A Story is a Promise: Good Things to Know Before Writing a Novel, Screenplay or Play

by Bill Johnson and Bill Johnson

Book Overview

In A Story Is a Promise, Bill Johnson posits that a well-designed story "promises dramatic fulfillment of our needs." Too often, says Johnson, writers embark on projects without first identifying the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0936085614
• ISBN13: 9780936085616
• Release Date: January 2000
• Publisher: Blue Heron Publishing
• Length: 187 Pages
• Weight: 0.63 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.5" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

Create compelling stories!

Recently I wrote a short story for a friend and it amused her to no end, yet she said the ending was somewhat surprising to her. I wondered if I had in fact left something out of the story, which would have otherwise prepared her for such a harsh ending. I had never written a story before, let alone developed a plot. I had also never thought about how emotionally fulfilling a story would need to be, so I was a great candidate for reading this excellent guide. I simply sat down and wrote the story one night on a whim. I saw the story playing in my head and simply wrote down what I saw. It was fascinating since I had never experienced anything like that before. I mostly write recipes and this was new territory for me. Since I review popular novels and movies, I have noticed a deeper truth running through them. After watching "The Big Country" I noticed a theme of "pride" running through the entire movie. Everything in the movie revolved around the fight between two very selfish men. Most books which also capture my attention have a definite theme running through them. Since I read "A Story is a Promise," I realized how true it really is. When reading "Kitchen" by Banana Yoshimoto, I felt cheated by the ending. Something was missing......"Had I really spent that much time reading, only to feel a sense of anger at the ending?" While I was addicted to reading the entire book, nothing prepared me for the ending, which seemed to drift off into nothing. Had the promise been broken? That is the problem with many stories written without an underlying purpose. Bill Johnson explores this in depth. This is the best book I have read on understanding the most difficult of all arts: writing! To create a dramatic engaging story takes and understanding of the underlying principles. Authors of the most popular works have tapped into this deeper understanding. They have fulfilled the promise to the reader. Bill Johnson knows why human's need stories. That is something many of us have most likely never really considered. Why do we love a great story? Is there something within us that wants to escape? Or do stories help us survive when we can't think of any other way to explain our lives? Do the stories we tell ourselves give us a sense of belonging? "Take away a person's sense of place in the world, and you'll have an unhappy person." -Bill Johnson This book is a highly intellectual look at how to fulfill the promise to your readers. It is written in a more conversational style. Bill took his nagging feeling that there was more to a story than just the plot and turned his quest for answers into a book which can help you write that next novel or screenplay. You will discover how a story function like a promise, learn to develop dynamic characters and be more aware of the role of ideas in a story line. The role of conflict in storytelling, writing that first dramatic sentence and developing a plot are all discussed. By reading this book you will in fact be

Best of the best on the subject of storytelling

Alas, I have studied many of the popular books on the craft of writing. Bill Johnson's stands at the very top of my recommended list. Why? Well, most books teach specific techniques and/or discuss structured approaches to storytelling. This is fine, but they somehow skirt the issue of what really separates the good stories from the bad. Bill gets to the bottom of this most critical issue (it is curious that so many of the other books have overlooked the essence of these most important points). I found that the principles Bill outlines are a great complement to the "hero's journey" approach taught in many popular books on the craft. Bill's book is NOT about teaching specific techniques as much as it is about understanding the essence of what will make your story compelling. As Bill will teach you, there are some specific things you need to do . . . and if you don't . . . well, you will struggle more than you need to. If you are serious about writing, don't go without studying this wonderful book.

Valuable Guidance for Writers, Story Tellers and Critics

This is the best "how to" book I have read on writing screenplays, novels, and plays. The advice comes alive through extensive analysis of well-known stories, using a disciplined outline of story elements. The application of these points is greatly aided by questions directed at helping you write your story. Although intended for fiction writers, this book is equally applicable to nonfiction writers and can add great balance to critical reviews of literary works.If you are like me, you learned to write by doing small exercises . . . such as short stories, scenes, and descriptions. That's all fine, and it does improve one's writing, but somehow something is left out when you sit down to the first blank sheet of paper and begin writing a longer work. It is for just that moment that this book is wonderful. The purpose of the book is to help you create the kind of gripping stories that vividly fulfill peoples' unmet needs. The method is to give you a way to create a structure (and fill that structure) that serves that purpose. This structure features creating a promise to your readers in the first scene, creating a story (separate from the plot) that fulfills the promise, a story line to flesh out the story, a plot to support the story, a plot line to flesh out the plot, developing conflict, and employing thrusts and counterthrusts to create and sustain dramatic tension. Using this structure, you ruthlessly weed out what is extraneous, even if it is terrific writing.You are probably nodding your head agreeably at this point. But what you haven't seen yet is Mr. Johnson's wonderful analysis of Romeo and Juliet, The Hunt for Red October, Rocky, The Usual Suspects, Moby Dick, Die Hard, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, Reservoir Dogs, The Exorcist, Pride and Prejudice, and other powerful stories to examplify these points. These examples are incredibly effective in bringing the structure to life. They also make it clearer what critics and book reviewers should be on the look-out for in reading fiction. Section one of the book develops the key theme, a story is a promise. Section two works on helping you design the elements of your story. Section three looks at the distinctions between story line and plot line, and introduces a structured analysis to help you. Section four focuses on that dreaded moment of getting started with the writing. Section five contains detailed reviews of several popular stories to help ingrain the lessons outlined here.One of my favorite sections deals with the mistakes most often made by new fiction writers and how to overcome them. This section is worth the price of the book alone!Each chapter also has extensive questions and assignments, which can turn this into a workshop-like experience. The author also suggests ways for you to take your answers and assignments and get feedback on them. If you live by yourself in an isolated area with no telephone, he even gives you ideas for trying to help yourself to improve the

Serves a Special Need

If we want to write fiction, we need to produce characters, and dialogue and scenes, and several other things. One of those is a story. Some folks regard the story as the unchallenged number one priority of film writing. If you have trouble managing the story, or showing how it impacts the characters and plot, then this is the perfect book to learn technique for that problem. Johnson explains in a straightforward manner the concepts of story promise, plot, story premise and other factors that might seem simple at first thought. He shows how to integrate all of the factors to make them produce a great story-driven script. This book is very easy to read. thought provoking, educational and valuable for writers at all levels.

A powerful tool for writers, students and teachers alike.

Someone finally has found a clear, concise, and - this is the best part - captivating way to make us understand more than the anatomy of storytelling. Where many books teach dry theories and abstract notions of structure, Bill J. in his easy-to-follow, accessible fashion, looks beyond structure and makes sense of the tools and inner goals that "serve" the storyteller... This is not a theory of stories. This is a new perspective and understanding of their heart-and-soul. Through the use of examples and his step-by-step approach, Bill J. opens our eyes on the "art" of storytelling, making us understand how it is at once a weave of creativity, purpose and craft. Yet he does it simply... Like a conversation about and between friends. Clearly, but easily, he guides us to the underlying workings of how and why we find some stories strong, and others weak. When we wonder "Why do we find some books - plays and films - so satisfying and fulfulling, and others not?" Bill J. promises to explain... and he delivers!Teachers will find in this book a concrete, progressive manner of explaining and studying stories as well as the writing process and craft that stands behind it. High-school and college students for their part will be thrilled to discover a kinder, simpler approach to their reading and writing assignments. And writers... Well, writers and would-be writers alike will surely breathe a sigh of relief when they find how this new understanding leads to paths around the dreaded "writer's block". Need I say more?Only this: I wish I had come across such a book and Mr. Johnson's teachings a long time ago. Thank you, Bill, for your wonderful help.