I think you're right that guros tend to say the same things in different ways and therefore it's about finding the one who best speaks to you.

Scott, do you consider yourself a guro? Albeit, one of the blogosphere? I would have say you're my favorite. Though I would have to say that the book that helped me understand the essence of story the best was John Gardiner's The Art of Fiction.

Re "guru": I use that tag about the Syd Field's and Robert McKee's of the world with tongue planted firmly in cheek. Obviously these people -- with their books, seminars, workshops, master classes -- need some sort of moniker. But there are so many nowadays, ranging from academics to professionals to God knows what. It's like the Wild West out there, each with, as I said, their own language system pretty much saying a variation of a similar thing about story and story structure.

Re me? Honestly, I don't know what I am. I started teaching screenwriting as a hobby back in 2002 because a lot of people told me I would be good at it. Over time, I've come up with my language system re story structure. But the thing that has excited me most is this subject area of character archetypes. I never felt like adding my story structure approach to the mix of everything else because, frankly, I don't think it's all that different than what's out there. It's Joseph Campbell meets Syd Field meets Carl Jung. But this character-based approach to screenwriting is different. So that's why I'm writing the book.

Re John Gardiner's "The Art of Fiction": I've got that, but haven't gotten to it -- like so many other books. I'll push it up toward the top of my to read list. Thanks for the heads-up re it.

Scott, you're writing a book on character archetypes? What's the ETA? And in the meantime, can you recommend any other books on that subject?

@David: No, I can't recommend any books on the subject specifically related to screenwriting. That's one reason I'm writing the book.

You can do a search of GITS. I've posted several movie analyses where I break down characters per their archetypes. That will give you some framework for where I'm coming from with these ideas.

I assume you're familiar with _Archetypes for Writers: Using the Power of Your Subconscious_.

I haven't read it, so I have no idea if or how this might relate to your project. Just throwing it out there...

@didymus: Yes, I know that book. Thanks.