Masterwork Guides
Writers want to tell stories that satisfy readers and stand the test of time, but writing advice is often vague and contradictory. What’s an aspiring writer to do? Go to masters of the genre.
Story Grid Masterwork Analysis Guides identify and analyze the best of the best fiction and nonfiction titles to help you discover how master storytellers solved the same story problems you face. Story Grid Certified Editors walk you, scene by scene, to reveal how authors craft exciting, intriguing, and cathartic stories that endure across time and place.
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley: A Story Grid Masterwork Analysis Guide
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 »
Hamilton by Lin-Manuel Miranda: A Story Grid Masterwork Analysis Guide
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 »
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone: A Story Grid Masterwork Analysis Guide
J.K. Rowling’s magical tale, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, has captivated millions of readers for decades, transporting them into a world where a young boy discovers he is not only a wizard but also the key to a larger, hidden world of magic. As Harry navigates the challenges of his new life at Hogwarts… Read more »
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen: A Story Grid Masterwork Analysis Guide
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 »
The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien: A Story Grid Masterworks Analysis Guide
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 »
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie: A Story Grid Masterwork Analysis Guide
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 »
The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell: A Story Grid Masterworks Analysis Guide
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 »
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum: A Story Grid Masterworks Analysis Guide
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 »
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson: A Story Grid Masterwork Analysis Guide
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 »
Writing a Second-Chance Love Story: A Story Grid Masterwork Analysis Guide to Persuasion
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 »