Power Screenwriting: The 12 Stages of Story Development

Producer, writer, and teacher Walker analyzes what makes a screenplay work, breaking down scenes from famous movies and showing how archetypes and mythology can be adapted into movie heroes and villains. In outlining the 12 stages that story development should follow, he calls the writing of a movie "an organic process more akin to knitting than to building a house. It requires stitching, back-stitching, shoring up, tightening, then letting go." A final, trouble-shooting chapter answers questions that first-time writers frequently face. The guide has no subject index. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)