Into the Woods
A Five-Act Journey Into Story

Description
"A marvelous analysis of screenwriting and, with any luck, should help a great many people achieve their dreams." --Julian Fellowes, creator of Downton Abbey
With examples ranging from The Godfather to True Detective, Mad Men to Macbeth, and fairy tales to Forbrydelsen (The Killing), John Yorke utilizes Shakespearean five-act structure as a key to analyzing all storytelling in all narrative forms, from film and television to theatre and novel-writing--a big step from the usual three-act approach. Chapters here include:
- Three-Act Structure
- Five-Act Structure
- The Importance of Change
- How We Tell Stories
- The Inciting Incident
- Putting It All Together
- Character and Characterization
- Exposition
- Subtext
- And much more!
Into the Woods is destined to sit alongside David Mamet's Three Uses of the Knife, Robert McKee's Story, Syd Field's Screenplay, and Lajos Egri's The Art of Dramatic Writing as one of the most original, useful, and inspiring books ever on dramatic writing.
"Brilliant on story structure." --Ken Follett, New York Times bestselling author
About this Author
John Yorke is Managing Director of Company Pictures, the UK drama independent behind Shameless, The White Queen, and Wolf Hall. A former Head of BBC Drama Production, he championed some of the defining works of British television including Life On Mars, The Street, Shameless, and Waterloo Road. In 2005 he created the BBC Writers Academy. John Yorke is Visiting Professor of English Language and Literature at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne and lives and works in London.
Reviews
"This is a marvelous analysis of screenwriting and, with any luck, should help a great many people achieve their dreams."--Julian Fellowes, creator/writer, Downton Abbey
"All script writers will want to read it." --Caitlin Moran, bestselling author of How to Be a Woman
"Into the Woods by John Yorke is brilliant on story structure." --Ken Follett, bestselling author of Pillars of the Earth
"There is no end of books that instruct us on how to write the perfect screenplay, but few that delve more deeply into the art of storytelling than this erudite volume." --Financial Times
"Love storytelling? You need this inspiring book. John Yorke dissects the structure of stories with a joyous enthusiasm allied to precise, encyclopedic knowledge. Guaranteed to send you back to your writing desk with newfound excitement and drive." --Chris Chibnall, creator/writer, Broadchurch and Gracepoint
"Outrageously good and by far and away the best book of its kind I've ever read. I recognized so much truth in it. But more than that, I learned a great deal. Time and again, Yorke articulates things I've always felt but have never been able to describe . . . This is a love story to story--erudite, witty and full of practical magic. I struggle to think of the writer who wouldn't benefit from reading it--even if they don't notice because they're too busy enjoying every page."-- Neil Cross, creator/writer, Luther and Crossbones
"Part 'how-to' manual, part 'why-to' celebration, Into the Woods is a wide-reaching and infectiously passionate exploration of storytelling in all its guises . . . exciting and thought-provoking." --Emma Frost, screenwriter, The White Queen and Shameless
"John Yorke's Into the Woods is brilliant. It illuminates and explains." --Susan Hill, author of The Woman In Black and the Simon Serrailler crime novels
"Even for a convinced sceptic, John Yorke's book, with its massive field of reference from Aristotle to Glee, and from Shakespeare to Spooks, is a highly persuasive and highly energetic read."--Dominic Dromgoole, Artistic Director, the Globe Theatre
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