Book SummaryStory, by Robert McKee

1-Page Summary1-Page Book Summary of Story

Stories are mysterious—like music, they have an emotional power over us that’s impossible to explain. However, screenwriter and storytelling expert Robert McKee argues that stories’ emotional power is not only explainable but also something you can learn to create. In Story, McKee breaks down how stories function and uses this theory to explain how you can write a gripping story.

McKee began teaching story in a class at the University of California and has since become one of the most sought-after lecturers on the topic of story. McKee writes Story as a guide for screenwriters, but his fundamental...

Story Summary What Makes a Story “Good”?

Before explaining how to write a good story, let's define what makes a story “good.” Humans are drawn to stories, whether we hear them from our friends, movies, books, TV shows, plays, or any number of other mediums. But what makes a good story so compelling?

McKee argues that, contrary to popular belief, we don’t seek out stories primarily as a way to escape our boring or unpleasant reality. Rather, we’re obsessed with stories because they fill a core human need: We need to find meaning, truth about the world that influences how we live our lives. When we encounter new meaning, it’s an intense, emotionally satisfying experience, and it’s a craving for this experience that motivates us to seek stories. The best stories are rich in meaning.

(Shortform note: In Man’s Search for Meaning, psychiatrist Viktor Frankl takes this idea further, arguing that meaning is more than a core human need—it’s the strongest motivating force in life for everyone. People who feel like they’re doing something important in life are happier, are healthier, and can...

Story Summary How Story Creates Emotion and Meaning

We’ve established that the purpose of story is to give the audience the satisfying feeling of discovering meaning about the world. But how exactly does a story accomplish this?

According to McKee, to engage an audience’s sense of meaning, a story needs three things:

1. An active protagonist to empathize with
2. Constant subversion of expectation
3. Positive or negative change

Let’s inspect each of these components in turn.

Ingredient #1: An Active Protagonist to Empathize With

First, McKee asserts that the audience needs at least one protagonist to identify with. When you show the audience that your protagonist has the same universal human desires as they do, they’ll empathize with that character—that is, they’ll recognize themselves in that character and feel emotionally invested in that character’s fate. Additionally, this protagonist must constantly take action toward a goal, as this is necessary to engage the audience (as we’ll see next).

(Shortform note: It’s not just enjoyable to empathize with fictional characters—it’s good for us. Research has shown that [stories can strengthen our ability to empathize with others in our...

Story Summary How to Intensify Your Story’s Meaning

We’ve defined the specific storytelling structure that gives any given event in your story meaning and emotion for your audience: A protagonist pursues a goal, encounters a series of unexpected obstacles, and causes their life to change. However, to increase the meaning and emotional impact of your story, McKee argues that you need to include two additional ingredients:

1. Escalating risk
2. Thematic coherence

Let’s discuss how to use each of these intensifiers to heighten your story’s meaning.

Intensifier #1: Escalating Risk

To heighten the meaningful impact of your story, McKee explains that you must force your protagonist to risk losing what they care about most in the pursuit of a valuable goal. Why? In life, we judge how valuable something is by how much we’re willing to risk or sacrifice for it. Thus, creating a protagonist who’s willing to risk everything they care about is the most direct way to make an audience feel like the protagonist’s actions are important and meaningful. In contrast, if your protagonist has nothing to lose, the story will feel boring and inconsequential.

(Shortform note: In _[Skin in the...

Story Summary How to Structure a Story

We’ve established how stories generate meaning as well as what devices heighten that meaning (escalating risk and coherent theme). McKee argues that because they must include all these ingredients, all the most impactful stories follow a consistent pattern, or story structure.

The Key Parts of a Story: Climax and Inciting Incident

McKee argues that the most important scene in all stories is the climax: the final, most extreme, and irreversible change in your story. The climax of your story is the most meaningful scene and impacts the audience more intensely than any other scene because of the intensifiers we discussed in the previous section. The climax is where the protagonist risks the most and either succeeds or fails to achieve their goal. Additionally, the climax definitively “proves” your theme by revealing the ultimate consequences of all your protagonist’s actions.

To effectively create a meaningful climax, you also need to write a well-crafted inciting incident: a scene early in the story that creates the first major change in your protagonist’s life. This major change throws the protagonist’s life into chaos and uncertainty, causing them to take action...

Story Summary How to Write a Story

Now that we’ve explained how stories function, let’s describe specifically how to write a story. McKee details what he believes to be the ideal writing process: Begin with an outline, flesh it out into a treatment, then polish it into a final script. McKee frames this as a process for screenwriters, but you could apply it to stories in any medium.

Step #1: Create an Outline

McKee’s first step in writing a story is to create an outline: a detailed description of every one of your story beats and value changes. This outline is solely a description of plot and intentionally lacks dialogue or screenplay-style description. Since you’re essentially writing your entire story in outline form, this step will take up the majority of your time.

McKee recommends outlining many more scenes than you end up using. The way to find the best ideas is to write as many of them as possible, then select the very best and throw the rest away.

(Shortform note: The reason that writing more scenes than you need gives you the best ideas is that judging your ideas as you write them inhibits the parts of your brain necessary for creativity. If...

Shortform Exercise: Analyze a Familiar Story

To better understand McKee’s story theory, analyze a story using the framework you’ve just learned.

Pick a story you’re familiar with—this might be your favorite movie, a book you’ve just read, or a memorable play. Identify the story’s climax, then use that climax to identify the story’s theme. (For example, the climax of The Shawshank Redemption is the scene in which Andy Dufresne finishes his tunnel out of prison. Judging by this climax, the theme might be “When you work for a better future, eventually, you’ll be rewarded.”)