Steven Pressfield Blog
Get to “I Love You” with One Character
Far from Heaven (2002) is not an all-time great movie, but I confess I love it. Almost entirely for the ending, which to me is devastating.
The Villain is the Hero’s Nemesis
The obstacles that the hero confronts In Act Two can’t arise willy-nilly from everywhere and nowhere. They must originate from a single source—the villain.
The King Archetype
The following is a true story, paraphrased from Plutarch’s Life of Alexander.
Get to “I Love You,” Cosmic Version
We’ve been saying over the past couple of weeks that the dramatic arcs of many, many novels and movies can be seen as simply
Get to “I Love You,” Continued
True, there are wonderful stories that end with one character declaring (on the nose, as they say in Hollywood), “I love you.”
Get to “I Love You”
“Shut up and deal.” “Would it kill you one time to put on a dress?” “Walter, you’re all washed up.”
Does Nonfiction Need an Inciting Incident?
Have you seen Elizabeth Gilbert’s 19-million-view TED talk, “Your Elusive Creative Genius?”
A Body of Work
I believe that Bruce Springsteen’s musical creations existed before he ever picked up a guitar or sat down at a piano.
2020 MASTERMIND
Join Steven Pressfield's Mastermind and join him for a monthly live Q&A and get access to 12 new titles.
FREE MINI COURSE
Start with this War of Art [27-minute] mini-course. It's free. The course's five audio lessons will ground you in the principles and characteristics of the artist's inner battle.
DO THE WORK
Steve shows you the predictable Resistance points that every writer hits in a work-in-progress and then shows you how to deal with each one of these sticking points. This book shows you how to keep going with your work.
NOBODY WANTS TO READ YOUR SH*T
Steve shares his "lessons learned" from the trenches of the five different writing careers— advertising, screenwriting, fiction, nonfiction, and self-help. This is tradecraft. An MFA in Writing in 197 pages.
THE WAR OF ART
Read this one first.
It identifies the enemy—what I call Resistance with a capital “R,” i.e. fear, self-doubt, procrastination, perfectionism, all the forms of self-sabotage—that stop us from doing our work and realizing our dreams.
Start here.
Everything else proceeds from this.
TURNING PRO
Amateurs have amateur habits. Pros have pro habits. When we turn pro, we give up the comfortable life but we find our power. Steve answers the question, "How do we overcome Resistance?"
THE AUTHENTIC SWING
A short book about the writing of a first novel: for Steve, The Legend of Bagger Vance. Having failed with three earlier attempts at novels, here's how Steve finally succeeded.
DO THE WORK
Steve shows you the predictable Resistance points that every writer hits in a work-in-progress and then shows you how to deal with each one of these sticking points. This book shows you how to keep going with your work.