Part I: The Protagonist’s Journey as Narrative Imperative.- Chapter One: The Protagonist’s Journey – Due to their central role, engaging the Protagonist is the most important aspect of the story-crafting process.- Chapter Two: Character Arc – In movies, there exists a recurring variety of character arcs including the most popular: positive transformation.- Chapter Three: Disunity – The Protagonist needs to change as reflected in their initial state of disunity.- Chapter Four: Deconstruction – Entering the New World, a series of challenges and trials deconstructs the Protagonist’s old ways of being.- Chapter Five: Reconstruction – Freed from their old ways of being, the Protagonist is reconstructed by embracing heretofore untapped inner potential.-Chapter Six: Unity – The Protagonist brings together all they have learned in the story’s final struggle and in doing so achieves unity.- Chapter Seven: The Protagonist’s Place Within the Screenplay Universe – The Protagonist’s journey interweaves between the External World and the Internal World.- Part II: The Protagonist’s Journey as Family of Characters.- Chapter Eight: Primary Character Archetypes – Five narrative dynamics common to movies represented by these archetypes: Protagonist, Nemesis, Attractor, Mentor, Trickster.- Chapter Nine: Nemesis – By providing opposition to the Protagonist, the Nemesis generates sustained conflict which creates the central drama of the story.- Chapter Ten: Attractor – During their journey, the Protagonist intersects with Attractor characters who connect with the Protagonist’s emotional development.- Chapter Eleven: Mentor – The Protagonist meets another type of ally, the Mentor who provides wisdom and contributes to the Protagonist’s intellectual growth.- Chapter Twelve: Trickster – A shapeshifter tests the will of the Protagonist by switching from ally to enemy, enemy to ally, and generating complications.- Chapter Thirteen: Subplots – Each Protagonist relationship with key characters is a mini-story with its own arc, theme, and contribution to the overall narrative.- Chapter Fourteen: Character Map – There is a structure to the Protagonist’s relationships with the story’s major characters.- Part III: The Protagonist’s Journey as Screenplay.- Chapter Fifteen: Breaking the Story I – Begin the story-crafting process by engaging the story’s central character with a Protagonist Character Treatment.- Chapter Sixteen: Breaking the Story II – Use a series of brainstorming exercises to explore the story universe and develop its characters.- Chapter Seventeen: Breaking the Story III – A first pass at wrangling the plot by working with Four Primary Plotline Points.- Chapter Eighteen: Breaking the Story IV – Track the Protagonist’s transformation arc through Four Themeline Movements.- Chapter Nineteen: Breaking the Story V – Expand the framework of the plot by identifying Ten Major Plotline Points.- Chapter Twenty: Breaking the Story VI – Construct the final story structure, both Plotline and Themeline into a Narrative Throughline.- Chapter Twenty-One: Writing the First Draft – Break down the writing process into sets of scenes from one Plotline Point to another all the way through the Denouement.
