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The Four Core Framework: Needs Life Values, Emotions and Events in Storytelling
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 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,
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 .
At Story Grid, we believe great stories are built of four essential 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,
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 .
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Published January 1, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
March 8, 2021
A Book that Will Change the Way You Write
The Four Core Framework, one of several books in the Beats series published by Story Grid, will change the way you write. It will change even the way you read! Built on the premise that a story—whether told in novel form, on the stage, or even on the screen—must meet reader/audience expectations for a given genre if it is to work. The author, Shawn Coyne, explains four core elements for each of twelve genres.
If you write, edit, read books, or watch movies, you will find this book illuminating. It is written in succinct style so that chapters may be read quickly, but you will want to linger with each chapter in order to absorb how the four core elements work for each genre. Read this book, highlight it, memorize its basic contents. It will serve you well going forward. I truly believe you will never write, read, or watch the same way. You will have a deeper, richer understanding of how stories work to meet the expectations of those who consume them.
The Four Core Framework, one of several books in the Beats series published by Story Grid, will change the way you write. It will change even the way you read! Built on the premise that a story—whether told in novel form, on the stage, or even on the screen—must meet reader/audience expectations for a given genre if it is to work. The author, Shawn Coyne, explains four core elements for each of twelve genres.
If you write, edit, read books, or watch movies, you will find this book illuminating. It is written in succinct style so that chapters may be read quickly, but you will want to linger with each chapter in order to absorb how the four core elements work for each genre. Read this book, highlight it, memorize its basic contents. It will serve you well going forward. I truly believe you will never write, read, or watch the same way. You will have a deeper, richer understanding of how stories work to meet the expectations of those who consume them.
May 22, 2021
Great insights, but...
This system is amazing. I believe it will transform my writing, and I also know using this system to communicate these ideas to my students will make them better writers. And so why my discontent? It comes from the sparse nature of the contents. These are lists of qualities and attributes. Great lusts, but simply lists nonetheless. I wish for the price the book went into more depth. That is my whole complaint. I want more depth. Examples. Something.
This system is amazing. I believe it will transform my writing, and I also know using this system to communicate these ideas to my students will make them better writers. And so why my discontent? It comes from the sparse nature of the contents. These are lists of qualities and attributes. Great lusts, but simply lists nonetheless. I wish for the price the book went into more depth. That is my whole complaint. I want more depth. Examples. Something.
May 5, 2025
Shawn Coyne proposa en aquest petit llibre un recull dels diferents tipus d’històries a partir del que anomena Els quatre elements fonamentals:
La Necessitat Fonamental (per exemple, supervivència o estima).
Els Valors Vitals Fonamentals (un rang que pot anar de la vida a la mort o de la impotència al poder, per exemple).
L'Emoció Fonamental (per exemple, entusiasme o admiració).
L'Esdeveniment Fonamental (una escena que demostri una prova d'amor o un enfrontament entre el protagonista i l'antagonista, per exemple).
No sé jo si acaba de ser útil a l’hora de plantejar una història perquè falten alguns elements necessaris per poder orquestrar una història. Per al meu gust la informació es queda coixa i massa rígida. Hi ha històries que potser combinen diferents elements de diferents tipus de gèneres, i, en aquest cas, crec que aquest tipus de proposta d’ordenar els tipus de històries més que ajudar, dificulta.
Em quede amb uns punts que assenyala al principi, sobretot el 5:
THE TRUTH IS 1. Leveling up your craft to write a story that lives long after you’ve left the planet is what some might call a ridiculous goal. 2. You know that you will not tell that story after reading just one how-to-write book. 3. You know that you will not tell that story as the result of taking one seminar. 4. You know that creating a timeless work of art will require the dedication of a world-class athlete. You will be training your mind with as much ferocity and single-minded purpose as an Olympic gold medal hopeful. That kind of cognitive regimen excites you, but you just haven't found a convincing storytelling dojo to do that work. 5. The path to leveling up your creative craft is a dark and treacherous course. You've been at it a long time, and it often feels like you're wearing three-dimensional horse blinders. More times than you'd wish to admit, you're not sure if you are moving north or south or east or west. And the worst part? You can't see anyone else, anywhere going through what you're going through. You're all alone.
La Necessitat Fonamental (per exemple, supervivència o estima).
Els Valors Vitals Fonamentals (un rang que pot anar de la vida a la mort o de la impotència al poder, per exemple).
L'Emoció Fonamental (per exemple, entusiasme o admiració).
L'Esdeveniment Fonamental (una escena que demostri una prova d'amor o un enfrontament entre el protagonista i l'antagonista, per exemple).
No sé jo si acaba de ser útil a l’hora de plantejar una història perquè falten alguns elements necessaris per poder orquestrar una història. Per al meu gust la informació es queda coixa i massa rígida. Hi ha històries que potser combinen diferents elements de diferents tipus de gèneres, i, en aquest cas, crec que aquest tipus de proposta d’ordenar els tipus de històries més que ajudar, dificulta.
Em quede amb uns punts que assenyala al principi, sobretot el 5:
THE TRUTH IS 1. Leveling up your craft to write a story that lives long after you’ve left the planet is what some might call a ridiculous goal. 2. You know that you will not tell that story after reading just one how-to-write book. 3. You know that you will not tell that story as the result of taking one seminar. 4. You know that creating a timeless work of art will require the dedication of a world-class athlete. You will be training your mind with as much ferocity and single-minded purpose as an Olympic gold medal hopeful. That kind of cognitive regimen excites you, but you just haven't found a convincing storytelling dojo to do that work. 5. The path to leveling up your creative craft is a dark and treacherous course. You've been at it a long time, and it often feels like you're wearing three-dimensional horse blinders. More times than you'd wish to admit, you're not sure if you are moving north or south or east or west. And the worst part? You can't see anyone else, anywhere going through what you're going through. You're all alone.
February 1, 2022
Get all the Story Grid Beats. Read all the Story Grid Beats.
If you want to level up your craft as a writer, this is the way to go.
Also, these then become a great source of reference when you are stuck with your writing (or doing your weekly Story Grid Guild worksheet).
I'd recommend bookmarking the pages that have concepts, or tools that you'd likely revisit to make it easier to consult these books.
Flow: 5/5
Actionability: 5/5
Mindset: 5/5
Some of My Highlights:
"One such insight has revealed that Worldview and Action are not only singular genres on their own but also form the boundaries of the universe of Story, encompassing all the twelve genres."
"The protagonist or luminary agent tries to solve the problem presented by the inciting incident by relying on the existing knowledge and practices designed to produce consistent results."
"Catharsis is the frame break, the insightful eureka moment that expands our cognitive framing."
"The Core Need is in most jeopardy during the Core Event."
"The Core Event... It answers the question raised by the inciting incident, and more importantly, it is the moment of payoff of the emotional catharsis."
If you want to level up your craft as a writer, this is the way to go.
Also, these then become a great source of reference when you are stuck with your writing (or doing your weekly Story Grid Guild worksheet).
I'd recommend bookmarking the pages that have concepts, or tools that you'd likely revisit to make it easier to consult these books.
Flow: 5/5
Actionability: 5/5
Mindset: 5/5
Some of My Highlights:
"One such insight has revealed that Worldview and Action are not only singular genres on their own but also form the boundaries of the universe of Story, encompassing all the twelve genres."
"The protagonist or luminary agent tries to solve the problem presented by the inciting incident by relying on the existing knowledge and practices designed to produce consistent results."
"Catharsis is the frame break, the insightful eureka moment that expands our cognitive framing."
"The Core Need is in most jeopardy during the Core Event."
"The Core Event... It answers the question raised by the inciting incident, and more importantly, it is the moment of payoff of the emotional catharsis."
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews