Shawn Coyne

WHAT IS THE STORY GRID? The Story Grid is a tool developed by editor Shawn Coyne to analyze stories and provide helpful editorial comments. It's like a CT Scan that takes a photo of the global story and tells the editor or writer what is working, what is not, and what must be done to make what works better and fix what's not. The Story Grid breaks down the component parts of stories to identify the problems. And finding the problems in a story is almost as difficult as the writing of the story itself (maybe even more difficult). The Story Grid is a tool with many applications: 1. It will tell a writer if a Story ?works? or ?doesn't work. 2. It pinpoints story problems but does not emotionally abuse the writer, revealing exactly where a Story (not the person creating the Story'the Story) has failed. 3. It will tell the writer the specific work necessary to fix that Story's problems. 4. It is a tool to re-envision and resuscitate a seemingly irredeemable pile of paper stuck in an attic drawer. 5. It is a tool that can inspire an original creation.

What Good Editors Know

The Story Grid

Chad Millman

A stirring portrait of the decade when the Steelers became the greatest team in NFL history, as their city was crumbling around them. In the 1970s, the city of Pittsburgh was in need of heroes. In that decade the steel industry, long the lifeblood of the city, went into massive decline, putting 150,000 steelworkers out of work. And then the unthinkable happened: The Pittsburgh Steelers, perennial also-rans in the NFL, rose up to become the most feared team in the league, winning four Super Bowls in six years and lifting the spirits of a city on the brink. In The Ones Who Hit the Hardest, Chad Millman and Shawn Coyne trace the rise of the Steelers amidst the backdrop of the fading city they fought for, bringing to life characters such as: Art Rooney, the owner of the team so beloved by Pittsburgh that he was known simply as "The Chief"; Chuck Noll, the headstrong coach who used the ethos of steelworkers to motivate his players; and Jack Lambert, the linebacker whose snarling, toothless grin embodied the Pittsburgh defense. Thoroughly researched and grippingly written, The Ones Who Hit the Hardest is a stirring tribute to a city, a team, and an era.

The Steelers, the Cowboys, the '70s, and the Fight for America's Soul

The Ones Who Hit the Hardest

A stirring portrait of the decade when the Steelers became the greatest team in NFL history, even as Pittsburgh was crumbling around them. In the 1970s, the city of Pittsburgh was in need of heroes. In that decade the steel industry, long the lifeblood of the city, went into massive decline, putting 150,000 steelworkers out of work. And then the unthinkable happened: The Pittsburgh Steelers, perennial also-rans in the NFL, rose up to become the most feared team in the league, dominating opponents with their famed "Steel Curtain" defense, winning four Super Bowls in six years, and lifting the spirits of a city on the brink. In The Ones Who Hit the Hardest, Chad Millman and Shawn Coyne trace the rise of the Steelers amidst the backdrop of the fading city they fought for, bringing to life characters such as: Art Rooney, the owner of the team so beloved by Pittsburgh that he was known simply as "The Chief"; Chuck Noll, the headstrong coach who used the ethos of steelworkers to motivate his players; Terry Bradshaw, the strong-armed and underestimated QB; Joe Green, the defensive tackle whose fighting nature lifted the franchise; and Jack Lambert, the linebacker whose snarling, toothless grin embodied the Pittsburgh defense. Every story needs a villain, and in this one it's played by the Dallas Cowboys. As Pittsburgh rusted, the new and glittering metropolis of Dallas, rich from the capital infusion of oil revenue, signaled the future of America. Indeed, the town brimmed with such confidence that the Cowboys felt comfortable nicknaming themselves "America's Team." Throughout the 1970s, the teams jostled for control of the NFL-the Cowboys doing it with finesse and the Steelers doing it with brawn-culminating in Super Bowl XIII in 1979, when the aging Steelers attempted to hold off the Cowboys one last time. Thoroughly researched and grippingly written, The Ones Who Hit the Hardest is a stirring tribute to a city, a team, and an era.

Action Stories speak to ancient human desires. Readers want to experience heart-stopping fear and excitement and learn lessons of survival. How can you write a story that satisfies those desires? In Action Story: The Primal Genre, Story Grid founder Shawn Coyne takes you on a journey deep into the meaning of the genre. Coyne boils down insights gained through more than 25 years as an editor and writer to teach you Action Story’s fundamental constraints and patterns. He explores subgenres and setting, and proposes a new way of understanding the traditional cast of characters to reveal their power as agents of light and darkness. In keeping with Story Grid Publishing’s goal of helping all writers level up their craft, Coyne provides a practical twenty-point game plan, showing how action stories move forward from beginning to end. Action stories are part of our DNA, fundamental to our humanity. Let’s learn to write them together.

The Primal Genre

Action Story

Jane Austen’s masterpiece, Pride and Prejudice, has been admired, adapted, and copied by thousands of writers. Her work is still adored by readers all over the world two centuries after it was first published. Have you ever dreamed you and Austen could take a turn about the room or walk the grounds of Pemberley while she explains exactly how she wrote her timeless love stories? In this Masterwork Guide, Shawn Coyne applies his Story Grid tools of analysis to Austen’s classic, transforming the reading experience into writing inspiration. Coyne dissects each and every scene of the novel to show how it works. And he reveals the “must-have” moments readers crave in any love story so you can craft one of your own. The Story Grid is a curated set of writing and editing tools that helps writers pinpoint weaknesses, learn how to fix them, and produce “stories that work.” After a long career as an editor, agent, and publisher, Coyne has a deep understanding of what resonates with readers. He wants you to know that you are not the problem—the problem is the problem. Let the Masterwork Guide help you see the love story of Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy through a new lens. Then let the Story Grid approach help you re-envision your own stories, and fall in love with writing again.

A Story Grid Masterwork Analysis Guide

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Jane Austen's masterpiece, Pride and Prejudice, has been admired, adapted, and copied by thousands of writers. Her work is still adored by readers all over the world two centuries after it was first published. Have you ever dreamed you and Austen could take a turn about the room or walk the grounds of Pemberley while she explains exactly how she wrote her timeless love stories? In this Masterwork Guide, Shawn Coyne applies his Story Grid tools of analysis to Austen's classic, transforming the reading experience into writing inspiration. Coyne dissects each and every scene of the novel to show how it works. And he reveals the "must-have" moments readers crave in any love story so you can craft one of your own. The Story Grid is a curated set of writing and editing tools that helps writers pinpoint weaknesses, learn how to fix them, and produce "stories that work." After a long career as an editor, agent, and publisher, Coyne has a deep understanding of what resonates with readers. He wants you to know that you are not the problem-the problem is the problem. Let the Masterwork Guide help you see the love story of Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy through a new lens. Then let the Story Grid approach help you re-envision your own stories, and fall in love with writing again.

The Five First Principles of the Story Grid Methodology

Story Grid 101

Bilbo Baggins, an altogether respectable hobbit, had never done anything unexpected—to say nothing of heroic—until he met a wizard in a blue pointed hat. After that meeting, Bilbo embarked upon an adventure, recorded in the pages of The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien, that captured the imagination of readers around the world. With unparalleled skill, Tolkien forged scenes of physical courage, revelatory self-transformation, and spiritual transcendence that do more than entertain—they help us make sense of the world. In this Story Grid Masterworks Analysis Guide, Shawn Coyne examines Bilbo’s transformation and Tolkien’s craft through a powerful new lens, the Heroic Journey 2.0, revealing how stories help us survive, thrive, and find meaning individually and as a species. Using this lens, writers will learn to create the emotional catharsis readers crave and tell stories that cross barriers of time and culture. Bilbo’s unexpected journey beautifully illustrates the human imperative to keep going, to break and remake our worldviews in a search for truth. But in the end, readers and writers may agree with Coyne that, “There is no final truth, only the creative act of meaning-making in the here and now.”

Shawn Coyne

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