Table Of ContentESIC 2020 DOI: 10.26613/esic/4.1.173
A Scientific Turn in the Genre of How-to Fiction
Writing Manuals?
Stefan Veleski
Abstract
The last two years have seen the publication of two books in the genre of how-to fiction
writing manuals that use science both as a selling point and as a genuine analytical par-
adigm. The Science of Storytelling by Will Storr and The Science of Screenwriting by Paul
Joseph Gulino and Connie Shears use insights from the cognitive sciences and evolution-
ary psychology, while retaining their practical, how-to character. This review article goes
through some of the main clusters of advice shared by the two books, dealing with infor-
mation processing, attention allocation, the implications of human sociality for fiction,
and story structure, while fitting their takes on these issues within the fields of biocultural
criticism and cultural evolution. Despite containing occasional flaws and confusions about
theory common in pioneering works, these books could be harbingers of change for the
genre and an important step in the bottom-up infusion of biocultural theory into literary
studies.
Keywords: how-to screenwriting manuals, screenwriting, biocultural theory, cultural evolution, in-
formation processing, attention allocation, theory of mind, story structure
BOOKS UNDER REVIEW
Stoddard’s pioneering work included two crucial
Gulino, Paul Joseph, and Connie Shears. 2018. The Science
presuppositions that would come to define the
of Screenwriting: The Neuroscience Behind Story-
genre—that “any person of ordinary literary
telling Strategies. London: Bloomsbury Academic.
ability may write a Scenario” and that “only a
184 pages. 61 halftone illustrations. Hardcover £48.60;
few succeed owing to the lack of knowledge of
Paperback £15.29; eBook £14.67.
Storr, Will. 2019. The Science of Storytelling. London: the formula and technique of Scenario writing”
William Collins. 288 pages. Hardcover £9.74; Paper- (Stoddard 1911, 1). The booklet included tips
back £7.49; eBook £4.99. about the length of the screenplay, the number
of characters, proper topic selection, the number
How-to fiction writing manuals have always of scenes, and even advice about technicalities
been closely associated with the practice of like formatting. Ever since, the literature on
screenwriting. The origins of the how-to genre “scenario writing” has been dominated by such
can be traced back to the 1910s, when the manuals, which are not to be confused with
increasingly lucrative film industry started to the non-prescriptive scholarship that makes up
attract both laymen and creative professionals to “screenwriting studies,” as a fairly recent branch
the new trade of scenario writing (Shaerf 2015, of literary/media studies (Batty 2014, 1). Unlike
260). According to Velikovsky (2016, 90) the this incipient scholarship on screenwriting, the
first traditionally published work in this genre how-to genre has a practical orientation that can
was Stoddard’s 1911 manual titled The Photo- be seen as “a sophisticated form of professional
Play: A Book of Valuable Information for Those self-help” (Conor 2014, 121), which is prob-
Who Would Enter a Field of Unlimited Endeavour. ably one of the main reasons for its success. It is
Stefan Veleski
estimated that up to the year 2016, there have conducted, he also managed to recruit professor
been “between 800 to 2,500” how-to screen- Sophie Scott and Dr. Stuart Ritchie as reviewers,
writing manuals published (Velikovsky 2016, whose expertise in neuroscience and cognitive
158), with probably hundreds more that deal psychology strengthen the scientific credentials
with fiction writing across other media. of the book. Gulino and Shears, on the other
Most books belonging to the how-to genre hand, form an interesting duo. Gulino teaches
have a certain technique or main idea that screenwriting at Chapman University and is the
embodies their take on the issue and simultane- author of other books in the how-to genre, like
ously helps them stand out from other books in Screenwriting: The Sequence Approach (2004),
the genre. In The Science of Storytelling by Will which is more similar to previous, nonscien-
Storr and The Science of Screenwriting by Paul tific books in the genre. Shears also teaches
Joseph Gulino and Connie Shears this role is at Chapman University, but is a professor of
taken by science—the main validator of their psychology and, as Gulino states in the acknowl-
writing instructions and an umbrella term for edgements, adds “scientific muscle” to the book.
various subbranches of the cognitive sciences Gulino and Shears complement each other well
that they employ. Although some earlier books in and openly embrace this dual approach, which
the genre used science as a selling point (Parker is evident in the structure of the book—each
2006), the books under review are the first that chapter ends with Gulino and Shears providing
have actually intertwined science with writing relevant screenwriting exercises from the point
advice, instead of just paying lip service to the of view of their respective fields.
idea that science can inform screenwriting. For Despite their adoption of scientific principles,
some reason, insight from evolutionary biology the two books make it clear that they continue
and the cognitive sciences is more widespread in in the tradition of the how-to genre, rather than
popular nonfiction books in the self-help genre literary studies. Gulino and Shears state that
such as The Power of Habit (Duhigg 2014) or the main aim of their book is to “empower the
Willpower (Baumeister and Tierney 2011). writer and filmmaker to navigate the various and
Given the close link between how-to fiction contradictory advice he or she may receive along
writing manuals and the self-help genre, it is the journey to a screenplay or a film, by under-
likely that the scientific approach used by some standing the principles by which human beings
works in the latter genre influenced the books perceive and process movies” (2018, 121). Storr
under review. Velikovsky claims that although too claims that his book is intended “for the story-
previous manuals have often articulated the fact tellers,” but also for “anyone curious about the
that “‘good’ writing illuminates and explores science of the human condition, even if they have
human nature” (e.g. Save the Cat! by Snyder little practical interest in storytelling” (2019, 4).
[2005] heavily emphasizes “primal” aspects This reflects his broader scope, not only in terms
of our nature that fiction needs to attend to), of the multiple media that he covers, but also in
they have never actively engaged with research terms of the wider implications of storytelling for
on human nature or evolutionary psychology human culture and our perception of the world.
(2016, 318). The two books reviewed in this The two books under review often repeat
article seem to do just that and are representa- what previous fiction writing manuals have
tives of a new wave within the how-to genre. already said, and between them, they refer-
So what qualifies the authors of these books ence dozens of how-to “gurus.” Gulino and
to wield the validatory power of science? Storr Shears consciously rely on this fact and use
is a longform journalist and writer by trade, it as a rhetorical device, by putting forward a
but in addition to the extensive research and problem in screenwriting, and juxtaposing the
numerous interviews of relevant experts that he advice of the screenwriting “gurus” with the
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science—most often confirming the efficacy of Despite the rhetoric of empowerment,
the screenwriting doxa. Similarly, Storr claims where up-and-coming authors are encouraged
that his book is “an attempt to make sense of about the possibility of success, “an unsettling
some of what generations of brilliant story theo- sense of insecurity and sheer luck pervades the
rists have discovered in the face of what equally market-based rhetoric” (Conor 2014, 130) of
brilliant women and men in the sciences have many how-to fiction writing manuals. This is
come to know” (2019, 8). These overlaps in the why many authors in the genre include not
doxa provided by multiple generations of how-to only advice about the contents of the cultural
writers are only natural if considered through product, but also of the extratextual factors that
a biocultural perspective—our human nature need to be taken into consideration in order to
significantly limits the possible variations of navigate the uncertainties of the entertainment
cultural forms, including stories. Gulino and industry, which Taleb (2007) would classify as
Shears show their awareness of this fact by part of “Extremistan”—a highly unpredictable
opening their book with a quote by Edward O. field where success is practically impossible to
Wilson: “rich and seemingly boundless as the predict due to the massive number of variables at
creative arts seem to be, each is filtered through play. For example, Wolff advises up-and-coming
the narrow biological channels of human cogni- screenwriters that knowing how to “sell yourself
tion” (2012, 268). Storr echoes a similar senti- and your material” (1984, 23) is just as important
ment throughout his book, albeit less explicitly. as the contents of the script, and provides detailed
The approach of these two books enables the tips on the matter. The additional advertising that
gradual empirical retracing of the doxa within might follow a chance decision by an “industry
the how-to genre, and could help us understand bureaucrat” could help create an effect of “cumu-
how the doxa are shaped by human nature. lative advantage,” where if a cultural product
As mentioned before, the main reason “becomes more popular than another, it will tend
why the how-to genre has developed such a to become more popular still” (Watts 2011, 72).
large following in the first place, is its self-help Other how-to “gurus” emphasize the importance
element, or promise of financial or critical success of the marketability of the script (Seger 1994)
tied to the proper adherence to the tips in the or the overall strategic marketing plan (Trottier
book. Many how-to screenwriting manuals have 1998) that should follow the act of writing,
even embedded this promise in their titles, such but neither of the two books under review take
as Writing Screenplays that Sell (Hauge 2011), such extratextual considerations into account.
How to Make Money Screenwriting (Friedmann This is especially problematic in The Science of
2000), Raindance Writers Lab: Write + Sell the Screenwriting, which as mentioned previously,
Hot Screenplay (Grove 2015), Selling a Screenplay occasionally plays with the prospect of success.
(Field 1989), and so forth. How-to manuals that This can be very misleading for future creatives,
target writers of novels or other written fiction as the self-advertised radicality of the advice in
are drastically less commercial in nature, and the books might be misread as a surefire way
this dichotomy is clear in the two books under towards success.
review. Gulino and Shears often flirt with the Despite occasional oversights of this sort, the
promise of financial (“an invested audience is two books under review touch on some of the most
a box office dream” [Gulino and Shears 2018, crucial factors that make a work of fiction “effec-
109]) or critical success (“the more a writer has tive.” The rest of the review article goes through
prepared, the greater likelihood the product some of the most important doxa that occur in
will achieve external validation” [115]), while both of these books, connected with information
Storr manages to circumvent this issue by only processing, attention allocation, the implications
focusing on what constitutes good fiction. of human sociality for fiction, and story structure.
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INFORMATION PROCESSING down this crucial component of the CAM-WN
model. Nevertheless, by relying on this model
Both books start by giving their account of the
they still manage to show how our hardwired
information processing that makes up both our
biological imperatives interact with our cultural
experience of fiction and the external world.
surroundings as we process fiction.
They agree that our senses provide incomplete
This model accounts for differences of taste
data to the brain, which uses its computational
and the varying reception of cultural prod-
powers to create a “reconstruction of reality” or
ucts between individuals within and across
a “‘model’ of the world” (Storr 2019, 21)—a
different cultures. Top-down processes are
process that is nonvolitional and constant
given the biggest potential for creating varia-
(Gulino and Shears 2018, 56). In evolutionary
tion in the perception of cultural products,
terms, this model presents enough informa-
while bottom-up processes go through much
tion about the world to the brain to warn of
more ancient and unchanged parts of our brains,
impending dangers or important events, towards
which should account for fewer of the variations
which our attention can be allocated if necessary.
in the reception of cultural products. This might
These two books have different ideas of what this
give a reason for why some genres, like horror
modelling process entails and how wide-reaching
(Clasen 2012), have a greater cross-cultural
its implications are. appeal, while others like comedy are much more
The principal model that Gulino and Shears culture specific—Gulino and Shears have found
use is Cohen’s (2015) congruence association comedy films to generally have lower IMDB
model with working narrative (CAM-WN). ratings compared to other genres (2018, 16).
Although the original intention of the model Similarly, Storr claims that some literary genres,
is the integration of music in the “multimodal like poetry, more extensively rely on top-down
context of film” (Cohen 2015, 135), it provides processing than others, or on what he calls the
an excellent visualization of the interplay readers’ “associative backdrop” (2019, 42).
between “surface” or “sensory information” and Although Storr does not present such a
“long-term memory, which includes expectations precise and comprehensive model for infor-
and story grammar” (Cohen 2015, 157). The gist mation processing, he is interested in how
of this model is that long-term memory contains this process shapes “the vastly intricate web of
experiential structures that have been formed beliefs” that constitute the “brain’s ‘theory of
over the viewer’s lifetime and then interact control’” (Storr 2019, 65). According to Storr,
with the stimuli coming from the film and the controlling the external environment is a basic
external world to form a “working narrative”— human motivation and, as such, it has found its
the minute-by-minute search for meaning that way into fiction. Storr’s “theory of control” is
the audience engages in. CAM-WN resembles comparable to Kahneman’s concept of the “illu-
biocultural models that combine bottom-up and sion of control,” caused by the more snappy and
top-down processing, such as Grodal’s (2006) intuitive System 1, which makes the world more
PECMA flow model, but also incorporates the “tidy, simple, predictable, and coherent than it
dual heuristic model of fast (System 1) and slow really is” (2011, 204). As we deeply believe in the
(System 2) thinking, popularized by Kahneman correctness of our view of the world, any viola-
(2011), as according to Cohen, “surface infor- tions of this “model of reality” can be a source
mation entails bottom-up processing—both of conflict.
fast preprocessing . . . and slow, more accurate Although Storr terms the components of our
processing” (2015, 157). However, Gulino and mental models of the world beliefs or neural
Shears seem to only focus on the interaction of networks, a better term would be schemas,
bottom-up and top-down processes, watering which are sets of “related concepts or objects”
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(Gulino and Shears 2018, 9). Schemas serve as them as a recognizable stylistic feature that
mental shortcuts meant to lighten our cognitive merely gives a taste of the “regular” exposition
load and are crucial components of top-down that follows.
processing, sometimes having instantaneous Even the most skillfully presented exposi-
effects on our behavior. Both books acknowledge tions carry a higher cognitive load than the rest
the fact that upon exposure to cultural products, of the story. Therefore, stretching the length of
the viewer or reader needs to create a functioning the exposition at the expense of “the emotional
model of the diegetic world of the narrative and payoff the film delivers” (Gulino and Shears
each author needs to supply this information in 2018, 89) can have negative repercussions for the
an adequate way. When we expose ourselves to reception of the film. Perhaps unknowingly (as
novel narratives, their formal innovations enter they never reference any scholars from the field),
our long-term memory (as schemas), and affect Gulino and Shears present an excellent argument
the perception of subsequent cultural products. centered around cultural evolution about the
Such schemas can create certain expectations gradual disappearance of short film as a cine-
that the audience has of the narrative—for matic format. This format, which dominated
example, the main character is not supposed to the early days of cinema, was soon supplanted
die halfway through the story. However, narra- by series and feature-length films. In the latter
tives often break these expectations in order to format, the exposition only takes about thirty
sustain audience interest, either on a large scale minutes or a quarter of the average runtime,
encompassing the entire story—for example in while “the rest of the film—three-quarters
Psycho, where the main character does die halfway of it—is free to deliver its emotional payload
through the film (Hitchcock 1960) or, on a with relatively fewer cognitive demands” (89).
smaller scale, in Top Secret!, where a phone which In short films, the exposition eats into the
at first just seems to be closer to the camera is “meat” of the narrative, and provides “meager
revealed to be an absurdly big phone (Abrahams, returns on investment of emotional energy” (90).
Zucker, and Zucker 1984). In the series format, the exposition length to
According to Gulino and Shears, future emotional payoff ratio is even more uneven, as
creatives should also be careful to provide just once the audience constructs a mental model
the right amount of information to the audience, of the diegetic world, it can rely on it for years
in a gradual manner meant to foster curiosity with minor cognitive effort. Therefore, a low
and prevent cognitive overload. As a somewhat exposition length to emotional payoff ratio is
paradoxical example, they mention opening title what Sperber (1996) would call an attractor,
crawls—sequences that feature tilted text that or an aspect of cultural products that appeals
slowly rolls up the screen, used in films such to human nature, and aids their transmission
as Flash Gordon (Stephani 1936) and Star Wars across time.
(Lucas 1977). Despite presenting large quantities Similarly, some aspects of narratives that posi-
of information quickly, opening title crawls by tively affect their reception directly depend on
themselves are simply “information dumps” that our innate, evolved dispositions, as the following
do “not exploit our natural perceptual processes” section will show.
(Gulino and Shears 2018, 59). For Gulino and
Shears, the hastiness of “information dumps”
ATTENTION ALLOCATION
makes it unlikely we “would remember any
of [the information presented in opening title Both books deal with modelling or the way our
crawls] for long” (59). They do concede however, cognition creates a “controlled hallucination”
that few films rely solely on opening title crawls (Storr 2019, 77) of the world from the piece-
when providing exposition, preferring to use meal stimuli picked up by our senses. However,
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we are instinctively more prone to allow some incompatible with human nature, closely
stimuli to go through this modelling process mirroring Pinker’s attack on cultural products
than others—some things are just better able to “based on a false theory of human psychology,
attract our attention. Gulino and Shears claim the Blank Slate” (2002, 412). As Pinker claims,
that attention is “a form of filtering: suppressing perceptual experience is not entirely a learned
most stimuli so as to focus on what is relevant or social construction but is “evolved to feed
of interest” (2018, 80). One such example that us information” about the real world (412).
they point out (most likely Shears, as this infor- Therefore, such protracted exposure to the same
mation is placed in her “practical” subchapter stimuli causes “neuronal fatigue” (Gulino and
at the end of chapter seven), is Warren’s (1970) Shears 2018, 40), which can be overcome by an
experiment, where non-consequential noises influx of new stimuli, such as constant move-
that interrupted certain utterances were filtered ment on the screen or changes and modulations
out by the participants and substituted with the of sound. The most intense change of stimuli
missing phonemes. Similarly, Storr points to the is of course contrast, or introducing stimuli in
famous “invisible gorilla” experiment (Simons direct opposition to those shown prior, which
and Chabris 1999), where the participants, have the highest chances of grabbing people’s
focused on a cognitively demanding counting task, attention. This same dynamic can be extrapo-
failed to notice a gorilla that passes in the middle lated to more complicated, emotionally charged
of the screen. These examples prove that “our stimuli, which come in different valences.
brains just omit what doesn’t makes sense” (Gulino Gulino and Shears acknowledge the fact
and Shears 2018, 110) and that “the human beam that juxtaposing scenes with significant differ-
of attention is narrow” (Storr 2019, 241). ences of emotional valence is better able to
But if attentional focus is a filter meant to attract the attention of the audience than a
eliminate distractions, does this mean that an sequence without such a contrast (2018, 45).
environment with a low number of stimuli While negative valence has been shown to
would be ideal for maximizing focus? According lead to more intense narrative transportation
to Gulino and Shears, the answer is no, as (Bezdek and Gerrig 2017), Gulino and Shears
“multitasking holds interest, thus attention; point out that positive valence allows “sustained
and involvement of several cognitive activities attention” (2018, 45), since “paying attention
simultaneously keeps us engaged” (2018, 80). demands mental resources” (2018, 79), and we
When the number of stimuli is reduced, the cannot maintain the same levels of attention
attentional grip that the text has on the audi- for the entire duration of films. The fact that
ence is loosened. Gulino and Shears are aware emotional contrast in consecutive scenes can be
that this is not always an undesirable outcome such a stimulating experience could be a contrib-
(100) and oftentimes, this deliberate loosening uting factor for the decrease of the average shot
of the attentional grip allows additional space for length in Hollywood films over the last century
rumination, something that filmmakers often do (Cutting and Candan 2015). Each new scene
in order to emphasize feelings of profundity or to and even each new shot could create additional
allow time for overcoming narrative complexity. opportunities for such contrast which helps keep
Extremes do exist, of course, and Gulino the audience’s attention glued to the screens.
and Shears point out Andy Warhol’s Empire as Storr points to similar instances of contrasting
a film with a “single focus and no extraneous emotional valence in the work of Archer and
stimuli” (2018, 87)—showing a static shot of the Jockers, who in The Bestseller Code (2016) argue
Empire State Building for eight hours, between that a sentiment analysis of bestselling novels
sunset and early morning. Gulino and Shears can reveal the oscillations of emotional valence
dismiss it as a quirky, one of a kind experiment in the text that are experienced as patterns of
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tension and release. Storr especially focuses on way, if applied to the simplest ways of holding
the fact that bestselling novels like Fifty Shades attention (such as sensory contrast). However,
of Gray and The Da Vinci Code include a similar complex patterns of tension and release, like “the
number of “peaks” of positive emotional valence page-turner beat” of pop literature or Agatha
and “valleys” of negative emotional valence, thus Christie’s whodunit, cannot be simply “discov-
mastering “the page-turner beat” (Archer and ered” by a single, “genius” individual, and are
Jockers quoted in Storr 2019, 189). It should most likely a product of cumulative culture. It
be noted that this analysis, based on Jockers’ is highly likely that despite the fact that literary
“syuzhet” software package (Jockers 2015), is forms are restricted by human nature, narratives
not equivalent to the “close reading” of the oscil- become effective through a gradual process of
lations of emotional valence that Gulino and tuning, involving trial and error, innovation
Shears do on a scene-by-scene level in several and selection. With this idea in mind (although
classical Hollywood films (2018, 45–49), as somewhat downplaying the crucial role of
Jockers’ package works on a larger scale and is human nature as a “selector” in this process),
unable to detect oscillations of emotional valence Sobchuk (2018, 57–68) directly addresses detec-
of such small magnitude. Moreover, in written tive fiction, tracing the gradual ratcheting up of
fiction, emotional valence can easily be trans- innovations that finally resulted in the “mature”
ferred from the abstract realm of concepts to whodunit of Agatha Christie, which has under-
the quantifiable realm of objects—a process that gone few changes to the present day.
Moretti (2013) terms “operationalizing,” while Storr too touches on this issue. He finds
reliable ways of measuring emotional valence in that the four ways of “involuntarily inducing
film (the main medium of interest for Gulino curiosity in humans” (Storr 2019, 19) proposed
and Shears) are yet to be developed. by Loewenstein (1994) have their equivalents
When talking about attention allocation, it in detective fiction: “(1)‘posing of a question
is important to mention that both of the books or presentation of a puzzle’; (2)‘exposure to a
under review embrace an “evolutionary model sequence of events with an anticipated but
of fiction” in their advice, which presupposes unknown resolution’; (3)‘the violation of expec-
that “storytellers, as active individual strategists, tations that triggers a search for an explanation’;
maximize the attention of their audience by (4) knowledge of ‘possession of information by
appealing to features that have evolved to be of someone else’” (Loewenstein quoted in Storr
interest to all human minds” (Boyd 2001, 201). 2019). Perhaps wisely, Storr stops at recognizing
All of the ways of narrowing the attentional focus the equivalence and does not pursue the matter
of the viewers or the readers presented in the further due to the contested nature of this issue,
books under review can, in one way or another, but it seems likely that the complicated history
be explained through an evolutionary paradigm. and the long process of cumulative cultural
Gulino and Shears even go a bit too far in evolution of the whodunit genre eventually led
this regard, claiming that “filmmakers have, it to mirror the optimal sequence for inducing
since the early days of narrative cinema, instinc- curiosity, shaped by our evolved nature.
tively worked out [emphasis mine] the problem Even though these ways of getting the atten-
of attention, and how to help audiences focus tion of the viewers are widespread and crucial for
on important elements of the story” (2018, 83). effective narratives, it could be said that they are
Although this statement overlooks the influence secondary to the establishing of empathic links
of other media that came before film, such as between the audience or readers and the char-
theatre or written fiction, whose formal innova- acters in the diegetic world. Both of the books
tions trickled down to the big screen, their state- under review deal with this process, which is the
ment does hold true at least in a rudimentary subject of the next section.
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IMPLICATIONS OF HUMAN SOCIALITY FOR govern, is humbled by his challenger and eventual
FICTION friend Enkidu (Storr 2019, 156). Similarly, the
prying Mr. Nosey in the eponymous children’s
The way both books deal with the interaction
book by Roger Hargreaves, eventually stops his
between evolved human sociality and fiction is
antisocial behavior of interfering in other people’s
in line with claims by proponents of biocultural
business and befriends everyone in Tiddletown
criticism that center on the idea that “when
(Storr 2019, 156). Gulino and Shears argue
readers respond to characters in novels, they
along the same lines, claiming that stories often
respond in much the same way, emotionally, as
“provide opportunities to show how people who
they respond to people in everyday life” (Carroll
commit social or criminal transgressions face
et al. 2009, 51).
consequences for their actions, and teach the
Nevertheless, the books do not allot the
audience not to follow their example” (2018, 32).
same amount of space to this issue. Storr dedi-
Although Gulino and Shears do not deal
cates about a half of the book (or two out of his
with the adaptive, social function of fiction
four chapters) to the interplay between fiction
at great length, they do acknowledge the fact
and human sociality, while Gulino and Shears
that humans are “herd animals.” In addition,
give it only a chapter or about a tenth of the
they show some of the narrative mechanisms
total length of their book. Moreover, Storr’s that create empathy for fictional characters—a
advice is much more “character centric” than process that resembles the blurring of the bound-
that of Gulino and Shears, as he extensively aries between ourselves and others (Wilson
argues for the supremacy of character over 2012, 246). However, there are some indications
event-driven narratives, claiming that “it’s that they underestimate just how “hypersocial”
people, not events, that we’re naturally inter- human nature is, especially in contrast to other
ested in” (Storr 2019, 77). nonhuman primates (Tomasello et al. 2007), by
Storr also highlights the adaptive function of attributing human sociality to a “misfiring” of
fiction, claiming that it serves as a sort of “flight our tendency to be altruistic towards our family
simulator” (Oatley 2016), through which both members (Gulino and Shears 2018, 21), which
children and adults can vicariously experience is actually something that all animals engage in,
the complex tapestry of human social inter- not only social animals (Dawkins 2006). This
actions, as well as a vast array of other high downplaying of how central human sociality is
stakes survival scenarios, with none of the risk. to our nature is especially jarring considering
Moreover, Storr points to a study (Smith et al. their reference to “the unusually stark contrast
2017) of “eighteen hunter-gatherer tribes” which between iris, sclera, and skin colors that allow us
found that “almost eighty per cent of their stories to detect gaze direction from a great distance”
contained lessons in how they should behave in (Gulino and Shears 2018, 82), which is clearly
their dealings with other people” and that “the a product of gene-culture coevolution (Gintis
groups with the greater proportion of storytellers 2011), and a crucial aspect of the uniquely
showed the most pro-social behavior” (Storr human “shared intentionality” (Tomasello 2009)
2019, 155). This adds further support for the that differentiates us from other primates. This
adaptive function of storytelling, which likely might account for Gulino and Shears’ less char-
developed in order to foster cooperation between acter-centric approach than Storr’s.
in-group members. In addition to the automatic, visceral concept
In addition, Storr highlights a common of empathy, our cognitive repertoire also includes
occurrence in stories—closure tends to favor theory of mind—the ability to simulate the
prosocial outcomes. For example, Gilgamesh, thoughts and intentions of other people. This
who is originally vain and too sure of his right to does not escape Storr, who unlike Gulino and
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Shears, extensively deals with this concept. The not merely get attracted to good moral qualities
dense network of social interactions between when we are exposed to fictional characters, but
agents with their own motivations, goals, and to characters that are relatable. Highly relevant
desires makes our social groups the most unpre- in this regard are so-called antiheroes, or highly
dictable part of the external world, so our need flawed characters that nevertheless function as
to control our social environment is a crucial the protagonists of their respective narratives
part of Storr’s “model of control” (Storr 2019, (Kjeldgaard-Christiansen 2017). The two books
35). The power of theory of mind is such that provide similar recipes for creating relatable anti-
readers have reported hearing the voices of heroes. The characters should undergo processes
fictional characters, sometimes even after the of empathy creation at the beginning of the
act of reading (Alderson-Day, Bernini, and narrative (both books mention Tony Soprano
Fernyhough 2017), and similar accounts have and Walter White as examples) analogous to
been given by writers as well (Storr 2019, 37). those of genuine “heroes.” Once an empathic
But despite its power, theory of mind is link is established, the negative sides of the char-
imperfect, and its flaws can be a major cause acters (mostly status-seeking) should be gradu-
of conflict, both inside and outside narratives. ally revealed, which adds just enough tension to
Storr mentions research by Epley (2014) that the characters to make them appealing, but not
highlights the inaccuracy of “mind reading,” enough to jeopardize the established empathic
stressing the fact that “strangers read another’s connection.
thoughts and feelings with an accuracy of just 20 Despite these liminal types, characters more
per cent” while “friends and lovers . . . a mere 35 often than not find themselves at one of the
per cent” (Storr 2019, 37). Therefore, he encour- opposite sides of this agonistic structure, either
ages writers to heavily rely on the conflict that as “pure” protagonists or “pure” antagonists,
results from these inaccuracies of mind reading. both of which can be compelling in the right
A further behavioral complexity that both books narrative context. Storr pays more attention to
are aware of stems from the opposition between the latter category, linking its very existence to
our innate communality and individualism. one of the downsides of human sociality—the
Within groups, two of the impulses resulting fact that we are sometimes violently groupish
from this opposition—dominance suppression (158) and tend to dehumanize people outside
and status seeking—are in a precarious balance of our in-groups. Without being given the
imposed by group norms, and any violations perspective of a certain character, our “mind
of this balance can result in conflict. With his reading” ability has few clues to work with, and
wider scope, Storr even goes a step further, our “tribalist” brains spring into action. Such
attributing the very existence of an ideological examples are plentiful throughout literature
spectrum in our political discourse to the clash and film, with Storr pointing out The Birth of
between our communality and individualism a Nation and Jew Süss as two films that go to
(Storr 2019, 157-8). Most importantly for this extremes in using such “tribalist propaganda”
section however, The Science of Storytelling and (155) to paint a group, ethnicity, or race in a
The Science of Screenwriting both agree that char- purely negative light. Storr also engages with
acters that reflect the complexities and contradic- research (Kjeldgaard-Christiansen 2016) that
tions of human nature are particularly appealing. suggests that antagonists in fiction are not only
Gulino and Shears especially emphasize the commonly selected from out-groups, but are
potential of flawed characters for generating also given further antagonistic markers that
conflict, claiming that flawless characters just strengthen this feeling of “otherization,” such
living their lives would be plain boring (2018, as dominance-seeking behavior, low levels of
95). Storr agrees (2019, 163), arguing that we do altruism, and features that elicit disgust.
ESIC | Vol. 4 | No. 1 | Spring 2020 99
Stefan Veleski
The fact that narratives can include vastly usually ones that have been either commercially
different character types shows the difficulty or critically successful. This is a type of appeal
of pigeonholing narrative elements into simple to authority that relies on the prestige of the
categories of “right” and “wrong”. The next previous works, and includes the assumption
section discusses this “meta” element of the genre that if the screenwriting doxa worked once they
of how-to manuals, which both of the books can work again. Gulino and Shears, for example,
under review deal with. occasionally support their advice by claiming
that “the masters” (2018, 60) have used the
very same narrative techniques that they advo-
STORY STRUCTURE
cate. However, is there really a need to tell up-
A crucial presupposition of how-to manuals is and-coming authors to make use of aspects of
that fiction is governed by certain rules. This previously successful cultural products? Before
statement seems trivial enough at first, but has the advent of the how-to genre, different authors
been contested by some poststructuralist literary influenced each other and took inspiration from
critics (Derrida 1988), who espouse the Blank more successful authors—what proponents of
Slate theory. Historically, most of the “rules” cultural evolution call success or prestige bias
that how-to manuals have alluded to have in cultural transmission (Richerson and Boyd
been structure-based or related to the distribu- 2005, 124). How-to manuals probably facilitate
tion of narrative acts across the length of the this process, as individual authors do not have
story. Some even far predate modern how-to to do this complicated procedure from scratch,
manuals, like the three-act structure, which but they also impede it by unnecessarily limiting
is the gist of Freytag’s Pyramid (1900) and is the creative possibilities that new authors think
even mentioned in Aristotle’s Poetics (2013). that they have at their disposal. Thus they create
Such paradigms have been highly influential for a feedback loop, where these ideas flow from
the how-to genre. William Goldman, a prom- successful practitioners to how-to manuals, and
inent screenwriter and (perhaps inadvertently) then from how-to manuals to “novice” practi-
an important how-to “guru” as well, famously tioners, thus ossifying certain narrative elements
claimed that “screenplays are structure” (1984, and discouraging innovation. This feedback
195) and passionately advocated the use of the loop has attracted a considerable backlash in
three-act structure. Field (1989), Seger (1994), screenwriting circles, mostly aimed at the more
and McKee (1997) displayed similar adherence prescriptive forms of the how-to genre. Gulino
to this paradigm. Other how-to authors like and Shears refer to articles by Sunderman
Vogler (2007) and Booker (2004) (although (2013) and Truby (2013) that attack what
it must be noted that the work of the latter is they see as the negative influence of how-to
positioned somewhere in between literary schol- manuals on contemporary cinema. Similarly,
arship and how-to manuals) have found inspira- famous screenwriter Steven De Souza attributes
tion in Campbell’s (1968) mythical structure and the poor quality of many contemporary films
Jung’s (1980) archetypal theory. Some have even to the influence of how-to “gurus” and claims
devised their own “unique” structural patterns, that “with a few exceptions, the most successful
like Snyder’s Beat Sheet, which he constructed films are the ones that break the mold” (Iglesias
“from what [he]’d seen in movies, read about in 2011, 130).
screenplay books, and found [himself] relying Both books under review bring up the
on” (2005, 69). potentially negative effects of this feedback
Like other how-to books before them, the loop. However, Gulino and Shears do not put
two books under review often directly link all the blame on the authors of how-to manuals,
their writing tips to previous novels or films, especially those like Vogler (2007) who take
100 Evolutionary Studies in Imaginative Culture
