The world of story, John Truby explains in “The Anatomy of Story”, is “a complex and detailed web in which each element has story meaning and is in some way a physical expression of the character web and especially of the hero.” He uses the term “condenser-expander”, because the story world condenses meaning and then gradually expands it into the minds of the audience, like subliminal messages working in the background. Like we say in SpecOps jargon, you must try to conquer the “hearts and minds” of your audience, and with the right world for your story, you do just that.
structure of a story
Truby and the Moral Argument
Ah, how complex it is to write fiction! To write anything, for that matter. John Truby, in “The Anatomy of Story”, says I need to create moral growth, but how does one know how to grow morally in the first place? That is exactly why I began to write; why I am writing right now — to evolve morally. I need to be acquainted with words so that I can express my life through them, so that I can learn to understand it. The only solution I foresee is to grow as I write. Again, how complex!
Truby and the Story’s Skeleton
Every skeleton has a story. Or is it the other way around?
According to John Truby’s “The Anatomy of Story”, the structure of a story is how it develops across time. It is also the skeleton to which all the meat is attached. Every story has a minimum of seven parts, all of which must be organically linked to and flow naturally from your premise.
