Introduction to the Genre Beat Cookbook

John Truby's Anatomy of Genre is, in my view, an indispensable guide to modern storytelling. His approach to story has become a key part of thousands of writers' success, from novelists to screenwriters. I've discussed my thoughts on this book in another blog post. Sufficed to say, it provides three key pieces of insight to me (and soon to you) as a storyteller:

1. "What are the parts that make a story a story?" AoG breaks down every story into recognizable, usable pieces that can be understood at a basic level, but which only grow more useful the more advanced you become at the craft. Beginners of every skill must start with the basics, and there are many places to turn for basics of storytelling. Campbell's Hero of a Thousand Faces, the three-act structure, and many more offer these basics, but Truby believes (and I happen to agree) that these sources will leave you with a very narrow and rigid process that will confuse or strangle your creativity if you take them too seriously. But you need structure to make a good story. You need a formula. You need an anatomy. You need a cookbook. AoG provides an excellent list of story parts you need to account for in one way or another, sorted by genre.
   

2. "How do I make something original?" AoG teaches you how to make art correctly (in this case a story), so that you know how to make it incorrectly, with intention. The essence of good art is to know the rules so well, that you can break them beautifully. "Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist", as Picasso said. I subscribe to the idea that there is no such thing as a story that's never been told. Every story is just a few changes away from being exactly like another story to which it is fundamentally the same. AoG is about what you are applying those changes to in the first place, to create something original.

   
   

What I like the most about Truby's approach is that it gives you a solid basis for how to create art, while not only encouraging but forcing you to make it original, if you implement the technique properly. The two points above put together is what makes the approach so useful.

Brandon Sanderson once said that a good way to write your first original story is to take a story that already exists, and then rewrite it in another genre, changing whatever you want/need to in order to do so. I thought that was good advice at the time, but now I appreciate it even more in the context of the Anatomy of Genres. With the Anatomy of Genres, you can take Sanderson's advice with an understanding of the genre you are replacing and the genre you are replacing it with, creating an excellent learning opportunity and (hopefully) a fascinating story in the process.

This is especially key when you remember that virtually every original story needs to mix multiple genres to be successful.

The Cookbook

I'm writing this blog because I have read Anatomy of Genres twice now, and would really like a reference guide for each genre, like a cookbook. On several occasions I have been trying to plot my next Duranaya book, The Breach Officer, and didn't want to reread the entire section of AoG dedicated to each of the several genres I'm employing (and considering employing) in the book. I searched for resources online that summarize each genre's beats less like a full-fledged curriculum and more like a cooking recipe, now that I've read that entire curriculum and can safely understand a condensed version with the key points.

Unfortunately, that cookbook doesn't exist. Charles Euchner's site The Elements of Writing has an excellent article that lists all the beats by genre in a nifty chart, which is very helpful, but not quite what I need. I need something more like James Gallagher's Fictionary article "How to Write a Horror Story: A Step by Step Guide", that lists every beat and a short description of what they are and their key points. Kind of like the measurements or shape of ingredients in a recipe ("sliced","cubed", "3 teaspoons"). So I decided to write it myself, as a blog so people like me can easily find it! Hope you enjoy and find this useful. I'll be adding every genre's "recipe" over the next few months, and if you want you can sign up for my newsletter to vote on which one gets broken down next! At the moment the vote for the first genre is a tie between Fantasy and Gangster.

Fundamental Principles

SKIP TO INGREDIENTS LIST (Story beats)

• The goal is to write a transcendent story. A transcendent story:

  • Has more than one genre's beats.

  • Understands those beats so well that it can subvert, twist, skip, and replace them without compromising its plot, characters, or theme.

• These story beats are not optional. They are what makes a genre function, and since every story needs genre, story beats are what make every story function.

  • When I say a story beat is not optional, I do not mean you have to include it. I mean you have to address it, either by playing it straight, twisting it, or mixing/replacing it with the beat of another genre.

    • Playing it straight example: The Odyssey plays the Myth genre almost completely straight. Most examples of good stories that play a genre straight are old and well-known, which is why it is impossible to play any genre straight anymore and create something original.

    • Twisting example: Saving Private Ryan twists some of the last beats of an action genre story (for example, that the main protagonist (John Miller) does not make it to the end and he passes on the self-revelation beat to someone else instead of having it himself).

    • Genre mixing example: This is where the vast majority of quality stories exist. Star Wars is Fantasy + Western, Horizon Zero Dawn is Coming of Age + Fantasy + Action, James Cameron's Avatar is Myth + Action + Love, and Puss in Boots: The Last Wish is a masterful combination of Love + Horror + Action.

  • That is why it is so important to use more than one genre, so that your story can be a unique combination of existing elements, and be the true meaning of "original".

• A story beat is a very vague and stretchy item. It is not necessarily a scene or an event. Instead, a story beat is an element of the story that must be included. Some beats might only be in one scene (like a Betrayal), while other beats need to be maintained for the entire story (like Story World).

  • Again, remember that you have two options for creating something original:

    • 1. Use more than one genre. This is because it is impossible to create new ingredients. Every ingredient that a food can have, and every beat a story can have, has already been used. It is up to you to create something new. To use an extreme example, recall Iron Chef America's potato chip ice cream (see Geoffrey Zakarian vs Alex Guarnaschelli). If potato chips and ice cream were stories, they would be VERY different genres, and that is why this competition produced completely original recipes no one had ever cooked before. You must apply the same creativity if you want the same results.

• If you want a more thorough breakdown of these beats, read John Truby's Anatomy of Genres.