My Story Can Beat Up Your Story

By Jeffrey Alan Schechter,

Book cover of My Story Can Beat Up Your Story: Ten Ways to Toughen Up Your Screenplay from Opening Hook to Knockout Punch

Book description

My Story Can Beat Up Your Story! is the same powerful, easy-to-learn system that industry insiders have used to generate millions of dollars in script sales and ?assignments. In a clear, step-by-step fashion, this book is a fun, eye-opening, ?brain-expanding, and often irreverent guide to writing stories that sell. Covering…

Shepherd is reader supported. When you buy books, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Why read it?

1 author picked My Story Can Beat Up Your Story as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Schechter divides the traditional 3-act structure into four parts; Act 1, Act 2A, Act 2B, and Act 3. While that’s not revolutionary in itself, he uses this four-part breakdown to structure multiple story elements like theme and motivation. My favorite element is his breakdown of the character’s story evolution into four archetypes: Orphan, Wanderer, Warrior, and Martyr. Seeing how these archetypes can be metaphorical such as Jason Bourne being “orphaned” from his previous life at the beginning of The Bourne Identity, or literal, such as Rose martyring herself by returning to the sinking Titanic to rescue Jack, is worth the…

From Marshall's list on story structure.

Want books like My Story Can Beat Up Your Story?

Our community of 10,000+ authors has personally recommended 98 books like My Story Can Beat Up Your Story.

Browse books like My Story Can Beat Up Your Story

5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in screenwriting, archetypes, and Los Angeles?

10,000+ authors have recommended their favorite books and what they love about them. Browse their picks for the best books about screenwriting, archetypes, and Los Angeles.

Screenwriting Explore 26 books about screenwriting
Archetypes Explore 29 books about archetypes
Los Angeles Explore 315 books about Los Angeles