They say ‘everything is remix’ and that’s rarely been truer than in the case of this book. I’m incredibly grateful to all the story theorists and academics I quote in these pages, Tracy Carns and all at the Overlook Press, as well all the experts I’ve read over the years whose names I might have forgotten but whose insights have lingered.
Thanks, too, to my wonderful editor Tom Killingbeck and all at William Collins, my brilliant agent Will Francis, Tracy Carns and all at the Overlook Press, and the excellent Kris Doyle who edited the books that much of The Science of Storytelling is based upon. I’m massively appreciative, too, for the unerring support of Kirsty Buck at Guardian Masterclasses and Ian Ellard at the Faber Academy. My readers Professor Sophie Scott, Dr Stuart Ritchie and Amy Grier all gave invaluable advice – thank you for lending me your excellent brains.
My gratitude, too, to Craig Pearce, Charlie Campbell, Iain Lee, Charles Fernyhough, Tim Lott, Marcel Theroux, Luke Brown, Jason Manford, Andrew Hankinson, all at Kruger Cowne and, finally, my ever-patient and ever-beloved wife Farrah.