“Remember, the self-revelation is made possible at the beginning of the story. This means that a good self-revelation has two parts: the revelation itself and the set-up.”
John Truby, Anatomy of Story p85
Your hero’s development
“Your hero’s development depends on what beliefs he starts with, how he challenges them, and how they have changed by the end of the story. This is one of the ways you can make the story uniquely yours.”
– John Truby, Anatomy of Story, p81
True Character Change
“True character change involves a challenging and changing of basic beliefs, leading to new moral action by the hero.”
– John Truby, Anatomy of Story, p85
Your hero’s beliefs
“In a good story, as the hero goes after a goal, he is forced to challenge his most deep-seated beliefs.”
John Truby, Anatomy of Story.
Is your hero wrong?
“Showing the hero’s motive to the audience doesn’t mean showing it to the hero. Often the hero is initially wrong about his true reason for going after the goal and does not discover his real motive until the end of the story, at the self-revelation.”
– John Truby, Anatomy of Story (p77)
Real Conflict
“In most real conflict there is no clear good and evil, right and wrong. In a good story both hero and opponent believe that they are right, and both have reasons for believing so.”
– John Truby, Anatomy of Story, p138
Morally Complex?
“Your moral argument will always be simplistic if you use a two-part opposition, like good versus evil. Only a web of moral oppositions (four-corner opposition is one such web) can give the audience a sense of the moral complexity of real life.”
John Truby, Anatomy of Story p118
Your Moral Vision
“At the most advanced level of moral argument in storytelling is the writer who creates a unique moral vision.”
– John Truby, Anatomy of Story, p137
Truby on the Black Comedy
“The best way to pull the audience emotionally into a black comedy is to have your hero speak passionately about the logic of his goal.”
– John Truby, Anatomy of Story, p136
Direct conflict
“As your hero and his opponents fight over the goal, make sure their values come into direct conflict.”
– John Truby, Anatomy of Story p117
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