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The Protagonist's Journey: An Introduction to Character-Driven Screenwriting and Storytelling
Character drives plot. Based on this principle, this book walks aspiring writers through the fascinating world of character-driven screenwriting. When a writer engages their characters, they start a process which naturally leads to the story’s structure and everything else that makes for a well-written narrative. Exploring the protagonist’s journey and their “unity arc,” Myers explains how a family of characters surrounds the protagonist and influences their transformation process. This easy-to-follow guide features activities that will help writers of any level develop their stories from concept to scene-by-scene outline. Based upon a popular workshop Myers has led with over a thousand writers at all levels of experience, this book is a must-have for screenwriting students, both undergraduate and graduate, and those looking at advanced story development.
- GenresWritingNonfiction
376 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2021
64 people are currently reading
238 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
April 25, 2025
Very helpful practical, resourceful guide to character based writing. Not sure I could ever be a 100% character driven writer, but you always have to cross that bridge. Recommended.
March 21, 2024
Better than my Uni course… thanks for the good grade Scott Myers 🙌
August 28, 2022
Clear, easily understood, and to implement. This book has vaulted to #2 of my "must read" every year for screenwriting. (#1 is Sys Fields' "Foundations in Screenwriting.)
Every script runs on character. Some substitute plot when characters are weak. This book will explain how to make your characters shine. It starts with the main character; the protagonist. If that person isn't the anchor, you're going to have problems.
The book has three sections. Section 1 explains the premise. Why is the protagonist so important? Section 2 is the meat of the book using examples from five different features AND TV, to illustrate and elaborate on the points of the protagonist's journey; the character arc, if you will. Section 3 is exercises which help illuminate all which has come before.
Section 3, for me, was the weakest because I don't find some of the suggested exercises to be helpful in my writing progress. BUT, the author emphasizes there is no "one size fits all" for screenwriting. His method is in use at DePaul University and ideas he proposes have been around for decades in screenwriting. But, you work with what works best for you. I will be incorporating a lot of what Myers recommends as I develop scripts from here on out, just as I use what works for me from Fields and jettison what doesn't.
This isn't just for screenwriting. If you are a book author or TV creator, or if you simply want to understand how storytelling can be brilliant, read this.
Every script runs on character. Some substitute plot when characters are weak. This book will explain how to make your characters shine. It starts with the main character; the protagonist. If that person isn't the anchor, you're going to have problems.
The book has three sections. Section 1 explains the premise. Why is the protagonist so important? Section 2 is the meat of the book using examples from five different features AND TV, to illustrate and elaborate on the points of the protagonist's journey; the character arc, if you will. Section 3 is exercises which help illuminate all which has come before.
Section 3, for me, was the weakest because I don't find some of the suggested exercises to be helpful in my writing progress. BUT, the author emphasizes there is no "one size fits all" for screenwriting. His method is in use at DePaul University and ideas he proposes have been around for decades in screenwriting. But, you work with what works best for you. I will be incorporating a lot of what Myers recommends as I develop scripts from here on out, just as I use what works for me from Fields and jettison what doesn't.
This isn't just for screenwriting. If you are a book author or TV creator, or if you simply want to understand how storytelling can be brilliant, read this.
August 14, 2022
This is one of the best writing books I’ve read. To the point, practical advice. I loved how the author uses examples of movies that everyone knows, it helped me understand the techniques a lot better than just conceptually. And it came to me at the right moment, as I’m writing my second novel.
May 12, 2022
The Protagonist’s Journey
The biggest challenge for any book about screenwriting is finding something new to add to a very old conversation. Much like screenwriting itself, it is difficult to present either something completely innovative without severely limiting your potential audience or something so completely accepted that your voice simply becomes an echo of all who spoke before you.
This was the challenge that respected screenwriter, professor and blogger Scott Myers set for himself in his book The Protagonist’s Journey.
Through his very popular website Go Into The Story, Myers has been speaking to screenwriters and writing about screenwriting for years, supporting the community with a wealth of information about all aspects of the creative art, from putting words on a page to putting bums in theatre seats. It was inevitable, then, that he would one day assemble some of this information into a book.
Whereas The [something’s] Journey is a familiar trope to screenwriters everywhere and therefore has largely lost all significance, the book’s subtitle really sets the stage for what we find inside: An Introduction to Character-Driven Screenwriting and Storytelling.
Although Myers has done a stellar job of setting the stage for storytelling and explaining his thinking with vivid examples from film and television, this book is not a deep dive into any single aspect of screenwriting. Rather, it is a book that any writer will find useful, but which is probably most useful to newer writers looking to understand their creative undertaking.
It is less about what Myers says than about how he says it.
As is true in all aspects of life, a single approach to screenwriting won’t work for every writer. Sometimes, the simple act of reframing a discussion or applying slightly different vocabulary can be the difference between ignorance and enlightenment. Myers offers his perspective developed over a career of writing, blogging and teaching.
As the title suggests, the book’s opening section describes the transformational arc the protagonist experiences across the journey.
Similar to Dara Marks before him, Myers breaks this journey into four components—Disunity, Deconstruction, Reconstruction, Unity—a pretty self-explanatory description of the central character’s transition from complacent acceptance of their fate to active realization of their truth. And in each chapter, he explores each element in the journeys of Clarice Starling (The Silence of the Lambs), Walter White (Breaking Bad), William Shakespeare (Shakespeare in Love), Rebecca Bunch (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend) & Miles Morales (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse).
The second section of the book then takes a step further back to examine the influence of a Family of Characters on the protagonist’s journey, describing this family and their story functions in terms of archetypes. Again, Myers takes a high-level approach to these archetypes, preferring to focus on four classifications—Nemesis, Attractor, Mentor, Trickster—rather than the possible hundreds described elsewhere.
Myers then looks at how the relationships between these archetypes and the protagonist shape the journey through various subplots, forcing the protagonist forward through the deconstruction and reconstruction process until they reach their truth or die trying.
As is so often the case with screenwriting books, it is the final section of the book where Myers’ efforts differentiate themselves from everyone else’s. Having spent two long sections on the nuance of storytelling, Myers finally delves into its practical aspects and the placement of fingers on keyboard as the writer breaks the story.
Reflecting years of lectures and workshops, Myers helps the writer figure out how to turn all of those wondrous ideas into plots, themes and pages. Starting broadly, we get to know our protagonist more fully and brainstorm to explore the story possibilities.
These then become fodder for the development of the protagonist’s external (plot-driven) story and internal (theme-driven) story, where pivotal story beats are hammered out, followed by a scene-by-scene outline and eventually a first draft.
The advice given throughout this section is advice you can use today. You can apply it immediately to your writing.
And in his final thought, Myers reminds us all that we are never alone when we write. We are surrounded by our characters, who ultimately know the way forward.
The Protagonist’s Journey is one of many screenwriting books available to the community, but at the very least, Myers’ unique perspectives on storytelling broadly and screenwriting as an activity make it a worthy companion for my bookshelf.
The biggest challenge for any book about screenwriting is finding something new to add to a very old conversation. Much like screenwriting itself, it is difficult to present either something completely innovative without severely limiting your potential audience or something so completely accepted that your voice simply becomes an echo of all who spoke before you.
This was the challenge that respected screenwriter, professor and blogger Scott Myers set for himself in his book The Protagonist’s Journey.
Through his very popular website Go Into The Story, Myers has been speaking to screenwriters and writing about screenwriting for years, supporting the community with a wealth of information about all aspects of the creative art, from putting words on a page to putting bums in theatre seats. It was inevitable, then, that he would one day assemble some of this information into a book.
Whereas The [something’s] Journey is a familiar trope to screenwriters everywhere and therefore has largely lost all significance, the book’s subtitle really sets the stage for what we find inside: An Introduction to Character-Driven Screenwriting and Storytelling.
Although Myers has done a stellar job of setting the stage for storytelling and explaining his thinking with vivid examples from film and television, this book is not a deep dive into any single aspect of screenwriting. Rather, it is a book that any writer will find useful, but which is probably most useful to newer writers looking to understand their creative undertaking.
It is less about what Myers says than about how he says it.
As is true in all aspects of life, a single approach to screenwriting won’t work for every writer. Sometimes, the simple act of reframing a discussion or applying slightly different vocabulary can be the difference between ignorance and enlightenment. Myers offers his perspective developed over a career of writing, blogging and teaching.
As the title suggests, the book’s opening section describes the transformational arc the protagonist experiences across the journey.
Similar to Dara Marks before him, Myers breaks this journey into four components—Disunity, Deconstruction, Reconstruction, Unity—a pretty self-explanatory description of the central character’s transition from complacent acceptance of their fate to active realization of their truth. And in each chapter, he explores each element in the journeys of Clarice Starling (The Silence of the Lambs), Walter White (Breaking Bad), William Shakespeare (Shakespeare in Love), Rebecca Bunch (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend) & Miles Morales (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse).
The second section of the book then takes a step further back to examine the influence of a Family of Characters on the protagonist’s journey, describing this family and their story functions in terms of archetypes. Again, Myers takes a high-level approach to these archetypes, preferring to focus on four classifications—Nemesis, Attractor, Mentor, Trickster—rather than the possible hundreds described elsewhere.
Myers then looks at how the relationships between these archetypes and the protagonist shape the journey through various subplots, forcing the protagonist forward through the deconstruction and reconstruction process until they reach their truth or die trying.
As is so often the case with screenwriting books, it is the final section of the book where Myers’ efforts differentiate themselves from everyone else’s. Having spent two long sections on the nuance of storytelling, Myers finally delves into its practical aspects and the placement of fingers on keyboard as the writer breaks the story.
Reflecting years of lectures and workshops, Myers helps the writer figure out how to turn all of those wondrous ideas into plots, themes and pages. Starting broadly, we get to know our protagonist more fully and brainstorm to explore the story possibilities.
These then become fodder for the development of the protagonist’s external (plot-driven) story and internal (theme-driven) story, where pivotal story beats are hammered out, followed by a scene-by-scene outline and eventually a first draft.
The advice given throughout this section is advice you can use today. You can apply it immediately to your writing.
And in his final thought, Myers reminds us all that we are never alone when we write. We are surrounded by our characters, who ultimately know the way forward.
The Protagonist’s Journey is one of many screenwriting books available to the community, but at the very least, Myers’ unique perspectives on storytelling broadly and screenwriting as an activity make it a worthy companion for my bookshelf.
April 18, 2022
I already knew this would be an absolute gem of a book, having followed Scott Myers 'Go Into The Story' website and after attending many of his US and UK in-person workshops in the past. Having now read the book from cover to cover, I feel inspired and reinvigorated in developing my future stories and current project. The clearly communicated insight and working writer tools this book delivers to you are priceless. Without a shadow of a doubt, this is one of the best 'how to' (or as Scott would say, 'one way of how to that you could consider using') books I've read, and one I would now highly recommend any writer of any discipline should consider adding to their 'tip top writing tools' bookshelf.
May 13, 2022
Meyers does brilliant job incorporating two of my favorites, Carl Jung and Joseph Campbell. With Meyers gifts of explaining in terms anyone will understand.
“The Protagonist's Journey" goes deep into the craft of storytelling with clarity.
Scott Myers 'Go Into The Story' has been my go to,
Now it’s “The Protagonist's Journey“
You’ll feel inspired and ready to write your screenplay after reading!
“The Protagonist's Journey" goes deep into the craft of storytelling with clarity.
Scott Myers 'Go Into The Story' has been my go to,
Now it’s “The Protagonist's Journey“
You’ll feel inspired and ready to write your screenplay after reading!
August 25, 2024
On a screenwriting form I subscribe to you, this is recommended by multiple people, so I dove in. While some of the stuff in there is a repeat if you are a writer, there was chock full of new and useful information, in addition to ways to go about getting a draft done. This is a must for any writer, in any medium.
September 7, 2025
Scott Myers is an AMAZING screenwriting teacher (his MasterClass(es) helped me take my very first screenplay from raw NOTHING to fun contest placements and a couple development offers). The fact that he has translated his expertise and teaching skill into a book that anyone can buy and use...is a GIFT that should be immediately and gratefully accepted and inhaled!
October 5, 2022
Scott is the absolute best at this, his love of story, movies, and WRITERS shines through every sentence, every word of this book. It's a MUST-READ for all screenwriters, regardless of your level of experience. FYI, I received an early ARC of this book for review.
June 6, 2023
Simply one of the best guides to screenwriting there are. This and Jim Mercurio's "The Craft of Scene Writing" are all you need. Maybe toss in a copy of "The Hollywood Standard" for formatting. That's it.
October 26, 2023
Really fantastic look at breaking story from a character-driven place. It goes deep (I think it's used as a college textbook) but don't let that scare you. A great tool for screenwriters and novelists alike!
April 29, 2025
A comprehensive guide to character and cast design with heaps of examples from film and television.
August 15, 2025
A really insightful book on writing better stories.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews