1 Topic by A.T.Schlesinger (edited by A.T.Schlesinger 2016-07-29 19:43:39)

Topic: A double-barrel blast to make you a better writer and story teller!

First, Pixars 22 rules of story telling:

#1: You admire a character for trying more than for their successes.

    #2: 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 v. different.

    #3: Trying for theme is important, but you won’t see what the story is actually about til you’re at the end of it. Now rewrite.

    #4: Once upon a time there was ___. Every day, ___. One day ___. Because of that, ___. Because of that, ___. Until finally ___.

    #5: Simplify. Focus. Combine characters. Hop over detours. You’ll feel like you’re losing valuable stuff but it sets you free.

    #6: What is your character good at, comfortable with? Throw the polar opposite at them. Challenge them. How do they deal?

    #7: Come up with your ending before you figure out your middle. Seriously. Endings are hard, get yours working up front.

    #8: 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.

    #9: 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.

    #10: 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.

    #11: 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.

    #12: Discount the 1st thing that comes to mind. And the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th – get the obvious out of the way. Surprise yourself.

    #13: Give your characters opinions. Passive/malleable might seem likable to you as you write, but it’s poison to the audience.

    #14: Why must you tell THIS story? What’s the belief burning within you that your story feeds off of? That’s the heart of it.

    #15: If you were your character, in this situation, how would you feel? Honesty lends credibility to unbelievable situations.

    #16: What are the stakes? Give us reason to root for the character. What happens if they don’t succeed? Stack the odds against.

    #17: No work is ever wasted. If it’s not working, let go and move on - it’ll come back around to be useful later.

    #18: You have to know yourself: the difference between doing your best & fussing. Story is testing, not refining.

    #19: Coincidences to get characters into trouble are great; coincidences to get them out of it are cheating.

    #20: Exercise: take the building blocks of a movie you dislike. How d’you rearrange them into what you DO like?

    #21: You gotta identify with your situation/characters, can’t just write ‘cool’. What would make YOU act that way?

    #22: What’s the essence of your story? Most economical telling of it? If you know that, you can build out from there.

After that, watch this awesome TED talk:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxDwieKpawg

Learn it, love it.

Quote Post 1

2 Reply by max keanu (edited by max keanu 2016-07-29 21:24:51)

Re: A double-barrel blast to make you a better writer and story teller!

Every picture tells a story, but not every story creates a pictures within the mind in real time. The reverberations of Hamlet, Gone With the Wind or TO Kill A Mocking Bird resonate throughout a person's lifetime. I walk out of Pixar products happy and satisfied with the entertainment values. But these are a minor titillation that lasts for minutes, maybe a few hours; of nothing earth-shaking compared to say the novel aspects of Blade Runner or the profundity of books by the masters (Cervantes, Dante, Goethe, Shakespeare, other etc).

However, the rules of writing are like me teaching a guitar student ten, twenty rules to capture an audience from the start, but knowing all the time that controlling elements of performance fly right out the window when the first note is struck. The gut (or internal mind) takes over and the song works or it doesn't.

TO me, a novel works if it flows from the start and I can't stop writing it. Something in me takes over the process (and I leave the rest to AutoCrit, lol).

Fiction writing is a fine art, it flows from within and flows best after all rules and regulations are internalized and then muted/smursched from conscious thinking. But of course, basic rules must function in the background, perhaps at the sub-conscious level are rules that are best learned from reactions/reviews to work put out to be read, i.e. reviews from this site, publisher's comments and most important are the bruises and burns on the nose after they've been put to the grindstone. Ha-ha, one sharpens their writing nose through hard-learned grinding (breaking rules and playing with rules) to then sniff out the way towards the final word and THE END.

Quote Post 2

Re: A double-barrel blast to make you a better writer and story teller!

You do know there is a substantive difference in storytelling through the written word and a movie, right?
For once, I agree with with Max's general reaction ("fiction is a fine art") but go further to say that Pixars 22 advice is fine for a McDonald's franchise but some prefer Renato's Palm Beach. No problem with #5,6,7,13,14,15,17 as helpful, though.

Quote Post 3

Re: A double-barrel blast to make you a better writer and story teller!

max keanu wrote:

TO me, a novel works if it flows from the start and I can't stop writing it. Something in me takes over the process

So you prefer the "organic' method rather than the "outlined" method of writing?  Organic writing unfortunately is very mood sensitive, and it can be weeks or months to finish a small plotline to advance the book, probably not best for a writer who has to make a living at it on deadlines and such. Some authors alter the mood externally, but I find the inspiration I seek comes from experiences that seem to come from the blue as if to complete my thought on something, and that creates the mood to write.

Quote Post 4

5 Reply by Dill Carver (edited by Dill Carver 2016-07-29 23:06:22)

Re: A double-barrel blast to make you a better writer and story teller!

max keanu wrote:

Every picture tells a story, but not every story creates a pictures within the mind in real time. The reverberations of Hamlet, Gone With the Wind or TO Kill A Mocking Bird resonate throughout a person's lifetime. I walk out of Pixar products happy and satisfied with the entertainment values. But these are a minor titillation that lasts for minutes, maybe a few hours; of nothing earth-shaking compared to say the novel aspects of Blade Runner or the profundity of books by the masters (Cervantes, Dante, Goethe, Shakespeare, other etc).

However, the rules of writing are like me teaching a guitar student ten, twenty rules to capture an audience from the start, but knowing all the time that controlling elements of performance fly right out the window when the first note is struck. The gut (or internal mind) takes over and the song works or it doesn't.

TO me, a novel works if it flows from the start and I can't stop writing it. Something in me takes over the process (and I leave the rest to AutoCrit, lol).

Fiction writing is a fine art, it flows from within and flows best after all rules and regulations are internalized and then muted/smursched from conscious thinking. But of course, basic rules must function in the background, perhaps at the sub-conscious level are rules that are best learned from reactions/reviews to work put out to be read, i.e. reviews from this site, publisher's comments and most important are the bruises and burns on the nose after they've been put to the grindstone. Ha-ha, one sharpens their writing nose through hard-learned grinding (breaking rules and playing with rules) to then sniff out the way towards the final word and THE END.

True.

Writing to 'must include' rules, 'best practice' and checklists can make for some contrived sounding, stinky prose. As you read some pieces, you notice the author ticking the boxes as they go. Applying the 'must do' list becomes the agenda and the flowing gut driven spiel plays second fiddle.

I feel there is a big difference between analyzing a great work and finding that it is 'naturally' inclusive of the 'best practices' (because such works define such lists)... and setting out to write a piece with the intention that it 'conforms' to such lists.

Quote Post 5