William Collins
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This eBook first published in Great Britain by 4th Estate in 2019
Copyright © William Storr 2019
Cover design by Jack Smythe
William Storr asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
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Source ISBN: 9780008276935
Ebook Edition © April 2019 ISBN: 9780008276959
Version: 2019-04-08
For my firstborn, Parker
‘Ah, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp,
Or what’s a heaven for?’
Robert Browning (1812–1889)
Contents
1.1 Moments of change; the control-seeking brain
1.4 World-making in fantasy and science fiction
1.6 Salience; creating tension with detail
1.7 Neural models; poetry; metaphor
1.8 Cause and effect; literary versus mass-market storytelling
2.0 The flawed self; the theory of control
2.3 Personality and point of view
2.4 Culture and character; Western versus Eastern story
2.5 Anatomy of a flawed self; the ignition point
2.8 How flawed characters create meaning
CHAPTER THREE: THE DRAMATIC QUESTION
3.0 Confabulation and the deluded character; the dramatic question
3.1 Multiple selves; the three-dimensional character
3.2 The two levels of story; how subconscious character struggle creates plot