-
The Seven Basic Plots
- Why We Tell Stories
- Narrated by: Liam Gerrard
- Length: 38 hrs and 58 mins
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy for $34.99
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
The Hero with a Thousand Faces
- The Collected Works of Joseph Campbell
- By: Joseph Campbell
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey, John Lee, Susan Denaker
- Length: 14 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Since its release in 1949, The Hero with a Thousand Faces has influenced millions of readers by combining the insights of modern psychology with Joseph Campbell's revolutionary understanding of comparative mythology. In this book, Campbell outlines the Hero's Journey, a universal motif of adventure and transformation that runs through virtually all of the world's mythic traditions. He also explores the Cosmogonic Cycle, the mythic pattern of world creation and destruction.
-
-
Hard to finish
- By DBruno1987 on 10-25-16
By: Joseph Campbell
-
Save the Cat!
- The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need
- By: Blake Snyder
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 5 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Here's what started the phenomenon: This book has been a best seller for over 15 years and has been used by screenwriters around the world! Blake Snyder tells all in this fast, funny, and candid look inside the movie business. Save the Cat is just one of many ironclad rules for making your ideas more marketable and your script more satisfying.
-
-
Don't waste your time
- By Amazon Customer on 02-05-20
By: Blake Snyder
-
Creating Character Arcs
- The Masterful Author's Guide to Uniting Story Structure, Plot, and Character Development
- By: K.M. Weiland
- Narrated by: Sonja Field
- Length: 5 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Have you written a story with an exciting concept and interesting characters - but it just isn't grabbing the attention of readers or agents? It's time to look deeper into the story beats that create realistic and compelling character arcs. Internationally published, award-winning novelist K.M. Weiland shares her acclaimed method for achieving memorable and moving character arcs in every book you write.
-
-
Why We Read (Listen To) These Books
- By C. Deputy on 06-07-18
By: K.M. Weiland
-
20 Master Plots
- And How to Build Them
- By: Ronald B. Tobias
- Narrated by: Barry Abrams
- Length: 9 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The best stories linger in the hearts and minds of readers for decades. These tales gain their power through plots that connect with the audience on both an emotional and intellectual level. Ronald B. Tobias details these 20 time-tested plots. Each is discussed and analyzed, illustrating how a successful plot integrates all the elements of a story. Tobias then reveals how to use these plots effectively in your own work.
-
-
Some Good Ideas
- By Christine Amsden on 10-05-20
By: Ronald B. Tobias
-
The Science of Storytelling
- By: Will Storr
- Narrated by: James Clamp
- Length: 6 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
How do master storytellers compel us? There have been many attempts to understand what makes a good story, but few have used a scientific approach. In The Science of Storytelling, Will Storr applies dazzling psychological research and cutting-edge neuroscience to our myths and archetypes to show how we can tell better stories, revealing, among other things, how storytellers - and also our brains - create worlds by being attuned to moments of unexpected change.
-
-
All middling reviews correct
- By Daniel A. Boyd on 08-28-20
By: Will Storr
-
Writing for Emotional Impact
- Advanced Dramatic Techniques to Attract, Engage, and Fascinate the Reader from Beginning to End
- By: Karl Iglesias
- Narrated by: Karl Iglesias
- Length: 9 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
There are three kinds of feelings when reading a story: boredom, interest, and wow! To become a successful writer, you must create the wow feeling on as many pages as possible, and this requires writing that engages the reader emotionally. In his best-selling book, screenwriter Karl Iglesias explored the working habits of A-list Hollywood scribes. Now, he breaks new ground by focusing on the psychology of the reader.
-
-
Best audiobook by far for writing screenplays
- By FilmmakerSuperNova on 07-04-20
By: Karl Iglesias
-
The Hero with a Thousand Faces
- The Collected Works of Joseph Campbell
- By: Joseph Campbell
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey, John Lee, Susan Denaker
- Length: 14 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Since its release in 1949, The Hero with a Thousand Faces has influenced millions of readers by combining the insights of modern psychology with Joseph Campbell's revolutionary understanding of comparative mythology. In this book, Campbell outlines the Hero's Journey, a universal motif of adventure and transformation that runs through virtually all of the world's mythic traditions. He also explores the Cosmogonic Cycle, the mythic pattern of world creation and destruction.
-
-
Hard to finish
- By DBruno1987 on 10-25-16
By: Joseph Campbell
-
Save the Cat!
- The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need
- By: Blake Snyder
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 5 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Here's what started the phenomenon: This book has been a best seller for over 15 years and has been used by screenwriters around the world! Blake Snyder tells all in this fast, funny, and candid look inside the movie business. Save the Cat is just one of many ironclad rules for making your ideas more marketable and your script more satisfying.
-
-
Don't waste your time
- By Amazon Customer on 02-05-20
By: Blake Snyder
-
Creating Character Arcs
- The Masterful Author's Guide to Uniting Story Structure, Plot, and Character Development
- By: K.M. Weiland
- Narrated by: Sonja Field
- Length: 5 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Have you written a story with an exciting concept and interesting characters - but it just isn't grabbing the attention of readers or agents? It's time to look deeper into the story beats that create realistic and compelling character arcs. Internationally published, award-winning novelist K.M. Weiland shares her acclaimed method for achieving memorable and moving character arcs in every book you write.
-
-
Why We Read (Listen To) These Books
- By C. Deputy on 06-07-18
By: K.M. Weiland
-
20 Master Plots
- And How to Build Them
- By: Ronald B. Tobias
- Narrated by: Barry Abrams
- Length: 9 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The best stories linger in the hearts and minds of readers for decades. These tales gain their power through plots that connect with the audience on both an emotional and intellectual level. Ronald B. Tobias details these 20 time-tested plots. Each is discussed and analyzed, illustrating how a successful plot integrates all the elements of a story. Tobias then reveals how to use these plots effectively in your own work.
-
-
Some Good Ideas
- By Christine Amsden on 10-05-20
By: Ronald B. Tobias
-
The Science of Storytelling
- By: Will Storr
- Narrated by: James Clamp
- Length: 6 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
How do master storytellers compel us? There have been many attempts to understand what makes a good story, but few have used a scientific approach. In The Science of Storytelling, Will Storr applies dazzling psychological research and cutting-edge neuroscience to our myths and archetypes to show how we can tell better stories, revealing, among other things, how storytellers - and also our brains - create worlds by being attuned to moments of unexpected change.
-
-
All middling reviews correct
- By Daniel A. Boyd on 08-28-20
By: Will Storr
-
Writing for Emotional Impact
- Advanced Dramatic Techniques to Attract, Engage, and Fascinate the Reader from Beginning to End
- By: Karl Iglesias
- Narrated by: Karl Iglesias
- Length: 9 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
There are three kinds of feelings when reading a story: boredom, interest, and wow! To become a successful writer, you must create the wow feeling on as many pages as possible, and this requires writing that engages the reader emotionally. In his best-selling book, screenwriter Karl Iglesias explored the working habits of A-list Hollywood scribes. Now, he breaks new ground by focusing on the psychology of the reader.
-
-
Best audiobook by far for writing screenplays
- By FilmmakerSuperNova on 07-04-20
By: Karl Iglesias
-
The Emotional Craft of Fiction
- How to Write the Story Beneath the Surface
- By: Donald Maass
- Narrated by: Timothy Andrés Pabon
- Length: 7 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
While writers might disagree over showing versus telling or plotting versus pantsing, none would argue this: If you want to write strong fiction, you must make your readers feel. The reader's experience must be an emotional journey of its own, one as involving as your characters' struggles, discoveries, and triumphs are for you. That's where The Emotional Craft of Fiction comes in. Veteran literary agent and expert fiction instructor Donald Maass shows you how to use story to provoke a visceral and emotional experience in readers.
-
-
Read this if you're a writer
- By Reed Ramlow on 08-08-20
By: Donald Maass
-
Story
- Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting
- By: Robert McKee
- Narrated by: Robert McKee
- Length: 6 hrs and 12 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Robert McKee's screenwriting workshops have earned him an international reputation for inspiring novices, refining works in progress, and putting major screenwriting careers back on track. Quincy Jones, Diane Keaton, Gloria Steinem, Julia Roberts, John Cleese, and David Bowie are just a few of his celebrity alumni. Writers, producers, development executives, and agents all flock to his lecture series, praising it as a mesmerizing and intense learning experience.
-
-
Required Listening
- By Steve on 10-05-09
By: Robert McKee
-
Character
- The Art of Role and Cast Design for Page, Stage, and Screen
- By: Robert McKee
- Narrated by: Robert McKee
- Length: 15 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Following up his perennially best-selling writers' guide Story and his inspiring exploration of the art of verbal action in Dialogue, the most sought-after expert in the storytelling brings his insights to the creation of compelling characters and the design of their casts. Character explores the design of a character universe: The dimensionality, complexity and arcing of a protagonist, the invention of orbiting major characters, all encircled by a cast of service and supporting roles.
-
-
Great substance except for political correctness
- By Amazon Kunde on 12-08-21
By: Robert McKee
-
Nutshell
- By: Ian McEwan
- Narrated by: Rory Kinnear
- Length: 5 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the best-selling author of Atonement, Nutshell is a classic story of murder and deceit, told by a narrator with a perspective and voice unlike any in recent literature. A bravura performance, it is the finest recent work from a true master. To be bound in a nutshell, see the world in two inches of ivory, in a grain of sand. Why not, when all of literature, all of art, of human endeavour is just a speck in the universe of possible things?
-
-
The Long Version, and the Short.
- By Ilana on 09-19-16
By: Ian McEwan
-
The Story Grid
- What Good Editors Know
- By: Shawn Coyne
- Narrated by: Dan Portnoy
- Length: 8 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Story Grid is a tool developed by editor Shawn Coyne to analyze stories and provide helpful editorial comments. It's like a CT Scan that takes a photo of the global story and tells the editor or writer what is working, what is not, and what must be done to make what works better and fix what's not. The Story Grid breaks down the component parts of stories to identify the problems. And finding the problems in a story is almost as difficult as the writing of the story itself (maybe even more difficult).
-
-
good story, but audiobook needs an editor
- By Jeroen de Jong on 12-17-19
By: Shawn Coyne
-
Dialogue
- The Art of Verbal Action for Page, Stage, and Screen
- By: Robert McKee
- Narrated by: Robert McKee
- Length: 11 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Dialogue, Robert McKee offers in-depth analysis for how characters speak on the screen, on the stage, and on the page in believable and engaging ways. From Macbeth to Breaking Bad, McKee deconstructs key scenes to illustrate the strategies and techniques of dialogue. Dialogue applies a framework of incisive thinking to instruct the prospective writer on how to craft artful, impactful speech.
-
-
A wealth of content
- By CXEC on 09-06-17
By: Robert McKee
-
The Secrets of Story
- Innovative Tools for Perfecting Your Fiction and Captivating Readers
- By: Matt Bird
- Narrated by: Eric Michael Summerer
- Length: 12 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Secrets of Story is a revolutionary and comprehensive writing guide for the 21st century, focused on clever ways to get an audience to fully identify with an all-too-human hero. Authors will learn to how to cut through pop culture noise and win over a jaded modern audience by rediscovering the heart of writing: shaping stories that ring true to our shared understanding of human nature.
-
-
Career Changing
- By Frances on 04-19-18
By: Matt Bird
-
Write Your Novel from the Middle
- A New Approach for Plotters, Pantsers and Everyone in Between
- By: James Scott Bell
- Narrated by: James Scott Bell
- Length: 2 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
what if it's not the beginning or the end that is the key to a successful book? What if, amazing as it may seem, the place to begin writing your novel is in the very middle of the story? According to writing teacher James Scott Bell, that's exactly where you'll find your story's heart and heat. Bell's "Mirror Moment" is the secret, and its power is available to any writer, at any stage of the writing process...Bell presents a truly unique approach to writing a novel, one that will stand the test of time and serve you all your writing life.
-
-
Bell's excellent advice, less well conveyed
- By Jennifer on 09-14-20
By: James Scott Bell
-
Story Genius
- How to Use Brain Science to Go Beyond Outlining and Write a Riveting Novel (Before You Waste Three Years Writing 327 Pages That Go Nowhere)
- By: Lisa Cron
- Narrated by: Brittany Pressley
- Length: 9 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It's every novelist's greatest fear: pouring their blood, sweat, and tears into writing hundreds of pages only to realize that their story has no sense of urgency, no internal logic, and so is a page-one rewrite. The prevailing wisdom in the writing community is that there are just two ways around this problem: pantsing (winging it) and plotting (focusing on the external plot).
-
-
As a fantasy writer, this book was not for me.
- By Wendy on 01-10-21
By: Lisa Cron
-
The Secrets of Character
- Writing a Hero Anyone Will Love
- By: Matt Bird
- Narrated by: Eric Michael Summerer
- Length: 8 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The hardest yet most essential element of writing great fiction is character—specifically, creating a central hero who is relatable, compelling, and worth the audience's precious time. In this entertaining and practical guide, popular blogger, writing coach and screenwriter Matt Bird breaks down what makes characters embraceable and unforgettable, and presents insider tips and tricks for writers of all levels and genres.
-
-
Read it now!
- By Josiah on 06-07-22
By: Matt Bird
-
Ad Hominem
- By: Eric Gay
- Narrated by: Joel Simler
- Length: 10 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a world filled with powerful witches and wizards, Professor Marcus Orren is about as magical as your average brick, leading to a life of rampant cynicism, coupled with mild-to-moderate alcohol abuse. His latest theory, an academic rebuttal of a God named Tomas, stands so air-tight that the Universe itself is forced to agree, promptly erasing the actual Tomas straight from existence. Unfortunately for Marcus, there are hundreds of Gods roaming the heavens above, and nearly all are the type to hold a grudge.
-
-
Fun Listen
- By Lanerchel on 06-06-22
By: Eric Gay
-
The Last Fifty Pages
- The Art and Craft of Unforgettable Endings
- By: James Scott Bell
- Narrated by: James Scott Bell
- Length: 2 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What are the secrets for writing a great ending for your novel? How do you leave readers so satisfied that they'll want another book by you, right now? What tools and techniques can shape your last 50 pages into a powerful, unforgettable experience? Listen to this audiobook, and you will come away with a thorough knowledge of why great endings work and how to create them for every novel you write.
-
-
Not Great and Out Of Touch With The Times
- By Joseph Blackhurst on 12-22-20
By: James Scott Bell
Publisher's Summary
This remarkable and monumental book at last provides a comprehensive answer to the age-old riddle of whether there are only a small number of "basic stories" in the world. Using a wealth of examples, from ancient myths and folk tales via the plays and novels of great literature to the popular movies and TV soap operas of today, it reveals that there are seven archetypal themes which recur throughout every kind of storytelling.
But this is only the prelude to an investigation into how and why we are "programmed" to imagine stories in these ways, and how they relate to the inmost patterns of human psychology. Drawing on a vast array of examples, from Proust to detective stories, from the Marquis de Sade to E.T., Christopher Booker then leads us through the extraordinary changes in the nature of storytelling over the past 200 years, and why so many stories have "lost the plot" by losing touch with their underlying archetypal purpose.
Booker analyzes why evolution has given us the need to tell stories and illustrates how storytelling has provided a uniquely revealing mirror to mankind's psychological development over the past 5,000 years. This seminal book opens up in an entirely new way our understanding of the real purpose storytelling plays in our lives, and will be a talking point for years to come.
More from the same
What listeners say about The Seven Basic Plots
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Kindle Customer
- 08-20-20
Save your time and money, the book is worthless
I started listening to the book with a lot of enthusiasm, taking notes, very interested as to where this was going. As the book progressed, however, little by little I realized how limited, reductive, but more importantly how inaccurate and baseless the attitude proposed by the author is. I determined to finish the book to hear out what the author had to say and, frankly, it got only worse.
1. Booker creates his basic plot structures by observing and interpreting certain stories and his solution to stories that don't fit the moulds he's made is to declare that all the stories outside of his own definition are failed stories in one way or another. And what is the basic principle of storytelling according to Booker? Maturing and succeeding one's parents in order to continue the cycle of life. Maturing for Booker also implies going from an egocentric view to a more altruistic one. To quote the author himself: "They reach the central goal of life which is true maturity as they develop to the point where they can play their proper role as a succession of one generation to another." Following the book, every good story should in one way or another tell this story and anything else is a failure. These failures include most of the literature written in the last two hundred years. Apparently, Joyce, Proust, Camus, Balzac, Stendhal, Chekov, Salinger, Beckett, basically the entire detective and mystery genre, and many more are all failed stories and symptoms of how our societies have been becoming more and more egocentric. But hey, Crocodile Dundee is mentioned many times with great admiration. If this framework interests you, by all means, buy this book. But I feel like this is an extremely reductionist view of literature, to limit all of the human storytelling to this one premise is ridiculously narrow and demands that we willfully ignore anything that does not fit in with this narrative.
2. Booker never actually engages with the texts he's criticizing. He outlines his seven basic plots in the first two parts and then proceeds to berate the stories he dislikes in the third, but he does not prove in any way how those stories are bad or don't function, he merely points out that they do not conform to the criteria he himself created. For example, when talking about Stendhal's The Red and the Black his sole criticism of the protagonist is that he's two-dimensional (never mind that up to that point he's never mentioned dimensionality in the book and all of a sudden it's an important aspect). Why is the protagonist two-dimensional? Well, because he does not mature exactly as Booker has defined maturation i.e. going from egotistical to non-egotistical. The entire book is basically this: Booker deduces criteria for literature from a couple of dozen stories and when encountering the stories that do not fit his criteria he does not revise the criteria but berates the stories.
3. Thirdly, Booker is far more concerned with attacking authors than the texts themselves. As noted above he almost never engages with the texts themselves but simply points out how they do not conform to his own nonsensical ideals, the rest of his criticism is simply a series of Ad Hominems against the authors. Booker feels himself very qualified to make psychological portraits of people he's never met, while himself not being a psychologist. For example, the criticism of Frankenstein is taken up far more by how much of a volatile character Percy Shelley, the husband of the author, was than by actually criticizing the text ( which obviously consists of simply stating that the text does not conform to Booker's own "overcoming the monster" narrative).
4. Another important aspect is where did Booker gets the idea that maturing and succeeding is the definitive force in any person's psyche. He got it from Booker's own interpretations of Jung and the book is full of praise of that man. Now Jung is a very interesting thinker, but the complexity of all of his research as well as the complexity of entire psychology is reduced to basically a small number of Jungian archetypes. Booker simply runs with a couple of Jungian ideas as if they are the be-all and end-all of psychology and if you know anything about psychology, you know that is not the case. Jung's contribution was important, but the science of psychology is far more complex than Booker thinks.
5. Booker is simply not well-read enough to discuss such a complex issue. He skips many important works even in the timeframe and place he does like. For example, Booker blames Romanticism for stories becoming egotistical, but the Iliad is filled with egotistical characters far before Romanticism and it is scarcely mentioned. There's no mention of important authors such as Rabelais or Laurence Stern and Divine Comedy, or most of the Bible apart from a couple of stories are barely mentioned. More importantly, the book concerns itself almost solely with mythologies, literature, and film from Europe and America. Apart from Aladin, I don't think Booker is aware of any middle Eastern story. The delightful complexities of the rest of 1001 Nights or the importance the stories in Koran are simply not present. Chinese or Hindu or Japanese mythology and literature are also absent. Amazing Latin-American literature is barely mentioned. Complex mythologies of the Norse or Egyptians or Aztec and Maya are omitted. The book which is supposed to get to the core of all story-telling sure does omit an immense part of story-telling.
6. The fourth part of the book is concerned more with history and psychology and how Booker's crackpot ideas manifest themselves in those fields according to him. I found it to be almost complete gibberish, but it would be too much to cover here. Just keep in mind that if you do read this part, you'll be lectured on psychology and history from a man who neither a psychologist nor a historian. If you're interested in those fields, read the actual scientists.
7. Even had I loved the book, it's just horribly edited! The same stories are re-told again and again, infinite repetitions of all concepts and archetypes. No wonder the book last for almost 40 hours.
8. On a final note, I personally find many of his interpretations to be complete nonsense. Gilgamesh does not really become less egotistical as the story progresses, he simply concludes he can prolong his identity in other ways. He criticizes Ulysses for being nothing like the Oddysey - can you imagine missing the point more? His interpretations of War and Piece are almost childish, the complexities of competing theories of history are completely lost on him. He thinks Don Quijote is about how an old man finally overcomes his madness, I don't think Booker is aware of the concept of meta-textuality. He praises Dostoevsky, but I think he's only read two of his books. The Idiot or especially the Letters from the Underground do not fit his plots at all, but Booker seems to have never read them. And boy oh boy, does he misrepresent Shakespeare.
In the epilogue, Booker contends that anyone who disagrees with his views probably thinks that they already know what stories are about. The irony seems to escape him. He then states how his way of breaking down stories will definitely be "widely accepted." Yeah, that didn't happen. What pathetic, delusions of grandeur. This book is Dunning–Kruger effect manifested in physical form. It is honestly shameful that the author dedicated 34 years of his life to something that breaks down at the slightest examination.
In short, if you want to hear how all of storytelling is about growing up, getting married, and having some kids, this book is for you. If you think the human experience, as well as storytelling, is far more complex than this, don't waste your time here.
17 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Thoughtful Learner
- 03-17-19
Narration forced me to return it.
The narration forced me to return it. The content appears to be well-researched and more than worth one's time and attention. I am continually mystified over the poor narration of good material. I have to assume that the author was powerless to stop it.
9 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Wendy’s QC
- 02-20-20
So much more than a book about plots.
I was looking for deeper insight into story telling, but this author showed me story telling is not a simple topic to be understood without a full dive into history, psychology, science/nature and the ultimate questions in life. This is one of those books I wish everyone would read and I have no doubt it will play a role in humanity’s future. Wish I could meet Mr. Booker and thank him for what must have been an incomprehensible amount of work in bringing us this insight.
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- CHughes
- 08-24-19
Insightful but too long
I did enjoy the book but it went on and on and on and on. It could have been jut as effective if they had been more proficient in editing it down.
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Martin M
- 05-10-19
Excellent!
Fantastic and brilliant. Content you won't find elsewhere. I enjoyed the narrator and thought he did an excellent job of bringing this wonderful book to life. Highly recommended.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Francisco
- 02-03-22
Entertaining every minute!
Compelling theory of storytelling explained through a fun run across hundreds titles and thousands of years. Spoiler alerts of course ; )
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- lindsay
- 01-20-20
Absolutely love
I like patterns, and this book is full of the patterns of our literature. Especially liked learning about hamlet and the epic of Gilgamesh. Neat. Easy listen.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous User
- 11-18-19
Magnificent!
Interesting form, great insights on development trends, wise observations and bright, strong humor make this book absolutely fascinating. Thank you!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- K. J. Kelly
- 06-23-19
It's all about archetypes. Long but worth the time
It's all about archetypes. A new way to look at stories. Long but worth the time.
I did wonder at times if I'd manage the entirety, but actually, once I'd settled into listening, this sped by.
A fascinating account spanning the whole of recorded storytelling, splitting the narratives we are familiar with (or not so) into seven categories. These are each broken down into constituent parts, elements focused on important to each, examples given that exemplify their structure and characteristics.
I liked the way the author details each book he utilises - the synopsis of the entire plot, useful if you've not read it or can't remember the detail, in order to compare it with whichever of the seven plots it fits into. I even learnt about several books I've not yet read (and sometimes not heard of). Even some popular films (Close Encounters, E.T. The Extra Terrestrial) are used as examples, showing that it's not just literary fiction that fits.
It did take some concentration, on audiobook, to continue listening for in excess of 38 hours, but the narrator's voice was absorbing and rousing.
This is a book I actually own in paperback and would want to read again on paper, to really attempt to take in more, there is so much detail that it feels impossible to soak up everything and see the constituent parts as sections of the whole.
Seeing stories as one of seven plots is an unfamiliar way of looking at a particular narrative, but a useful one, and picking out the common elements and archetypes an excellent means of classifying, breaking down, or potentially creating one.
Surprisingly enjoyable, though I would want a second read-through.
With thanks to Nudge Books for providing a sample Audible copy.
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Paul Ledger
- 09-08-21
Absolutely fantastic
This is my only review that I have submitted about a book but this one, albeit a behemoth at 30-hours listening, is incredible.
It manages to explain so much about stories, story telling, and ourselves as people. I couldn’t recommend it enough, it is intelligent and fascinating and well-deserved of commendation.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- James McAvoy
- 06-26-22
Most advanced level view on storytelling
Goes into detail from the very miniscule cornes of storytelling, to such grandiouse topics as communism.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- sin sin minkin
- 08-03-19
interesting ideas spoiled
I really wanted to keep going with this book, but the narrator sounded as if he was taking the Mick the whole time. I will probably - though sometimes the writer flogs a well deceased horse - buy Seven Plots in physical form.
Seriously, though I'm a writer and love reading about story structure, I couldn't stand listening a moment longer.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Adele
- 07-31-19
A disappointingly narrow view on modern literature
The book started promising with a very broad list of stories deconstructed but as soon as mainstream literature stops following the basic plots and ending in marriage or death, described at the beginning, the book becomes a rant on degrading art and society.
A lot of the book’s mass is retelling of the stories it talks about. Yet the understanding and deconstruction of modern literature pieces of the author seem to be very narrow and lacking context.
I didn’t find this book to be very useful in understanding story telling and would suggest rather listening to the base material itself - from greek myths, Aristotle to the modern pieces from Albert Camus and James Joyce (who the author seem to have hated) - it would give you a much more understanding of the subject and would be less of a waist of time.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Anonymous User
- 05-05-22
excellent in every way
great narrator
one of the most impactful books on my perspective on life. good for ppl interested in archetypal plots