Notes on The Science of Storytelling by Will Storr

A while ago, a friend recommended the book ​The Science of Storytelling: Why Stories Make Us Human and How to Tell Them Better by Will Storr, and I recently finished reading it. It was a nice overview of the different ways stories are told and an academic analysis of how they work. I liked all the actual textual examples it cited, and it made me think differently about the books I've read and the shows I've watched.

Below are my main notes and takeaways.

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​Intro
Story gives us way to make meaning of life
Tales from grandparents

1 creating a world
where does a story begin
Moments of change and control seeking brain
Curiosity
Model making brain, how we read, filmic world order, grammar, show not tell, simplicity, active vs passive language
Hallucinated reconstruction of reality
Use specific details
Describe 3 specific qualities of an object
World making in fantasy and sci fi
Name each place
Domesticated brain; theory of mind in animation and religion; theory of mind creates drama
Silence and creating tension with detail
Neural models, poetry, metaphor
Cause and effect. Literary versus mass market storytelling
Every scene must have cause and effect
Change is not enough

2 The flawed self and theory of control
Naive realism
Everyone hallucinating and thinks they’re right and others wrong
Personality and plot
Personality and setting 
Personality and point of view
Culture and character. Western vs eastern story
Control versus harmony
Anatomy of flawed self. Ignition point
Good dialogue is two monologues clashing
Fictional memories and moral delusions, antagonism, idealism, toxic self esteem, hero maker narrative 
David and Goliath
How flawed characters create meaning 

3 dramatic question
Confabulation and deluded character 
Brain as narrator and storyteller
Multiple selves, 3d character
Two levels of story. How subconscious character struggle creates plot
Modernist stories
Wanting and needing
Dialogue
Roots of dramatic question. Heroes and villains. Social emotions. Moral outrage. 
Status play
Humiliation
Stories as tribal propaganda
Antiheroes and empathy
Origin damage

4 plots, ending, and meaning
Goal directedness, video games, personal projects, plots, eudaemonia
Plot as recipe versus plot as symphony of change
The final battle
Ending, control, gd moment
Story as simulacrum of consciousness, transportation
Power of story
Gift of story 
Lesson of story 
Consolation of story 

Appendix sacred flaw approach
Character and flaws
Story event
Milieu
Rampant irrationality
Search for what they find sacred
Search for characters flaw in their model of control