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5 More Storytelling Rules
- What is your character good at, comfortable with? Throw the polar opposite at them. Challenge them. How do they deal?
- Come up with your ending before you figure out your middle. Seriously. Endings are hard, get yours working up front.
- Finish your story, let go even if it’s not perfect. In an ideal world you have both, but move on. Do better next time.
- When you’re stuck, make a list of what WOULDN’T happen next. Lots of times the material to get you unstuck will show up.
- Pull apart the stories you like. What you like in them is a part of you; you’ve got to recognize it before you can use it.
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MORE IDEAS ON THIS
Pixar's 5 Storytelling Rules
- You admire a character for trying more than for their successes.
- You gotta keep in mind what’s interesting to you as an audience, not what’s fun to do as a writer. They can be very different.
- Trying for theme is important, but you won’t see what the story is actually about ti...
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Next 5 Storytelling Rules
- Putting it on paper lets you start fixing it. If it stays in your head, a perfect idea, you’ll never share it with anyone.
- Discount the 1st thing that comes to mind. And the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th – get the obvious out of the way. Surprise yourself.
- Give your characters opinions....
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Last 7 Rules
- What are the stakes? Reason to root for the character. What happens if they don’t succeed? Stack the odds against.
- No work is ever wasted. If it’s not working, let go and move on – it’ll be useful later.
- Know yourself: Story is testing, not refining.
- Coincidences to g...
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Rules of storytelling, according to Pixar
- Emphasize trying more than success.
- Having an initial theme while writing is important but don’t get too attached to it.
- Cutting things out is important part of the writing process.
- Challenge your characters
Assess Everything
Pull everything out of your closet and separate it into three piles: keep, donate, or throw away. And in terms of "keep" make a physical list of what you have before hanging them back up.
The Pains of Feeling Stuck (2)
You can get unstuck. And you can succeed in life again. I know because I was there four years ago. And I fought to find my way through millions of mistakes.
I lived them all. I woke up and cried in the middle of the night. And I felt like I ...
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