A guide to understanding the major genres of the story world by the legendary writing teacher and author of The Anatomy of Story, John Truby. Most people think genres are simply categories on Netflix or Amazon that provide a helpful guide to making entertainment choices. Most people are wrong. Genre stories aren’t just a small subset of the films, video games, TV shows, and books that people consume. They are the all-stars of the entertainment world, comprising the vast majority of popular stories worldwide. That’s why businesses—movie studios, production companies, video game studios, and publishing houses—buy and sell them. Writers who want to succeed professionally must write the stories these businesses want to buy. Simply put, the storytelling game is won by mastering the structure of genres. The Anatomy of Genres: How Story Forms Explain the Way the World Works is the legendary writing teacher John Truby’s step-by-step guide to understanding and using the basic building blocks of the story world. He details the three ironclad rules of successful genre writing, and analyzes more than a dozen major genres and the essential plot events, or “beats,” that define each of them. As he shows, the ability to combine these beats in the right way is what separates stories that sell from those that don’t. Truby also reveals how a single story can combine elements of different genres, and how the best writers use this technique to craft unforgettable stories that stand out from the crowd. Just as Truby’s first book, The Anatomy of Story, changed the way writers develop stories, The Anatomy of Genres will enhance their quality and expand the impact they have on the world.

"This, the final volume of the Clarendon Press edition of Robert Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy, contains commentary on the Third Partition, in which Burton considers two especial forms of the disease, Love Melancholy and Religious Melancholy. In treating of these Burton had fewer precedents to follow than in previous sections, but he was able to draw largely on his extensive knowledge of classical literature and also on his acquaintance with English drama and poetry (including popular verse). As ever his range of reference to other authors is wide, and the volume includes a substantial index giving biographical and bibliographical information on the more than 1550 authorities cited in the Anatomy, most of whom are little known today. Also included are an index of the major topics discussed in the Anatomy, and a complete bibliography of all the works mentioned in the commentary." --Book Jacket.

What makes a song climb the charts and capture the hearts of millions? "The Anatomy of a Hit Song: Deconstructing Chart-Toppers" offers an in-depth exploration of the elements that create a musical hit. From the fundamentals of song structure and captivating lyrics to the intricacies of melody, harmony, and modern production techniques, this book dissects what it takes to make a song resonate globally. Featuring detailed case studies of iconic hits, insights into marketing and promotion, and predictions about the future of hit songs, this comprehensive guide is essential for music enthusiasts, aspiring songwriters, and industry professionals alike. Unlock the secrets behind the music you love and discover the art and science of crafting chart-topping hits.

Do you wish you could write like your favorite authors? Do you want to improve your writing? If you want to power up your stories, write with your readers in mind, and deliver what the market wants, this book is for you. In The Anatomy of a Best Seller, you’ll discover: + A step-by-step guide to deconstructing your favorite books so you can utilize the tools of winning authors. + Tips and tricks for breaking down everything from sentence level prose to plot, pacing, characters, story arcs, and more. + A comprehensive guide to understanding your market and what readers want. + Tactics for turning the lessons and tools you find into practical prose and stories. The Anatomy of a Best Seller is a comprehensive guide that will help you break down the best books in your genre, understand how and why they work, and then learn how to do it yourself. By the end of the book, you’ll be armed with the methods you need to deconstruct best sellers, understand the tools those authors are using, and how to implement them in your own work. If you like dark humor and learning through examples, then you’ll love Sacha Black’s guide to deconstructing winning books. Read The Anatomy of a Best Seller today and start writing your best seller.

Using Dostoevsky's most radical experiment in literary form as a springboard, Gary Saul Morson examines a number of key topics in contemporary literary theory, including the nature of literary genres and their relation to interpretation. He convincingly argues that genre is not a property of texts alone but arises from the interaction between texts and readers. Observing that changing conventions of interpretation and classifciation may alter the perception of particular works, Morson considers a number of problematic texts that have been read according to two contradictory sets of conventions - "boundary works"--And a futher group of texts - "threshold works" such as Dostoevsky's Diary of a writer - that were evidently designed by their authors to exploit this kind of hermeneutic ambivalence. Morson explores the nature of the literary utopia and its parodic form, the anti-utopia, and, returning to Dostoevsky's Diary as his example, a third form which exists as a sort of open dialogue of utopia and anti-utopia

Since Aristotle, genre has been one of the fundamental concepts of literary theory, and much of the world's literature and criticism has been shaped by ideas about the nature, function and value of literary genres. Modern developments in critical theory, however, prompted in part by the iconoclastic practices of modern writers and the emergence of new media such as film and television, have put in question traditional categories, and challenged the assumptions on which earlier genre theory was based. This has led not just to a reinterpretation of individual genres and the development of new classifications, but also to a radically new understanding of such key topics as the mixing and evolution of genres, generic hierarchies and genre-systems, the politics and sociology of genres, and the relations between genre and gender. This anthology, the first of its kind in English, charts these fascinating developments. Through judicious selections from major twentieth-century genre theorists including Yury Tynyanov, Vladimir Propp, Mikhail Bakhtin, Hans Robert Jauss, Rosalie Colie, Fredric Jameson, Tzvetan Todorov, Gérard Genette and Jacques Derrida, it demonstrates the central role that notions of genre have played in Russian Formalism, structuralism and post-structuralism, reception theory, and various modes of historical criticism. Each essay is accompanied by a detailed headnote, and the volume opens with a lucid introduction emphasising the international and interdisciplinary character of modern debates about genre. Also included are an annotated bibliography and a glossary of key terms, making this an indispensable resource for students and anyone interested in genre studies or literary theory.

Bloom leads readers through the labyrinthine paths which link the writers and critics who have informed and inspired him for so many years.

A seminal figure in Romantic poetry and visual arts, William Blake continues to influence modern literary criticism. In this book, Blake scholar Hazard Adams presents a selection of essays that span his long career exploring the work and thought of the groundbreaking artist. Topics range from the symbolic form in Blake's poem Jerusalem, the world view of Blake in relation to cultural policy and the notion of contrariety in Blake's writings to the relation of Chinese literary thought to that of the West, the critical work of Northrop Frye and Murray Krieger and the cultural and academic status of the humanities. The essays chart the evolution of Adams' own neo-Blakean literary thought over the past four decades, chronicling an effort to seek not merely a method but a philosophical base for the practice of literary criticism.

Storytelling has redefined marketing from a brand monologue to brand-consumer dialogues, conversations, and co-creation. Drawing on interdisciplinary narrative literature and the perspectives of legendary practitioners, this book reveals the art of storified brand communications and how storytelling affects our brains using consumer psychology and neuroscience insights. With theories, practice, application, and several conceptual models, tools, and techniques, this book invites researchers, academics, marketing practitioners, and students to decode the art of storytelling and join the debate on how storytelling transforms the discourse of marketing and brand communications. Ancient people gathered around fires to bond and tell stories, passing wisdom from generation to generation. Likewise, we tell stories through social media platforms that transcend time and space. Moreover, digital storytelling in multiple forms and formats has transformed marketing, ushering in an era of a creative renaissance by infusing the imagination of human minds with the power of technology. In this context, the book positions brand storytelling as an artistic science, evolving in the content creators' playground that fosters brand-consumer conversation and co-creation. Although the future of storytelling is mysterious, the author argues that human minds will continue to dominate machines, creating marketing magic at the intersection of narrative art and technological science. With a balance of theories and practice, including conceptual models, tools and techniques, this book offers valuable insights, allowing researchers, academics as well as astute marketing practitioners and students to follow how the art of storytelling, empowered by science and technology, is transforming the discourse of brand communications in the imagination age.

John Truby is one of the most respected and sought-after story consultants in the film industry, and his students have gone on to pen some of Hollywood's most successful films, including Sleepless in Seattle, Scream, and Shrek. The Anatomy of Story is his long-awaited first book, and it shares all of his secrets for writing a compelling script. Based on the lessons in his award-winning class, Great Screenwriting, The Anatomy of Story draws on a broad range of philosophy and mythology, offering fresh techniques and insightful anecdotes alongside Truby's own unique approach for how to build an effective, multifaceted narrative. Truby's method for constructing a story is at once insightful and practical, focusing on the hero's moral and emotional growth. As a result, writers will dig deep within and explore their own values and worldviews in order to create an effective story. Writers will come away with an extremely precise set of tools to work with—specific, useful techniques to make the audience care about their characters, and that make their characters grow in meaningful ways. They will construct a surprising plot that is unique to their particular concept, and they will learn how to express a moral vision that can genuinely move an audience. The foundations of story that Truby lays out are so fundamental they are applicable—and essential—to all writers, from novelists and short-story writers to journalists, memoirists, and writers of narrative non-fiction.