Masterwork Guides

How does a book written in 1818 by a teenage author remain a classic and a bestseller, still permeating our culture and haunting readers 200 years later?  In this Masterwork Guide to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Story Grid editor and novelist Maya Rushing Walker leads us deep into the heart of the story, demonstrating how Shelley… Read more »

Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton is a transformative work of art. From its initial performance in 2015, this daring interpretation of the life of orphan, hero, and scholar Alexander Hamilton profoundly changed musical theater—and the audiences who watched and listened. Revolution was the subject and the goal. In Hamilton by Lin-Manuel Miranda: A Story Grid Masterwork Analysis… Read more »

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… Read more »

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… Read more »

A murder. A master detective. A gathering of suspects. Between the covers of a book or on the big screen, is there anything more compelling than a great crime story? In the expert hands of Agatha Christie—one of the world’s bestselling novelists—every crime and every search for justice became a work of art. Story Grid… Read more »

Is it possible to write a nonfiction book that changes minds or even changes the world? The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell sold 1.7 million copies in its first year of release, and today remains a perennial bestseller. What made it go viral?  What made it stick?  On the 20th anniversary of The Tipping Point’s… Read more »

Dorothy Gale’s trip from Kansas to the Emerald City—in print, on screen, and on stage—has enchanted audiences around the world for more than a century. But what is her magical adventure really about? And can studying such classic tales help today’s writers improve their craft? In The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum:… Read more »

Open Treasure Island, and you expect to find a thrilling adventure tale of pirates, shipwrecks, and lost booty. But if you join Story Grid writer and editor Leslie Watts in analyzing Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic novel, you’ll also discover timeless lessons about the craft of storytelling. First published in 1883, Treasure Island offers readers irresistible… Read more »

Jane Austen’s final novel, Persuasion, opens in an unusual way—with two hearts already broken. Anne Elliot and Captain Frederick Wentworth have endured seven years of separation and longing after Anne was convinced by family and friends to refuse his proposal. When they meet again, the central question they face is one that resonates for readers… Read more »