"Create Your Own World " is a motto of visionary artists. We all
enjoy escaping into, and journeying within, fictional realms. Some
aspire to create their own unique artistic worlds. "Fictional
Worlds," intended for all readers who love literature and film, and
especially for writers, filmmakers, and videogame designers, points
at new ways of navigating, exploring, and creating entrancing
fictional universes. This book's promise is to make its readers
more confident fictional world travelers and compelling
storytellers. A holistic and evolutionary study of narrative from
ancient rituals, myths and fairytales to the current day, this book
blends a creative and intellectual approach to writing. The themes
of journey, the wonderworld, quest for knowledge, symbolic
death-rebirth, conflict resolution, family, and community are at
the core of this inquiry into the nature of narrative, its politics
and poetics. Teaching nuts and bolts of writing fiction, this book
connects the "cultural" dots in the trajectory of the dramatic arc,
elucidating the power of storytelling. With Odysseus as a guide,
"Fictional Worlds" is a journey through the landscape of narrative
traditions, emerging practices and artistic debates. The four books
of this volume explore key genres such as action-adventure, drama,
mystery, and comedy.
"This brilliant book is far more than a screenwriting manual.
Ranging across the globe and throughout history we have here a
dazzling survey of the intellectual foundations and possibilities
of the cinema. This is must-reading for anyone who is interested in
how and, more importantly, why we tell stories on screen." -- David
Desser, author of "Eros plus Massacre: An Introduction to the
Japanese New Wave Cinema"; co-author of "American Jewish
Filmmakers"
"A new theory of narrative, which I find both convincing and
uplifting. Illuminating and useful anthropological theory of
genres. Terrific choice of examples, as well as the analysis. 'Dos
and Don'ts: Creative Solutions for the Formulaic Plot' will be
immensely helpful to practitioners.... Among interesting ideas: the
murder mystery-as tragedy in reverse And the role of film noir...
And 'Ulysses as a Peter Pan for grownups' - I love it " -- Linda
Hutcheon, Distinguished Professor Emeritus, University of Toronto,
author of "A Poetics of Postmodernism," "The Politics of
Postmodernism," and "A Theory of Parody: The Teachings of
Twentieth-Century Art Forms"
"An innovative approach to teaching screenwriting, based in
original scholarship of real importance. The book's ideas are of
impressive originality and practicality, and expounded with
exemplary clarity. Dr. Alexander does a splendid job making a case
for the new and more productive understanding of genre. The book
features an elegant commentary on the distinction between film as
ritual and ceremony. There is much to recommend this fine volume,
the writing is generally elegant. The chapter on mystery is so
brilliant that it alone would make this book worthy of a semester's
study." -- R. Bruce Elder, filmmaker; author of "Harmony and
Dissent: Film and Avant-Garde Art Movements," and "DADA, Surrealism
and the Cinematic Effect"
"There's much I admire about "Fictional Worlds," starting with
the core project of bridging between narrative theory,
anthropological perspectives on myth and ritual, and work in screen
studies. I have never seen the books addressing Joseph Campbell's
'Hero's Journey' with relation to screenwriting in the exhaustive
detail and with the nuance that Alexander deploys here, and with
such a rich array of examples. What I admire is Alexander's
insistence on historical and cultural specificity, even while
tracing connections in the kinds of stories that have emerged
across times and cultures." -- Henry Jenkins, Professor, University
of Southern California; author of "Convergence Culture: Where Old
and New Media Co
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