GREAT THINGS ENTERPRISE
CLAUDE BLACK
REVIEW OF:
Dwight V. Swain
Author
Techniques of the Selling Writer
Chapter 6 – V. Conclusion
Beginning, middle, and end equal story. Swain says they may be chopped up, analyzed, dissected, and dealt with as if they were separate entities. But they’re not. These story components have no life apart from the whole. It is futile to allow atomistic concepts to rule thinking while writing and trying to assemble them in the end—it would be like trying to assemble a cow from hamburger. A successful story is always an integrated unit. A story disintegrates when treated like a mishmash of bits and fragments.
“Each story, however, is unique and individual. Tricks and techniques must be adapted to its special problems. No universal blueprint is worth the paper on which it’s reproduced… A rule is a rock around your neck if you let it dominate intelligence and imagination.”
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