The Toolbox
From Academic Research to Narrative Engineering
The Research Foundation For my Ph.D. at the Berlin Technical Institute (Technische Universität Berlin), I conducted a large-scale experiment to identify the most effective storytelling advice in existence. Using Google Scholar to find the most-cited screenwriting guides, I put the “masters”—from Aristotle and Egri to McKee and Vogler—to a rigorous test.
Over 500 students participated in this study, producing 120 outlines that were evaluated by industry executives. This wasn’t just theory; it was a high-stakes competition to see which dramaturgical rules actually resulted in better scripts. The result is a curated set of papers—The Toolbox—extracting the “gist” of the most actionable advice from these masters. You can download these essential rulebooks below to find the “mentor” that resonates with your writing style.
The Evolution: The Narrative Lab While the papers provided the knowledge, I realized that writers today need more than just static rules—they need a way to “stress-test” their ideas in real-time.
Leveraging the power of AI, I have transformed this research into the Narrative Engineering Lab. This tool acts as a digital “flight simulator” for your characters. By uploading the rulebooks from the masters, you can engage an AI-driven “ruthless Dramaturg” to interview your protagonist, grade your character arcs, and run conflict tests to see if your drama holds water before you even start writing.
Take the Next Step The Lab is currently in a limited-access phase, available primarily to my workshop participants. If you are ready to use the full potential of the Toolbox and see how Narrative Engineering can revolutionize your process, let’s get started.
Request Access to the Lab Please fill out the contact form below to request a password for the Narrative Lab or to inquire about upcoming workshops. Let’s turn your narrative research into a masterpiece.
Use the potential of the TOOLBOX
Download Tools
ARISTOTLE
400 A.D. – publisher unknown
“..The noble ones imitate good deeds and those of good ones, but the ordinary ones imitate those of the bad ones.”
What are Aristotle’s rules for writing?
Do these 2400 year old rules still apply?
How to translate Aristotle’s terminology in today’s language?
Who are these rules for?
What kind (genre) of story to expect if you follow his rules?
G.E. LESSING
The Hamburg Dramaturgy – 1767 – Reclam jun. GmbH & Co., Stuttgart
“Because nothing is great that is not true.”
Why a great critic is also a great teacher?
Why did Lessing have it in for French theater writers?
What did he have to say about the nexus of society and drama?
Why it is worth taking a look at contemporary movies through Lessing’s eyes?
Why Lessing would have loved Chinatown?
GUTAV FREYTAG
Die Technik des Dramas von Gustav Freytag – 1886 – Verlag S.Hirzel, Leipzig
“He [the poet] thinks he is driving his figures, but he is secretly driven by them.”
How one writer single handedly revitalized the landscape of German drama.
How “character-driven” became the battle cry of an entire generation of writers.
Meet the man who invented the visuals of play structure that we still use today.
Why nobody ever described a plot point better than Gustav Freytag?
Why Freytag introduced the dreaded “m-word” (morale) into the catechism of writers?
Why Freytag would have hated Chinatown?
GOTTFRIED MUELLER
Dramaturgie – 1942 – Konrad Riltsch Verlag, Würzburg
“The beginning has to burst into the exposition like a bomb, the middle has to be the climax and the end a release.”
What warfare and scriptwriting have to do with each other.
How this man discovered the secret sauce of Hollywood and involuntarily helped the Nazis to almost create their own.
The birth of the action movie through Aristotle reimagined.
Why the right ratio of fate to doom is a life saver for writers.
How the plot became just another character of the story.
SEMJON FREJLICH
Die Dramaturgie des Films – 1964 – Henschelverlag Berlin (DDR)
“The drama must represent the conflicts of life, otherwise it is not drama.”
The birth of Neorealism and the social drama.
Why communism was bad for storytelling.
How your plot can reveal your political affiliation.
Why Soviet writers dreamt of writing a never ending drama.
Why society can never be the hero and revolution can never be a plotpoint.
LAJOS EGRI
The Art of Dramatic Writing – 1946 – Verlag Simon & Schuster, New York
“The premise is the seed that grows into a plant that was contained in it, no more and no less.”
Why you will never ask again ‘why do I need to write that darn backstory?’ after reading Egri’s rules.
How every story is part of another story that started long ago.
Why did it take 2364 years to effectively contradict Aristotle?
Why does it need an equation with three known unknowns to write a good story?
SYD FIELD
Screenplay. The foundations of Screenwriting – 1979 – Dell Publishing, New York
“Writing is the ability to ask yourself questions and get the answers.”
Why it took Syd Field 2000 scripts to understand what was missing in all but 40?
Why the “want” vs “need” dichotomy is still one of the most powerful tools?
Why it took the Paradigm of three acts to discover that there were really four of them.
Why Syd Field was puzzled by Chinatown and went to investigate.
CHRISTOPHER VOGLER
The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers – 1992 – Michael Wiese Productions
“The generic term for a handful of recurring components that we come across again
and again in myths, fairy tales, dreams and films is: the hero’s journey.”
Why Christopher Vogler was at one time suspected to be a Soviet secret agent.
Why psychology had to be invented before this book could be written.
How Vogler can help you through the “40-mile-desert” of the second act and what you will find on the other side.
Why only this book can explain what the difference between film and real life is.
ROBERT MCKEE
Story von Robert McKee – 1997 – Harper Collins Publishers, New York
“Story is a metaphor for life.”
What a performing artist knows about storytelling.
Why 95% of our movies today owe big time to a small actors studio in NYC.
What is the smallest element of storytelling ever discovered?
How the entire world fits into a triangle.
Why you should always toss all your dialogue ideas before you start writing.
LINDA SEGER
Making a good Script Great – 1987 – Samuel French Trade
“As is the case with every other art form, the same holds true for scriptwriting: In the beginning, there is chaos.”
How could you possibly add more character types to Chris Vogler’s many archetypes?
Why did it take a woman to discover one of the most overlooked elements of good writing?
Why does the midpoint so often become the first plotpoint after a thorough revision?
Why should the myth stay out of the game before a writer has written their first draft?
How Chinatown teaches us that no story is instantly great.
