A scientific look at how humans make stories and comparing good to bad stories based on that science.

It is quite an endeavor to try and develop a philosophy of storytelling using science and psychological research and Will Storr attempts to do just that in this book as he provides an various findings on how the human mind works, both anecdotally and psychologically. This book is clearly meant for writers, but even then, the way in which Storr comes to his conclusions can be off putting and at times, just random leaps from point to point. His philosophical belief is that human existence is pointless and that this is supported by the research he’s done for his book.. While there are certainly great observations made throughout this work, and I mean real GEMS, the fact that they are wrapped around the shawl of human irrelevance, makes it difficult to let those gems truly shine.

Storr also makes the argument that science is the best way to understand character, which, once again, is a novel attempt of trying to develop one’s style of storytelling using science. Some may feel that doing so removes the actual art of storytelling to believe that morality and the human condition can be simplified into scientific proofs, but I would try to stick it out for those moments of great observation done by Storr.

While I may disagree with him on a foundational level, I do agree with him artistically in that what drives a story is how well we can find ourselves in the characters of our stories. The human condition is not driven by plot, but by human connection to a human story.

I was hoping for a practical how-to book about storytelling that mixes a bit of science to justify the advice.

Instead, I got something fairly academic and a chore to read.

If you can stomach scientific/academic writing, then you will love this book because it fits that objective perfectly.
You would give it 5 stars.
I prefer lighter, more practical tips.

Some books you can't put down.

This one is a struggle to pick up.

While I do like to look at different people's approaches to storytelling, and admire the writer's effort here, this book was difficult for me to finish.

This book provides an evolutionary story for why humans like to tell stories. He talked about the "hallucinatory neural model of the world" and included explanations like "The controlled hallucination inside the silent, black vault of our skulls that we experience as reality is warped by faulty information. But because this distorted reality is the only reality we know, we just can't see where it's gone wrong."

He also referred to psychology when talking about building personalities and flawed characters. He occasionally referred to scientific studies that show things like how our brains like cause and effect and prefer sentences that allow us to "see" the story unfold like a movie. He admitted these principles are already found in common story writing advice like "show don't tell" and "use active rather than passive sentences."

I didn't find his musings very useful. In fact, I didn't agree with some of his conclusions--like you should build suspense by including a lot of detail to draw out a scene. I suppose it depends on what sort of suspense you're trying to create, but this is bad advice for a fast-paced thriller or suspense genre novel.

Will Storr's The Science of Storytelling looks in depth at the psychology of stories, and the way that they are programmed into us. It makes interesting points, and tells a scientifically oriented narrative in an approachable method. The writing is sometimes magnificent with beautiful prose, and other times seems to take missteps. The focus on writers of stories as the primary audience feels narrow, and it's occasionally off topic. On the whole, though, it has a broad appeal and will provide new perspectives to its readers.

Review to be posted upon publication.

I enjoyed the academic/scientific approach the author used to create this necessary resource. Storr digs into storytelling's history and evolution to expose the primitive roots of human survival. I do think the Storr is a little chatty about his successes but it was interesting to learn about how he came to write this new release.

This book is a fascinating approach to story structure and the craft of writing fiction. I intend to add it to my reference library of writing books and have recommended it to writer colleagues and friends from grad school. It's an interesting approach to creation of character, narrative, plot, and so forth seen through the lens of brain science and psychology.

I must say I didn't finish this book. First the format (pdf) was uncomfortable to read for me -- which in itself is absolutely irrelevant to the book -- and second because it held more science than I cared to learn. I honestly do not know how to rate it, but this system forces me to do it anyway, and I'm sorry for it, I should be able to leave it blank, but can't. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher.

The Science of Storytelling is a psychology book. It looks at the age-old art of storytelling through what we know today about what catches the attention, what holds it, what intrigues the mind, repulses it or gets it calculating. All this in aid of writing novels and screenplays, which Will Storr teaches.

When I was a (marketing) manager, I had the reputation of always telling stories. Any time I wanted some sort of action taken, I would tell a story where similar circumstances led to the needed result. It’s just natural to tell stories people can relate to (I noticeably more than most, apparently). So with novels and films. It’s all about manipulating hallucinations for fun and profit. Knowing how the mind works makes modern fiction ever more gripping (when done right). Motivations, self-delusion and subconscious acts all figure prominently in Storr’s analyses.

He is very observant, deconstructing not just stories and scenes, but sentences and words. He gets the reader to understand the completely different impact of a simple declaration like: Jane gave her dad a kitten vs Jane gave a kitten to her dad. There’s not just a world of difference, but a world of different potential between the two sentences.

Similarly, everything must have a purpose. He says scenes without cause and effect are boring.

The basic driver of everything is the character. Who is s/he really? It might take the entire novel for the character to find out, and the reader might know well before s/he does. Bizarre turns should give the reader clues.

The basic structure is the five act drama. Things happen in a certain order and certain scenarios must be fulfilled to get to the next step. It has been the basis of storytelling for 2000 years, he says. It works, and is path of least resistance in writing fiction.

As for plots, he cites Christopher Booker numerous times that there are only seven. Everything we see and read is a variant of one of them.

The whole crux is what Storr calls a sacred flaw (He devotes the Appendix to it). The character controls his own little world, as we all must or go crazy. In that world the character is safe, secure, and most of all, right. It is the theory of control. Something happens to shake that control and that theory, and so begins a fight, an adventure, a chase, an investigation, a crusade, a campaign…. This is of course just life. The world and the universe are constantly changing. Anyone who holds to an unshakeable position will prove to be sadly mistaken. No matter who you are or what you perceive, it works until it doesn’t, and you have to adjust the theory to fit the new reality.

One thing that really slowed me down was Storr’s use of pronouns. He mixes singular and plural like they were masculine and feminine. Michael Corleone is they/them, for example. At one point, he uses the word themself, a combination of singular and plural in a single word, which grabbed my attention and made me forget what I was reading. I actually stopped and posted it on a forum to see if anyone else had ever encountered it. Why bother to squeeze a tortured neuter pronoun in for someone the reader clearly knows is female? Sometimes it’s hard to know who he is referring to. His and their are not interchangeable.

Overall, it’s an instructive ride, as Storr cites passages from numerous books and films to prove his points. It’s all true and relatable. He cites Roy Baumeister: “Life is change that yearns for stability.” And good luck with that.

David Wineberg

The title actually give away a lot of what’s going on with this book. While the subject is storytelling, the approach is quite academic. Did not finish this one.