‘How to Tell a Story’ Review: Aristotle in the Writers’ Room

Fellow writers who came here hoping for writing insight and maybe got not as much as you were hoping because you've read about elemental western story design before, wanna trade books that helped you write better?

Techniques of the Selling Writer

Fantasy Fiction Formula (how I learned said elemental western story design) and its more generic Fiction Formula Plotting

Scene & Structure

Save the Cat writes a novel

Body beats to build on

Getting Things Done (not specifically writing but keeps me on track)

I was hoping that Aristotle would tell us to join an improv club in college or randomly take comedy lessons in our 30s, but instead we should become one with the metaphor.

In all seriousness, I believe comedy improv both short form and long form can help writers in many different ways. How to heighten, what is "heat and weight", understanding formats like the Harold, callbacks, "Yes, And", and many more.

These all complement "metaphors".

Ok so FYI Aristotles works are completely incomprehensible to someone without a background in philosophy.

A good introduction is “Aristotle for Everybody” by Adler. Once you’ve digested that, read “Aristotle” by David Ross.

Then hurt your brain by reading Aristotle.