This site offers writers new ideas on the essential elements of storytelling through reviews of popular novels, plays, and screenplays that explore the a story is a promise concept.
Bill Johnson is author of A Story is a Promise, a writing workbook. He's a produced playwright, has done film work for hire, and has read manuscript submissions for literary agents and read manuscripts for several traditionally published authors. His plays have been produced around the United States and in Mexico, England, and Dubai. For many years he was office manager of Willamette Writers, a non profit writers group in the Pacific NW, and a board member of the Northwest Playwrights Guild.
Site
Awards
All material on this web
site copyright 1998-2025 Bill Johnson; all rights reserved.
Principles of
Storytelling
Foundation Principles of Storytelling Embedding
Story Ideas in Action
Narrative Tension, Creating Compelling Stories
Story Line, Plot Line, the mechanics of telling a story
Storytelling and the Superconscious Mind
Intuition and the Subconscious
Novel Reviews that
Explore Story Structure
Environment
as Character, Notes on Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird
Conveying
a Character's Journey on the First Page of a Novel
All
the Light We Cannot See, Complex Story, Simple Questions
Writing
About Class in America, notes on The Great Gatsby
The
Outsiders, notes on the popular novel
Notes
on the opening page of Game of Thrones and how it sets a story
into motion
Reading to Write, a novel way to write a novel, includes reviews of Catherine Hyde Ryan's Funeral for Horses,
excerpts from Catcher in the Rye, Movie Reviews that
Explore Principles of Storytelling
Arrival,
Using a Timeline to Tell a Story
Shawshank
Redemption, Writing to a Dramatic Purpose
Premise
and Mystery, a review of The Usual Suspects
A
review of the structure of Guardians of the Galaxy.
A
review of the horror film Polterheist.
Capsule
movie reviews that explore principles of storytelling.
Kernels to Storytelling Mastery, reviews of popular movies, including Groundhog Day, Lethal Weapon, and Die Hard, available for free from Draft2Digital.
Play Reviews that
Explore Principles of Creating Drama
Romeo
and Juliet, the Power and Passion of Love and Hate, a beat by beat
review of Act One
Who's
Afraid of Virginia Woolf, the Power of Ambiguity
Developing Complex Characters
Who Grow and Change, a review of The Heidi Chronicles
Mastering Story Structure - A Guide for Writing Unforgettable Plays is available for free via
Draft2Digital. Includes full beat by beat breakdown of all five acts
Play Productions
A Story is a Promise & The Spirit of
Storytelling is available for $2.99 from
Amazon Kindle.
Study Web Award
Key Web Resource Award
Harlan Coben's Tell No One, The Tin Drum, The Bell Jar, and Lady Chatterly's Lover. It
is available for free from Draft2Digital.
of Romeo and Juliet.
Bill
Johnson's exploration of his energy body and techniques for
accessing it are included in this new print edition. It includes
color maps of the energy flow around the face and head. Available
on Amazon in both print and a print replica ebook
https://www.amazon.com/Experiences-Energy-Body-Understanding-Together/dp/B0F5P47FK5/