

Facing the Conflict

Temptation

The Whiff of Death

The Ultimate Boon

The Climax - ACT III of a 3-Act Structure

Refusal of the Return

All Hope is Lost

Rescue from Without

Master of Two Worlds

The New Hero

Putting it All Together

And Now, Its Your Turn

Writing is a demanding profession, and a selfish one. And because it is selfish and demanding, because it is compulsive and exacting, I didnt embrace it, I succumbed to it.

Rod Serling 1924 1975

( The Twilight Zone )

Read Me

No, Seriously, Read Me

T hrough the pages of this tome were going to discuss story creation in detail, and by the end, youll hopefully have enough tools at your disposal to create Dynamic Stories. However, this isnt just a book about plotting its so much more.

This is a book on the mindset of being a creative writer of creating stories. Its about the theories story creators should know and understand so they can create stories people want to read.

If youre looking for a step-by-step guide on how to create stories, as in: Step One do this. Step Two do that, youve picked up the wrong book, my friend.

Worse, if thats the type of book youre looking for, then in my opinion, youre an idiot. Please feel free to take offense to that.

I really hate all the books on the market today that make the claim that if you simply follow some magic formulaic system youll be the next New York Times Bestselling Author. Thats bullshit.

While Ill agree there are many elements to story creation that are exactly the same from one story to another, creating a story is so much more than some static formula. Its learning and understanding all the different theories concerning story creation everything from English, Grammar, Structure, and Story Theory, to discovering new and exciting ways to communicate with the human soul and then juggling all these abstract concepts simultaneously while attempting to organize a jumble of words into sentences and paragraphs that will hopefully resemble something akin to a novel.

Its this amalgam of chaos that has caused me much grief in trying to figure out how to write this book. I mean, where do I start discussing Dynamic Story Creation when a writer needs to know all of it before any of it makes sense?

To that end, Ive attempted to layer the information presented in this book in such a manner as to build upon all that came before. Therell be times where you may feel Im rambling. I assure you, Im not. Well, I probably am. I do like to ramble. But I digress.

I see three distinct parts of story creation.

• What you need to know before you begin creating stories. This is what I call the Mindset of a Writer , and ACT I of this book is dedicated to passing on my thoughts and theories concerning this topic.
• The underlying code thats in a story, but the reader doesnt actually read. This is what I call the I nvisible Layer , and ACT II will be dedicated to passing along my thoughts and theories of this mystical and illusive topic.
• Finally, the stuff reader reads. (Characters, Setting, Events, Conflicts, etc.) This is what I call the P hysical Layer , and ACT III will be dedicated to tackling this topic.