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23 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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#1 Admiring a character |
You admire a character for trying more than for their successes. |
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#2 Value for the audience |
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. |
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#3 Creativity loop |
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. |
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#4 The skeleton |
Once upon a time there was ___. Every day, ___. One day ___. Because of that, ___. Because of that, ___. Until finally ___. |
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#5 Compress the story |
Simplify. Focus. Combine characters. Hop over detours. You’ll feel like you’re losing valuable stuff but it sets you free. |
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#6 Upset your character |
What is your character good at, comfortable with? Throw the polar opposite at them. Challenge them. How do they deal? |
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#7 Begin, end and the middle |
Come up with your ending before you figure out your middle. Seriously. Endings are hard, get yours working up front. |
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#8 Finish already |
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. |
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#9 Next things next |
When you’re stuck, make a list of what WOULD'NT happen next. Lots of times the material to get you unstuck will show up. |
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#10 Find what makes up a story |
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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#11 Use a reliable external memory |
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. |
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#12 That was obvious |
Discount the 1st thing that comes to mind. And the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th – get the obvious out of the way. Surprise yourself. |
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#13 Passive poison |
Give your characters opinions. Passive/malleable might seem likeable to you as you write, but it’s poison to the audience. |
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#14 Find the flame |
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. |
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#15 Lend them your feeling |
If you were your character, in this situation, how would you feel? Honesty lends credibility to unbelievable situations. |
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#16 High stakes |
What are the stakes? Give us reason to root for the character. What happens if they don’t succeed? Stack the odds against. |
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#17 The only waste is doing nothing |
No work is ever wasted. If it’s not working, let go and move on - it’ll come back around to be useful later. |
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#18 Test, test, test |
You have to know yourself: the difference between doing your best & fussing. Story is testing, not refining. |
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#19 Coincidence this! |
Coincidences to get characters into trouble are great; coincidences to get them out of it are cheating. |
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#20 Rebuild what is broken |
Exercise: take the building blocks of a movie you dislike. How d’you rearrange them into what you DO like? |
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#21 Cool ain't going to cut it |
You gotta identify with your situation/characters, can’t just write ‘cool’. What would make YOU act that way? |
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#22 Story extract, just add water |
What’s the essence of your story? Most economical telling of it? If you know that, you can build out from there. |
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#Bonus |
Collect ideas like Guybrush Threepwood collects anything that's not nailed down. Anything that interests you? Put it in your pirate pants. |
