Land of the Dead

From Brian McDonald, an expert on the narrative arts, comes a remarkable non-fiction graphic novel about the art of storytelling.

There is wisdom in the land of the dead, for it is the place that all stories lay to rest. And what is a story, if not a simulation of survival.

Wielding his massive experience from film, tv, comics, and more, Brian McDonald lays out a history of storytelling and shows the reader how the best tales tug at our truest biological instinct: the need to survive. Readers will see how different forms of survival physical, emotional, spiritual inform the arc of character development in a way that makes them more complex and compelling. And how plot and circumstance must then force your protagonist to meet their worst nightmare. Toby Cypress s electric art guides the reader through the underworld, visualizing each narrative masterpiece, and bringing the ideas to life.

Whether you re in film, books, comics, or simply a story enthusiast, this book offers a way to see character development and the crafting of plot through the lens of human questions of morality and mortality.

叙事艺术专家布莱恩·麦克唐纳（Brian McDonald）写了一本关于故事艺术的非虚构的平面小说。死者的土地上有智慧，因为它是所有故事的安息之地。如果不是对生存的模拟，那么什么是故事，布莱恩·麦克唐纳（Brian McDonald）讲述了一段讲故事的历史，并向读者展示了最好的故事是如何激发我们最真实的生物本能：生存的需要。读者将看到不同形式的生存——身体、情感和精神——如何以一种使其更加复杂和引人注目的方式来影响性格发展的轨迹。情节和环境必须如何迫使你的主人公面对他们最可怕的噩梦。托比·塞普拉斯（Toby Cypress）的电子艺术引导读者穿越冥界，将每一部叙事杰作可视化，并将这些想法带到现实中。无论你是在电影、书籍、漫画中，还是仅仅是一个故事爱好者，这本书都提供了一种通过人类道德和死亡问题的视角来看待人物发展和情节制作的方式。