Shawn Coyne
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What are the first principles in writing a story that works?
At Story Grid, it's easy to get distracted by the tools, spreadsheets, commandments, macro lense, micro lense, and on and on. However, all of this eventually comes back to five first principles.
In Story Grid 101, Story Grid founder Shawn Coyne distills 30 years of experience working with writers to build their stories into five principles:
• Stories are, made up of distinct parts, or...
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Bilbo Baggins, an altogether respectable hobbit, had never done anything unexpected-to say nothing of heroic-until he met a wizard in a blue pointed hat. After that meeting, Bilbo embarked upon an adventure, recorded in the pages of The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien that captured the imagination of readers around the world.
With unparalleled skill, Tolkien forged scenes of physical courage, revelatory self-transformation, and spiritual transcendence...
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What's at the core of every great story that leads readers to rush breathlessly to the end and then, share it with all their friends?
At Story Grid, we believe great stories are, built of four essential elements: Core Needs, Core Life Values, Core Emotions, and Core Events. Whether you're writing an action adventure, a mystery, or a love story, these are the elements that spark the emotional connection and catharsis readers are looking for.
Assembled...
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Dorothy Gale's trip from Kansas to the Emerald City-in print, on screen, and on stage-has enchanted audiences around the world for more than a century. But what is her magical adventure really about? And can studying such classic tales help today's writers improve their craft?
In The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum: A Story Grid Masterworks Analysis Guide, Shawn Coyne answers these questions and more. In Oz, Coyne finds a pitch-perfect...
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Jane Austen's masterpiece, Pride and Prejudice, has been admired, adapted, and copied by thousands of writers. Her work is still adored by readers all over the world two centuries after it was first published.
Have you ever dreamed you and Austen could take a turn about the room or walk the grounds of Pemberley while she explains exactly how she wrote her timeless love stories?
In this Masterwork Guide, Shawn Coyne applies his Story Grid tools of...
6) Action Story
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Action Stories speak to ancient human desires. Readers want to experience heart-stopping fear and excitement and learn lessons of survival.
How can you write a story that satisfies those desires?
In Action Story: The Primal Genre, Story Grid founder Shawn Coyne takes you on a journey deep into the meaning of the genre. Coyne boils down insights gained through more than 25 years as an editor and writer to teach you Action Story's fundamental constraints...
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What Are Story Grid Beats?
We think about the story creation process (writing) as one big "problem."
You simply want to travel from where you are right now (without a story that works) to a place where your story takes on a life of its own. It works.
We submit to you that the practical way to unpack that very big problem is by breaking it into smaller, more easily solvable units.
Just as performers break down acting challenges into moment to moment...
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"[The Coynes'] logical thinking exercises will help readers to maximize their ideation skills, both by systematically exploring every possible nook and cranny of an issue to find new ideas, and by systematically evaluating and honing the results." -Publishers Weekly
From business strategists (and brothers) Shawn and Kevin Coyne comes a breakthrough approach to developing better ideas. Brainsteering is a comprehensive, research-based, tried-and-tested...