The Art of Storytelling: Foundations

All complete stories show evidence of two principal facets: An underlying dramatic structure contains the story's inherent meaning, and a secondary meaning created by the manner in which that structure is presented in words and symbols. In practice, neither aspect of story can exist without the other. Structure, which is not tangible in form, cannot be communicated directly, and similarly no mode of expression can be created without something to express.

The first half of this book explored The Elements Of Structure. Its purpose was to define the essential components that occur in the dramatic structure of all complete stories. These components fell into four principal categories: Character, Theme, Plot, and Genre.

This half of the book explores The Art Of Storytelling, which documents the process of conceptualizing and telling a story. This process passes through four distinct stages: Storyforming, Storyencoding, Storyweaving, and Story Reception.

An author might begin either with Structure or Storytelling, depending on his personal interests or style.

If you come to a word or idea that is unfamiliar or unclear, use the index to reference that topic in The Elements Of Structure. Also, don't forget to take advantage of the extensive appendices at the back of the book.