Shawn Coyne

Jane Austen's masterpiece, Pride and Prejudice, has been admired, adapted, and copied by thousands of writers. Her work is still adored by readers all over the world two centuries after it was first published. Have you ever dreamed you and Austen could take a turn about the room or walk the grounds of Pemberley while she explains exactly how she wrote her timeless love stories? In this Masterwork Guide, Shawn Coyne applies his Story Grid tools of analysis to Austen's classic, transforming the reading experience into writing inspiration. Coyne dissects each and every scene of the novel to show how it works. And he reveals the "must-have" moments readers crave in any love story so you can craft one of your own. The Story Grid is a curated set of writing and editing tools that helps writers pinpoint weaknesses, learn how to fix them, and produce "stories that work." After a long career as an editor, agent, and publisher, Coyne has a deep understanding of what resonates with readers. He wants you to know that you are not the problem-the problem is the problem. Let the Masterwork Guide help you see the love story of Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy through a new lens. Then let the Story Grid approach help you re-envision your own stories, and fall in love with writing again.

Bilbo Baggins, an altogether respectable hobbit, had never done anything unexpected-to say nothing of heroic-until he met a wizard in a blue pointed hat. After that meeting, Bilbo embarked upon an adventure, recorded in the pages of The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien, that captured the imagination of readers around the world. With unparalleled skill, Tolkien forged scenes of physical courage, revelatory self-transformation, and spiritual transcendence that do more than entertain-they help us make sense of the world. In this Story Grid Masterworks Analysis Guide, Shawn Coyne examines Bilbo's transformation and Tolkien's craft through a powerful new lens, the Heroic Journey 2.0, revealing how stories help us survive, thrive, and find meaning individually and as a species. Using this lens, writers will learn to create the emotional catharsis readers crave and tell stories that cross barriers of time and culture. Bilbo's unexpected journey beautifully illustrates the human imperative to keep going, to break and remake our worldviews in a search for truth. But in the end, readers and writers may agree with Coyne that, "There is no final truth, only the creative act of meaning-making in the here and now."

What's at the core of every great story that leads readers to rush breathlessly to the end and then share it with all their friends? At Story Grid, we believe great stories are built of four essential elements: Core Needs, Core Life Values, Core Emotions, and Core Events. Whether you're writing an action adventure, a mystery, or a love story, these are the elements that spark the emotional connection and catharsis readers are looking for. Assembled into a Four Core Framework, the right need, life value, emotion, and event become the blueprint for a story that will satisfy readers and bring them back for more. In The Four Core Framework, Story Grid founder Shawn Coyne distills 30 years of experience in publishing into a compact guide for writers who want their novels, screenplays, and nonfiction to resonate and captivate. He dissects twelve kinds of stories and explains how to create the the ideal framework for each, including: A Core Need that will make your story an all-night read;A Core Life Value that will guide your characters' evolution;A Core Emotion that will enthrall your audience;and A Core Event that will provide the final payoff readers are waiting for. In The Four Core Framework, you'll learn to keep readers turning the pages and rushing to recommend your stories. Join Shawn to get down to the core of it all.

Action Stories speak to ancient human desires. Readers want to experience heart-stopping fear and excitement and learn lessons of survival. How can you write a story that satisfies those desires? In Action Story: The Primal Genre, Story Grid founder Shawn Coyne takes you on a journey deep into the meaning of the genre. Coyne boils down insights gained through more than 25 years as an editor and writer to teach you Action Story's fundamental constraints and patterns. He explores subgenres and setting, and proposes a new way of understanding the traditional cast of characters to reveal their power as agents of light and darkness. In keeping with Story Grid Publishing's goal of helping all writers level up their craft, Coyne provides a practical twenty-point game plan, showing how action stories move forward from beginning to end. Action stories are part of our DNA, fundamental to our humanity. Let's learn to write them together.

A stirring portrait of the decade when the Steelers became the greatest team in NFL history, as their city was crumbling around them. In the 1970s, the city of Pittsburgh was in need of heroes. In that decade the steel industry, long the lifeblood of the city, went into massive decline, putting 150,000 steelworkers out of work. And then the unthinkable happened: The Pittsburgh Steelers, perennial also-rans in the NFL, rose up to become the most feared team in the league, winning four Super Bowls in six years and lifting the spirits of a city on the brink. In The Ones Who Hit the Hardest, Chad Millman and Shawn Coyne trace the rise of the Steelers amidst the backdrop of the fading city they fought for, bringing to life characters such as: Art Rooney, the owner of the team so beloved by Pittsburgh that he was known simply as "The Chief"; Chuck Noll, the headstrong coach who used the ethos of steelworkers to motivate his players; and Jack Lambert, the linebacker whose snarling, toothless grin embodied the Pittsburgh defense. Thoroughly researched and grippingly written, The Ones Who Hit the Hardest is a stirring tribute to a city, a team, and an era.

Dorothy Gale's trip from Kansas to the Emerald City-in print, on screen, and on stage-has enchanted audiences around the world for more than a century. But what is her magical adventure really about? And can studying such classic tales help today's writers improve their craft? In The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum: A Story Grid Masterworks Analysis Guide, Shawn Coyne answers these questions and more. In Oz, Coyne finds a pitch-perfect illustration of the Heroic Journey 2.0, his revolutionary take on Joseph Campbell's monomyth. Coyne exposes the essential ingredients that define the book's life-or-death Action Story, coming-of-age Worldview Story, and transcendent Heroic Journey. Writers who take up the challenge and put the Heroic Journey 2.0 to work will craft stories that resonate across time and cultures and provide the emotional catharsis their readers crave. By the end of Baum's book, Dorothy has survived a worldview-shattering moment and committed to go on, creating new meaning in her life. Your journey as a storyteller begins with the same commitment to make meaning in the world, and this Guide will set you on the right path.

What if you could look inside a novel and see exactly how it works, like a doctor analyzing an x-ray or MRI scan? In The Story Grid Contenders Analysis Guide to The Threshing Tim Grahl and Shawn Coyne look deep into the heart of Grahl's dystopian action novel set in a grim future where people compete in a virtual world to survive in the real one. What essential actions lie beneath the moves the characters make? How does each scene propel the story forward? Coyne opens the Guide by analyzing the structure of the Action Story, the first and most primal fiction genre. Why have humans shared heroic tales that pivot on life-or-death choices ever since we began gathering around campfires? Why do Action stories persist at the top of bestseller lists? Because they speak to our desire to experience heart-stopping fear and excitement and learn hard lessons vicariously. Coyne's analysis provides the framework you need to satisfy those desires in readers. Then Grahl takes you into his process of crafting a story that works by dissecting the structure of each scene, from inciting incident to crisis to resolution. You'll see the critical choices he made to deepen his characters' dilemmas and surprise readers again and again. There is simply no better way to learn the craft of storytelling than to study a novel scene by scene. This Story Grid Contenders Analysis Guide is a valuable tool for any writer or editor interested in the art and science of storytelling. By showing you the inner workings of this contemporary action story at the macro and micro levels, Coyne and Grahl give you the tools to analyze your own work, diagnose and solve problems, and level up your craft.