tweeted<\/a> these \u201cstory basics\u201d \u2014 guidelines that she learned from her more senior colleagues on how to create appealing stories<\/u>.\u00a0 I refer to this brilliant list often, so sharing it here:<\/p>\n#1: You admire a character for trying more than for their successes.<\/p>\n
#2: You gotta keep in mind what\u2019s interesting to you as an audience, not what\u2019s fun to do as a writer. They can be very different.<\/p>\n
#3: Trying for theme is important, but you won\u2019t see what the story is actually about til you\u2019re at the end of it. Now rewrite.<\/p>\n
#4: Once upon a time there was ___. Every day, ___. One day ___. Because of that, ___. Because of that, ___. Until finally ___.<\/p>\n
#5: Simplify. Focus. Combine characters. Hop over detours. You\u2019ll feel like you\u2019re losing valuable stuff but it sets you free.<\/p>\n
#6: What is your character good at, comfortable with? Throw the polar opposite at them. Challenge them. How do they deal?<\/p>\n
#7: Come up with your ending before you figure out your middle. Seriously. Endings are hard, get yours working up front.<\/p>\n
#8: Finish your story, let go even if it\u2019s not perfect. In an ideal world you have both, but move on. Do better next time.<\/p>\n
#9: When you\u2019re stuck, make a list of what WOULDN\u2019T happen next. Lots of times the material to get you unstuck will show up.<\/p>\n
#10: Pull apart the stories you like. What you like in them is a part of you; you\u2019ve got to recognize it before you can use it.<\/p>\n
#11: Putting it on paper lets you start fixing it. If it stays in your head, a perfect idea, you\u2019ll never share it with anyone.<\/p>\n
#12: Discount the 1st thing that comes to mind. And the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th \u2013 get the obvious out of the way. Surprise yourself.<\/p>\n
#13: Give your characters opinions. Passive\/malleable might seem likable to you as you write, but it\u2019s poison to the audience.<\/p>\n
#14: Why must you tell THIS story? What\u2019s the belief burning within you that your story feeds off of? That\u2019s the heart of it.<\/p>\n
#15: If you were your character, in this situation, how would you feel? Honesty lends credibility to unbelievable situations.<\/p>\n
#16: What are the stakes? Give us reason to root for the character. What happens if they don\u2019t succeed? Stack the odds against.<\/p>\n
#17: No work is ever wasted. If it\u2019s not working, let go and move on \u2013 it\u2019ll come back around to be useful later.<\/p>\n
#18: You have to know yourself: the difference between doing your best & fussing. Story is testing, not refining.<\/p>\n
#19: Coincidences to get characters into trouble are great; coincidences to get them out of it are cheating.<\/p>\n
#20: Exercise: take the building blocks of a movie you dislike. How d\u2019you rearrange them into what you DO like?<\/p>\n
#21: You gotta identify with your situation\/characters, can\u2019t just write \u2018cool\u2019. What would make YOU act that way?<\/p>\n
#22: What\u2019s the essence of your story? Most economical telling of it? If you know that, you can build out from there.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Pixar story artist Emma Coats originally tweeted these \u201cstory basics\u201d \u2014 guidelines that she learned from her more senior colleagues on how to create appealing stories.\u00a0 I refer to this brilliant list often, so sharing it here: #1: You admire a character for trying more than for their successes. #2: You gotta keep in mind what\u2019s interesting to you as an audience, not what\u2019s fun to do as a writer.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":8262,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,28,26],"tags":[16,51,52],"class_list":["post-8175","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-destination","category-featured","category-front-page","tag-movies","tag-television","tag-writing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanasanko.com\/downtown-project\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8175","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanasanko.com\/downtown-project\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanasanko.com\/downtown-project\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanasanko.com\/downtown-project\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanasanko.com\/downtown-project\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8175"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/alanasanko.com\/downtown-project\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8175\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8263,"href":"https:\/\/alanasanko.com\/downtown-project\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8175\/revisions\/8263"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanasanko.com\/downtown-project\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanasanko.com\/downtown-project\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanasanko.com\/downtown-project\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanasanko.com\/downtown-project\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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