BM: Explains succinctly story-writing technique with concrete examples from popular films. Although focus is on fiction writing, technique is very much transferable to non-fiction writing.
United Kingdom on Jun 26, 2023
Miss P: I love this book- he is very knowledgeable and the tone of the book is easy and very informative. Highly recommended!
United Kingdom on Sep 25, 2022
Supified: There are already a ton of reviews for invisible ink and I'm going to add another. What is invisible ink? It is a book about story telling, structure, best practices really and it's extraordinary. You can read ton of reviews that will echo that thought so I'm going to instead try a different approach. Who is invisible ink for? Every body.
Invisible ink goes into great detail about the aspects of story telling that usually isn't apparent, the parts that are planned and guide and build the story without necessarily actually being a part of the story. Sub text and so on. While it might be apparent from the get go what makes this useful for a writer, it might not be so apparent what makes this useful for a reader. The truth is that this is maybe the best tool for getting enjoyment out of reading I've ever read. This book has some very simple concepts that will be relayed to you in a simple manner which does not presume you have any background in writing at all. Anyone will be able to follow and understand the concepts and the way the book builds on those concepts to deliver more makes it all the more accessible. If you enjoy stories, movies, books, comics.. You should read this...
United States on Aug 17, 2017
Dawn LawsonDawn Lawson: I think I’ve said this before, but I’ll say it again just for emphasis: This book is OFFICIALLY my bread and butter! I’ll stop here and backtrack, before I get ahead of myself…
My Origin Story
The fact of me being an aspiring storyteller didn’t click until college, funny enough. I’m an illustrator first and foremost; I’ve been drawing since I was a kid. Secondly, character development and stories in general have always fascinated me for this reason. No matter how hard I tried, though, I just couldn’t connect some crucial dots.
The big-whammy was story structure. The dots of this structure have an order, but everytime I’d read an explanation or asked someone what this structure meant, all I often got was an outline complete with the matter-of-fact expresion “Isn’t it obvious?” (i.e. exposition, rising action, climax, falling action and resolution). Great! …Now what? Other situations left me just plain confused, all the while, the listener would just AGAIN give me a matter-of-fact look. This structure wasn’t odvious to me. What’s the climax? Oh! It’s the major conflict of the story? Okay!....what even every other SCENE appears to...
United States on Jun 21, 2016
David CousensDavid Cousens: Invisible ink is an outstanding book that tells you everything you need to know about storytelling. Invisible ink isn't just an invaluable tool for screenplays or scriptwriting; it's also useful for anyone interested in film, animation, illustration, character design and writing, as it covers the most important aspect of creating anything: telling the story.
Brian McDonald has a hugely engaging writing style; he delivers salient information in an entertaining manner, and without trying to sound either pretentious, or show off his extensive and impressive knowledge. Brian McDonald educates without being dry for tedious by telling you what you need to know and then moving on; making the book a joy to read, and you will probably devour its 153 pages of information very quickly. All the fat has been trimmed; there is no filler here.
Invisible ink uses real films to illustrate the points it needs to make in a very accessible and enthusiastic manner; you can feel McDonald's love for the films as he discusses them. It will enable you to analyse and understand theme, plot and characters.
The book covers how to structure a story, theme beating logic, putting l your...
United Kingdom on May 13, 2015
Kat: A great book for people who need more giudance on writing. Aimed mostly at screenplay writers, but also useful for novel writers (like me). Useful examples, and some of the films are my favourites, which increased my enjoyment of this book. It was interesting to see the interpretation of some aspect of their plot and how the author of this book found that particular film to be relevant. Easy to read. The only downside I saw was that I wished there was more directly related to writing a novel, and not a screenplay, but then, a scene is a scene and can sometimes be tweaked to fit a novel, after all, many stories are thought up as books first, and then bought to the big screen. I have the Kindle version of this, and it is a good reference book
United Kingdom on Jul 23, 2014
M Chan: This book is fantastic. It points out a number of key story elements that may seem so simple and obvious when he first mentions them, but are so integral to making the story work as a whole that you cannot begin to imagine why you left them out. Even if you haven't left them out, then it's interesting to hear it explained in such a clear way.
Were the book written in the dry and dusty format of educational books, I doubt this would have been so useful to me. McDonald has a very engaging 'voice', and the way he eagerly points out examples in films, books, plays and real life, shows a passion that quickly becomes contagious. It becomes easy reading, and very enjoyable.
The greatest thing of all, though, is that this is a book for writing stories. Not novels, or TV scripts, or stage plays. It goes back to the core of all these types of entertainment - telling a good tale - and as such it almost transcends genre. For myself, I've recently used it to help write a short graphic novel and to bring life back into my short stories, and I think this ability to go across genres and platforms makes this book invaluable.
United Kingdom on Feb 07, 2013
| Unlock the Power of Invisible Ink: A Practical Guide to Crafting Stories that Resonate with Your Audience | The Wit and Wisdom of Oscar Wilde: The Importance of Being Earnest and Other Plays | Uncovering the Creative Process Behind Broadway Musicals: A Look at the Making of American Musical Theatre | |
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| B2B Rating |
85
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97
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95
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| Sale off | $5 OFF | ||
| Total Reviews | 10 reviews | 53 reviews | 19 reviews |
| ISBN-13 | 978-0998534473 | 978-0140436068 | 978-0374536893 |
| Customer Reviews | 4.7/5 stars of 697 ratings | 4.5/5 stars of 4,542 ratings | 4.6/5 stars of 509 ratings |
| Authorship Reference | Authorship Reference | ||
| Fiction Writing Reference (Books) | Fiction Writing Reference | ||
| Publisher | Talking Drum, LLC | Penguin Classics | Sarah Crichton Books; Reprint edition |
| Paperback | 170 pages | 464 pages | 336 pages |
| Screenwriting (Books) | Screenwriting | ||
| Dimensions | 6 x 0.43 x 9 inches | 5.1 x 0.77 x 7.76 inches | 5.45 x 0.85 x 8.25 inches |
| ISBN-10 | 0998534471 | 0140436065 | 0374536899 |
| Item Weight | 9.1 ounces | 11.3 ounces | 9.6 ounces |
| Best Sellers Rank | #91 in Screenwriting #118 in Authorship Reference#273 in Fiction Writing Reference | #362 in British & Irish Literature#373 in British & Irish Dramas & Plays#8,927 in Classic Literature & Fiction | #49 in Drama Literary Criticism#51 in Broadway & Musicals #62 in Musicals |
| Language | English | English | English |
United States on Nov 25, 2023