This book offers a unique approach to storytelling, connecting the Enneagram system with classic story principles of character development, plot, and story structure to provide a seven-step methodology to achieve rapid story development. Using the nine core personality styles underlying all human thought, feeling, and action, it provides the tools needed to understand and leverage the Enneagram-Story Connection for writing success.
Author Jeff Lyons starts with the basics of the Enneagram system and builds with how to discover and design the critical story structure components of any story, featuring supporting examples of the Enneagram-Story Connection in practice across film, literature and TV. Readers will learn the fundamentals of the Enneagram system and how to utilize it to create multidimensional characters, master premise line development, maintain narrative drive, and create antagonists that are perfectly designed to challenge your protagonist in a way that goes beyond surface action to reveal the dramatic core of any story.
Lyons explores the use of the Enneagram as a tool not only for character development, but for story development itself. This is the ideal text for intermediate and advanced level screenwriting and creative writing students, as well as professional screenwriters and novelists looking to get more from their writing process and story structure.
Table of Contents:
Table of Contents
Dedication
List of Figures
Foreword
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Part 1: The Enneagram for Writers
Chapter 1: It’s All About Development
Chapter 2: What Is the Enneagram for Writers?
Chapter 3: The Enneagram System Essentials
Chapter 4: The Enneagram Model
Chapter 5: Enneagram Character Styles
Chapter 6: Character Communication Styles
Chapter 7: Character Conflict Styles
Chapter 8: Character Evolution and De-Evolution
Part 2: The Enneagram-Story Connection
Chapter 9: Character Beginnings and Endings and Change
Chapter 10: The Moral Component
Chapter 11: The Moral Enneagram
Chapter 12: The Middle: Moving the Story Forward
Chapter 13: Building the Supporting Cast
Chapter 14: The Structure of the Opposition
Chapter 15: Enneagram Story Teams
Chapter 16: Enneagram Story Team Roles
Part 3: The Seven-Step Rapid Story Development Process and Case Studies
Chapter 17: The Rapid Story Development Process
About the Author
Appendix 1: Quick Reference—Rapid Story Development Standing Definitions
Appendix 2: Quick Reference—The Nine Character Styles
Appendix 3: Quick Reference—The Enneagram Wings
Appendix 4: Example—Team Development in the Action-Adventure Genre
Appendix 5: Example—Team Development in the Romance Genre
Appendix 6: Enneagram Resources
Appendix 7: Writer Resources
Appendix 8: The Conscious Writer Manifesto
Appendix 9: e-Resources
Index
About the Author :
Jeff Lyons is a published author, screenwriter, and story consultant in the TV, film, and publishing industries. He is long-time creative writing instructor through Stanford University’s School of Continuing Education and is a regular guest lecturer through the UCLA Extension Writers Program. His writings on the craft of storytelling can also be found in leading industry trade magazines such as Writer’s Digest Magazine, Script Magazine, The Writer, and Writing Magazine (UK).
Review :
"Rapid Story Development is a wealth of information--a real handbook that's revolutionary in scope--one that isn’t leaving my desk for a second."
Caroline Leavitt, New York Times Bestselling Author Pictures of You, Is This Tomorrow?
"In his first book, Anatomy of a Premise Line, Jeff Lyons has already contributed greatly to the world of those seeking to understand story structure. In his new book, Rapid Story Development, he takes those original and highly useful ideas even further, showing how writers and other story tellers can use the enneagram to know their characters and better understand how these people form the heart of any story. Jeff has a really unique vision and a gift for articulating how a story must be structured in a way that is smart but also accessible."
Malena Watrous, Author and Lead Instructor for Stanford's Continuing Studies Online Writing program.
"Groundbreaking! Truly a game-changer for any serious storyteller. Jeff Lyons' Rapid Story Development masterfully melds story structure with the Enneagram - the ancient wisdom of human relationships - into actionable steps to craft stories from the ground up. It is a deep dive into motivation, dynamic action and reaction to drive your unique story."
Julie Janata, Producer, Director, Editor - two-time Emmy Award winner
