{"id":95617,"date":"2023-03-12T21:55:00","date_gmt":"2023-03-13T01:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=95617"},"modified":"2025-10-03T11:28:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-03T15:28:07","slug":"robert-mckee-story-structure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/robert-mckee-story-structure\/","title":{"rendered":"Robert McKee: Story Structure 101"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What are the various pieces of a story? How do they all fit together?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Robert McKee, story structure<\/a> is a critical element of the most impactful stories. They follow a consistent pattern that organizes all of the devices, such as escalating risk and a coherent theme, that make up the story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Continue reading to learn what McKee teaches about story structure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Editor\u2019s note: This article is part of\u00a0Shortform\u2019s guide to storytelling<\/a>. If you like what you read here, there\u2019s plenty more to check out in the guide!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Key Parts of a Story: Climax & Inciting Incident<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

According to Robert McKee, story structure is the pattern that all well-written stories follow. McKee argues that the most important scene in all stories is the climax<\/em>: the final, most extreme, and irreversible change in your story.<\/strong> The climax of your story is the most meaningful scene and impacts the audience more intensely than any other scene because of the intensifiers we discussed in the previous section. The climax is where the protagonist risks the most and either succeeds or fails to achieve their goal. Additionally, the climax definitively \u201cproves\u201d your theme by revealing the ultimate consequences of all your protagonist\u2019s actions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To effectively create a meaningful climax, you also need to write a well-crafted inciting incident<\/em>: a scene early in the story that creates the first major change in your protagonist\u2019s life. This major change throws the protagonist\u2019s life into chaos and uncertainty, causing them to take action toward the goal they believe will give them a predictable, desirable, normal life. This is the goal the protagonist will be chasing for the entire story, until the climax.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In short, your inciting incident raises the central question of your story, and the climax answers it. <\/strong>These two events form the core of your story. The inciting incident of Finding Nemo<\/em> is when Nemo is kidnapped by a scuba diver, and the climax is when Marlin and Nemo are safely reunited.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Contrasting Western and Eastern Story Structures<\/a><\/strong>

Although McKee frames this story structure as universal, some argue that this structure is primarily a Western one, with roots in ancient Greece. For instance, many stories in China, Korea, and Japan follow a four-act structure called Kish\u014dtenketsu<\/a>, and they don\u2019t include an inciting incident or climax as we typically think of them. You may be familiar with Kish\u014dtenketsu from the anime films of Studio Ghibli<\/em><\/a>, such as Spirited Away<\/em> and My Neighbor Totoro<\/em>, which typically follow this structure.

The focus of Kish\u014dtenketsu stories is internal growth<\/em> rather than external conflict. They often depict an ordinary time in their characters\u2019 lives rather than a dramatic, life-changing turn of events. Thus, they don\u2019t need an inciting incident that radically upsets the characters\u2019 lives.

Similarly, there isn\u2019t really a climax at the end of Kish\u014dtenketsu stories. Although they sometimes end by resolving one of the characters\u2019 main problems, this resolution is rarely intended to create a sense of closure or finality. Rather, it shows the audience the characters\u2019 new normal\u2014often the result of a subtle and incomplete character change\u2014and hints at how their lives will continue from here on out.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Everything in Between: Scenes, Sequences, & Acts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

McKee asserts that the parts of your story between the inciting incident and the climax also follow a consistent pattern. This pattern builds on the ways of creating meaning<\/a> we\u2019ve already discussed: In a scene, a protagonist pursues a goal, hits an obstacle that subverts their expectations, and causes something in their life to change. To write a full story, repeat this pattern at a big-picture level.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other words, story is fractal<\/a>: Just as beats build on one another to form a scene, McKee explains that scenes build on one another to form a sequence<\/em>, which ends with a more significant change in your protagonist\u2019s life than any single scene. Likewise, a series of sequences that leads to an extreme change is what McKee calls an act<\/em>, and a very small handful of acts make up your whole story<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This design ensures that every single beat is contributing toward several consequential value changes: the next scene climax, sequence climax, and act climax.<\/strong> Therefore, every beat in every scene feels important, and your story\u2019s beats feel progressively more important and meaningful as the sum of all your protagonist\u2019s actions leads to bigger changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, Act Two of Finding Nemo<\/em> involves a scene in which Marlin befriends a fish named Dory, creating a positive value change (gaining an ally). This scene-level value change (among others) helps Marlin achieve a larger sequence-level value change where Dory helps Marlin learn the address of his son\u2019s kidnapper (gaining direction). This sequence (among others) helps Marlin successfully reach the dentist\u2019s office where Nemo is being kept\u2014only for Marlin to discover that his son Nemo is dead (or so he thinks) in a negative Second Act climax. Every decision Marlin makes in Act Two has directly led to this climactic value change (losing family)\u2014if Marlin hadn\u2019t befriended Dory, he wouldn\u2019t have arrived at the dentist\u2019s office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McKee asserts that feature films need to have at least three acts to have the most meaningful impact on an audience<\/strong>: three extreme changes that turn your protagonist\u2019s world upside down. You can include more than three acts if you\u2019d like, but including fewer than three acts makes a movie feel incomplete.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: Although McKee argues that your story can have as many acts as it needs, many argue that all effective stories are told in no more than three acts. This idea was popularized by Syd Field in his book Screenplay<\/em><\/a>, in which Field establishes the three acts of Setup, Confrontation, and Resolution<\/a>. Aristotle also disagrees with McKee in Poetics<\/em><\/a>, in which he argues that stories should have just two acts<\/a>\u2014before and after a tragedy occurs.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shortcut: Remove Everything You Can<\/strong>

McKee\u2019s idea that every story beat should simultaneously contribute to several larger value changes may be more complex and confusing than it needs to be. There\u2019s an easy way to tell if a story beat fails to fit into a larger structure\u2014if you can remove a beat and the story still makes perfect sense, that beat doesn\u2019t result in a change and thus isn\u2019t contributing to the plot<\/a>. This is because if a story beat causes a meaningful change, you\u2019ll see that change later on in the story.

As long as you make sure your story has at least three significant, act-sized changes, and you\u2019ve cut everything out of your story that doesn\u2019t cause those changes, you\u2019ll have a well-structured story. You can apply this same logic to scenes, sequences, and even entire acts, if necessary\u2014remove anything that doesn\u2019t contribute to a major change.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What are the various pieces of a story? How do they all fit together? According to Robert McKee, story structure is a critical element of the most impactful stories. They follow a consistent pattern that organizes all of the devices, such as escalating risk and a coherent theme, that make up the story. Continue reading to learn what McKee teaches about story structure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":88308,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[938],"class_list":["post-95617","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-communication","tag-story","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"\nRobert McKee: Story Structure 101 - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"According to Robert McKee, story structure is the pattern that all good stories follow. Learn how to organize all the devices in your story.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/robert-mckee-story-structure\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Robert McKee: Story Structure 101\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"According to Robert McKee, story structure is the pattern that all good stories follow. Learn how to organize all the devices in your story.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/robert-mckee-story-structure\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-03-13T01:55:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-10-03T15:28:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/story-stories-book-imagination.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Elizabeth Whitworth\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Elizabeth Whitworth\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/robert-mckee-story-structure\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/robert-mckee-story-structure\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Elizabeth Whitworth\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d2928cf6c11a69ced1491d6a5b74fb13\"},\"headline\":\"Robert McKee: Story Structure 101\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-03-13T01:55:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-10-03T15:28:07+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/robert-mckee-story-structure\/\"},\"wordCount\":1164,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/robert-mckee-story-structure\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/story-stories-book-imagination.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Story\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Communication\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/robert-mckee-story-structure\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/robert-mckee-story-structure\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/robert-mckee-story-structure\/\",\"name\":\"Robert McKee: Story Structure 101 - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/robert-mckee-story-structure\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/robert-mckee-story-structure\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/story-stories-book-imagination.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-03-13T01:55:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-10-03T15:28:07+00:00\",\"description\":\"According to Robert McKee, story structure is the pattern that all good stories follow. Learn how to organize all the devices in your story.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/robert-mckee-story-structure\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/robert-mckee-story-structure\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/robert-mckee-story-structure\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/story-stories-book-imagination.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/story-stories-book-imagination.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":630},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/robert-mckee-story-structure\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Robert McKee: Story Structure 101\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"description\":\"The World's Best Book Summaries\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"width\":500,\"height\":74,\"caption\":\"Shortform Books\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d2928cf6c11a69ced1491d6a5b74fb13\",\"name\":\"Elizabeth Whitworth\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1fff9d65a52ac4340660218e7b63ee5e365cf08e7aa7adff79a0142cd4b96f84?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1fff9d65a52ac4340660218e7b63ee5e365cf08e7aa7adff79a0142cd4b96f84?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Elizabeth Whitworth\"},\"description\":\"Elizabeth has a lifelong love of books. She devours nonfiction, especially in the areas of history, theology, and philosophy. A switch to audiobooks has kindled her enjoyment of well-narrated fiction, particularly Victorian and early 20th-century works. She appreciates idea-driven books\u2014and a classic murder mystery now and then. Elizabeth has a Substack and is writing a book about what the Bible says about death and hell.\",\"sameAs\":[\"rina@shortform.com\"],\"award\":[\"Contributions to joint task force efforts (FBI)\",\"Contributions to Special Operations Division (DOJ & DEA)\",\"Efforts to fight the war on drugs (NSA)\",\"Contributions to Operation Storm Front (US Customs Service)\"],\"knowsAbout\":[\"History\",\"Theology\",\"Government\"],\"jobTitle\":\"Senior SEO Writer\",\"worksFor\":\"Shortform\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/elizabeth\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Robert McKee: Story Structure 101 - Shortform Books","description":"According to Robert McKee, story structure is the pattern that all good stories follow. Learn how to organize all the devices in your story.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/robert-mckee-story-structure\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Robert McKee: Story Structure 101","og_description":"According to Robert McKee, story structure is the pattern that all good stories follow. Learn how to organize all the devices in your story.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/robert-mckee-story-structure\/","og_site_name":"Shortform Books","article_published_time":"2023-03-13T01:55:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-10-03T15:28:07+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/story-stories-book-imagination.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Elizabeth Whitworth","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Elizabeth Whitworth","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/robert-mckee-story-structure\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/robert-mckee-story-structure\/"},"author":{"name":"Elizabeth Whitworth","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d2928cf6c11a69ced1491d6a5b74fb13"},"headline":"Robert McKee: Story Structure 101","datePublished":"2023-03-13T01:55:00+00:00","dateModified":"2025-10-03T15:28:07+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/robert-mckee-story-structure\/"},"wordCount":1164,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/robert-mckee-story-structure\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/story-stories-book-imagination.jpg","keywords":["Story"],"articleSection":["Communication"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/robert-mckee-story-structure\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/robert-mckee-story-structure\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/robert-mckee-story-structure\/","name":"Robert McKee: Story Structure 101 - Shortform Books","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/robert-mckee-story-structure\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/robert-mckee-story-structure\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/story-stories-book-imagination.jpg","datePublished":"2023-03-13T01:55:00+00:00","dateModified":"2025-10-03T15:28:07+00:00","description":"According to Robert McKee, story structure is the pattern that all good stories follow. Learn how to organize all the devices in your story.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/robert-mckee-story-structure\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/robert-mckee-story-structure\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/robert-mckee-story-structure\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/story-stories-book-imagination.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/story-stories-book-imagination.jpg","width":1200,"height":630},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/robert-mckee-story-structure\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Robert McKee: Story Structure 101"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","name":"Shortform Books","description":"The World's Best Book Summaries","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Shortform Books","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","width":500,"height":74,"caption":"Shortform Books"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d2928cf6c11a69ced1491d6a5b74fb13","name":"Elizabeth Whitworth","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1fff9d65a52ac4340660218e7b63ee5e365cf08e7aa7adff79a0142cd4b96f84?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1fff9d65a52ac4340660218e7b63ee5e365cf08e7aa7adff79a0142cd4b96f84?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Elizabeth Whitworth"},"description":"Elizabeth has a lifelong love of books. She devours nonfiction, especially in the areas of history, theology, and philosophy. A switch to audiobooks has kindled her enjoyment of well-narrated fiction, particularly Victorian and early 20th-century works. She appreciates idea-driven books\u2014and a classic murder mystery now and then. Elizabeth has a Substack and is writing a book about what the Bible says about death and hell.","sameAs":["rina@shortform.com"],"award":["Contributions to joint task force efforts (FBI)","Contributions to Special Operations Division (DOJ & DEA)","Efforts to fight the war on drugs (NSA)","Contributions to Operation Storm Front (US Customs Service)"],"knowsAbout":["History","Theology","Government"],"jobTitle":"Senior SEO Writer","worksFor":"Shortform","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/elizabeth\/"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/story-stories-book-imagination.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95617","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95617"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95617\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":146213,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95617\/revisions\/146213"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}