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http://io9.com/5916970/the-22-rules-of-storytelling-accordin...
There aren't so much rules as bits of advice on how to tell stories, how to get ideas, and how to get unstuck.
I don't like them all, but these six I do and recommend:
#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.
#15: If you were your character, in this situation, how would you feel? Honesty lends credibility to unbelievable situations.
#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.
#20: Exercise: take the building blocks of a movie you dislike. How d'you rearrange them into what you DO like?
Comments
Very useful advice, some of
Very useful advice, some of it is obvious but good to be reminded of. Thanks for the link.
Big hugs
Lizzie :)
Bailey's Angel
The Godmother :p
I didn't read the list yet
but is #23 something like....And always make sure you have John Ratzenberger in your script. Even if it is a small part, make sure he has a role.
Honestly, of the ones you posted, I like 9. I should do that.
Re-directing....
# 20...when I watch a movie, I'm almost always aware of the 'performances' of the characters. How would I have directed the actor or actress to convey what the character was feeling? What would I have had her say or even how would I have had her say with the words the writer already provided?
# 15 - When I write I always talk the dialogue; either silently as I'm writing, or even out loud if I'm alone. The back and forth that works becomes a very important part of anything I write; if it doesn't feel right I re-talk the conversation/interaction until it does.
# 17 - I've had stories that simmered on the back of the stove for months; leaving me feeling guilty over having no resolution for my 'children.' Some took a long time, but I was able to return to them with a new perspective perhaps filtered through the prism of my own life in the time between.
I've got one that I posted that has been part one of several that seem to escape me, and I have another that's got some poor girl sitting in her room alone after dreaming about another life; she's been sitting on her bed on the verge of tears for several months now, and while I feel bad for her, I know that sometime soon she'll speak to me in a way and tell me exactly what she needs next.
# whatever - Virtually all of my protagonists are MtF, with an occasional dabble into FtM or even 'mere' lesbian relationships. So many of the girls have started out just by a trip to the local deli or even a passerby walking her dog while I wait at the mall for my son's bus. A nod or a smile; a look or even a walk sets me off.
And conversations with my friends always seems to get me started as well; the struggles they describe of their own or friends of theirs or family that make me want to know and write about someone just like that. I am confident that I'm not alone in this at all.
Love, Andrea Lena
Talking the dialog
"Talking the dialog" is very good. Your whole note is lovely - I wish you'd written the writing hints, rather than someone from Pixar.
Kaleigh
when i am at work
And thinking on what to write, I tend to talk the dialogue, which gets me weird looks. Keep in mind, I don't speak loud, so all they here is a mumble
Thank you, Kaleigh
I have read much about the rules of how to write stories, and much of it I have tried to take on board - admittedly, as Angela Rasch will attest, often kicking and screaming. These little gems are not as much rules as helpful hints.
I think sometimes I fail because I only have a vignette to start me off; a snapshot or spark of an idea if you will, and nothing more. I don't have the middle or the end and hope that the morsel or underfed tit-bit I began with would be enough to get me to the end.
It rarely goes that way.
I will be taking the above advice on board and trying hard to make what little time I now have to write count.
Thank you for posting.
Love 'n' hugs
N