Nobody Wants to Read Your Sh*t by Steven Pressfield
An honest review of Nobody Wants to Read Your Sh*t—learn effective writing strategies to engage readers and make your content impactful.
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Deepak Shukla’s Notes On Nobody Wants to Read Your Sh*t by Steven Pressfield
Hey guys,
I finished reading this book on the 10th of January 2021.
Here’s a synopsis of the book I grabbed from Amazon:
“Skillfully read by DJ, MTV News reporter, and radio host Sway Calloway, whose effortless style and distinct voice perfectly capture John's message, and featuring a customized introduction from the author himself, this audiobook is the go-to source for all those wanting to learn the importance of staying hungry in order to succeed. Interspersed throughout its chapters, listeners are treated to "Power Facts" and "Shark Points" told directly by Daymond John, giving the famed entrepreneur and branding expert a chance to impart some of his invaluable wisdom.”
And here are the actual notes I took whilst I was listening to this on Audible:
- Never write a sex scene where all that's happening is the sex
- Make action advance the story
- Hero in the war of art is the reader. I'm Obi-wan Kenobi. Trust the force, Luke
- Narrative devices extremely important in self-help
- The concept in war of art - forget time management, motivational pep talks and tips about how to aim high in your career and succeed
- Hook>build>payoff
- Of all the people you will know in a lifetime- you are the only one you will leave nor lose
- If you really want to hear about it. The first thing you want to know is where I was born and what my lousy childhood was like and why my parents were occupied with before they had me and all that David Copperfield kind of crap
- Concept - theme - narrative device
- Nature cannot be tricked or cheated - she will give up to you the object of your struggles only after you have paid her price
- The wrong way to write a motivational book -
- introduce the thesis
- Cite examples supporting the thesis
- Recap and sum up what you presented so far
- Cut everything that isn't 'on the theme'
- Needs to have a grand theme
- E.g father's sacrifice of his dream so his children can have them
- Tell a family story - need to find a grand theme that many can identify with
- Don't be afraid to make your heroes suffer
- Almost always followed by an epiphany moment (aha moment - breakthrough insight)
- End of Act 2 as well
- Minutes 72-78 the all-is-lost moment will be there in a movie
- Write for a star in fiction
- Star wants to be unforgettable
- Must be an internal and external arc
- The protagonist embodies the theme
- Big theme = big star
- The character must undergo a radical change - a transformation - a huge change. Must have an arc
- Write a role for stars (make them bigger than the movie)
- His or her issues drive the story
- Every character in the story revolves around him or her
- His desire/issue/objective is to him monumental. Stakes for him are life and death
- His passion for his desire/issue/objective is unquenchable
- He'll pursue it to the gates of hell
- His actions or needs and nobody else's dictate the way the story turns
- Story ends when his issues are solved and no sooner
- The hero cannot go passive in a culminating crisis - don't let someone else rescue him or her
- Greater the contrast between text and subtext the greater the emotion
- Jeopardy. Get characters involved in jeopardy as soon as you can
- High stakes mean high emotion - always make it life or death
- Write everything the same way - PhD proposal, pitch deck, a proposal to the landlord about rent, brand story - stories work
- Questions to ask before you write any book
- What's the genre
- What's the theme
- Who's the hero
- What's the climax
- What are the stakes
- What is the jeopardy
- Start at the end
- Every character must represent something greater than himself
- Keep the villain up front throughout the second act
- The 2nd act belongs to the enemy/monster
- Embedded within the inciting incident is also the climax
- The inciting incident within act 1
- Every genre is a version of the hero's journey
- According to Jung - hero's journey is a component of the collective unconscious
- 3 Act structure + hero's journey = story
- The hero's journey
- The hero starts in the ordinary world
- Hero receives a call to adventure
- Hero rejects call
- Mentor gives hero courage to accept call
- The hero crosses threshold enters the special world
- The hero encounters enemies and allies
- Hero undergoes an ordeal that will serve as an initiation
- Hero confronts villain and acquires treasure
- The road back - hero escapes special world trying to 'get home'
- Villains pursue hero
- A hero must fight/escape again
- A hero returns home with the treasure
- Hero reintegrates into the ordinary world but as a changed person due to the ordeal of his journey and his experiences on his journey
- Understand genre conventions
- A hero must get beat up
- If there is a cop and criminal they must clash by stories end
- If there are loves they must move apart they move together by the story's end
- The heroes journey
- The David lean rule - every work can be divided into between 8 and 12 major sequences
- Art is artifice - nothing is spontaneous
- Cta = payoff /climax/act 3
- Breaking Bad theme is set in the pilot. When asking what is chemistry about. It is the study of transformation.
- Define the problem and you're halfway to the solution
- Clients disease
- The Illiad - The Wrath of Achilles
- Flash forward concept in literature
- High concept movie
- Die-hard plot is a concept
- Debiers - diamonds are forever
- If you're not whitening you're yellowing
- Avis cars - we're number two so we try harder
- The product has to have meaning
- Think in concepts
- Don't think in ads think in campaigns