Summary

"Story" by Robert McKee is a comprehensive guide to the art of storytelling, offering a practical poetics for writers across various mediums, including screenplays, novels, plays, and short stories. McKee challenges conventional terminology like "rising action" and "denouement," deeming them too broad for practical use. He advocates for an organic approach to story creation, emphasizing that a great story should feel like a living body, not a machine. The book introduces the dramatic code, highlighting desire as the driving force of change, with characters propelled by acting and learning. McKee stresses the importance of understanding and applying precise techniques to achieve success, regardless of genre.

The book delves into the concept of the "story body," comparing its subsystems to those of a human body. Theme, or moral argument, forms the brain, character the heart, revelations the nervous system, story structure the skeleton, and scenes the skin. Each subsystem consists of a web of elements that define and differentiate the others. McKee emphasizes the need to master storytelling to the point where characters seem to act on their own, even though the writer is the one making them act that way. He outlines the importance of understanding the dramatic code to infuse work with elements of human growth and wisdom.

McKee introduces the concept of the premise, the story stated in a single sentence, a combination of character and plot. He stresses that the premise is the foundation on which every other decision is based. He guides the writer through developing the premise by identifying possible challenges, looking for what’s possible within the idea, and finding the designing principle that organizes the story as a whole. He notes the importance of creating a character web, where all characters connect and define each other through function, archetype, theme, and opposition, rather than treating characters as isolated individuals.

McKee details the seven key story structure steps: weakness and need, desire, opponent, plan, battle, self-revelation, and new equilibrium. He stresses that these steps should be organically linked for the story to have the greatest impact on the audience. He emphasizes the importance of individuating characters through theme and opposition, and provides techniques for creating the hero and the opponent, outlining ways to identify the story’s challenges, promises, and designing principle. The book also covers the creation and utilization of a symbol web and different approaches to theme, or moral argument, through various storytelling forms, from myth to serious novels.

Furthermore, McKee explores the visual aspects of storytelling, emphasizing how the world of the story acts as a physical expression of the characters. The designing principle helps shape this world, which can be broken down into key elements: natural settings, man-made spaces, and technology. He delves into how these elements are used, such as the forest serving as a symbol for the psyche or the city for society, or as a way to heighten certain points in the story. All these techniques are intended to allow storytellers to craft narratives with lasting power.