Beating the Story by Robin D. Laws

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Contents

How to Pretend You've Read This Book (introduction)

Foreword

Prologue

Six Essential Tips

Sit Your Ass in the Chair and Write

Ideas are Worthless

Sit Your Ass in the Chair and Read

Don't just Read Books, Read Life

If You Can See Yourself Doing Anything Else, Do That Instead

Seriously, Sit Your Ass in the Chair and Write

Making This Book Work For You

Style Notes

Does This Sound Eerily Familiar?

Conceiving Your Story

The Random Actor Method: An Idea Springboard

Turning Inspiration into Premise

Throughline

Core Question

The Boil-Down
Subsidiary Questions

Protagonist Type

Procedural Heroes

Iconic Hero
Iconic Ethos
Iconic Hero Team-Ups
Transformational Hero
Transformational Arc
Origin Stories
Tactical Goal

Dramatic Characters

Poles
Dramatic Resolution
Anti-Heroes
Ensemble Dramas

Supporting Characters

Antagonist
Adversaries
Alazons
Rivals
Competing Antagonists
Foils
Sidekicks
Companions
Confidants
Parallel Foils
Psychopomps
Functionaries and Rude Mechanicals
Foils as Narrators
Fleshing Out Underwritten Characters

Transformational Supporting Characters

Arcs for Parallel Foils

Thematic Opposition

Genre and Expectation

Seeking Variation
Seeking a Grounding
Stance
Validatory
Revivalist
Comedic
Parodic
Satirical
Revisionist
Meta-Fictional

The Building Blocks of Narrative

Our First Example

Laying the Groundwork

Mapping Your Story

First Draft

Revision

Editing and Giving Notes

Beat Analysis

Now, Over To You

Inspiration to Premise Worksheet

Beat Mapping Quick Reference