This just arrived with me on email and I feel compelled to share:
Robert McKee’s 10 Commandments of STORY
I. Thou shalt respect thine audience.
II. Thou shalt research.
III. Thou shalt dramatize thine exposition.
IV. Thou shalt layer a subtext under every text.
V. Thou shalt create complex characters rather than merely complicated story.
VI. Thou shalt use neither false mystery nor cheap surprise.
VII. Thou shalt not use deus ex machina to get thine ending.
VIII. Thou shalt not make life easy for thine protagonist.
IX. Thou shalt take thine story into the depth and breadth of human experience.
X. Thou shalt not sleep with anyone who has more problems than thou.
E V Gregory 