Head-Heart-Gut (aka How to Create a Polarized Ensemble): The Archive

Here you can follow the development and maturation of this idea over several years.  A lot of this made it into the book, but I regretfully couldn’t include my obsessive diagrams, such as the one above.  I used to put so much time into these things!

• Storyteller’s Rulebook #28: Let It All Hang Out
• Storyteller’s Rulebook Follow-Up: A Hero Split In Two
• Storyteller’s Rulebook #97: Polarize Your Protagonists...
• Storyteller’s Rulebook #98: ...But Don’t Play Favorites
• How to Create a TV Show, Part 12: Polarize Your Ensemble
• Rulebook Casefile: The Downside of Polarized Protagonists on “Girls”
• Rulebook Casefile: Reversible Behavior and Polarized Ensemble in Ghostbusters
• Another Podcast, The Wire and Dickens, and More Head Heart Gut to Come
• Real life Head, Heart and Gut in Humans of New York
• Head Heart Gut in The 40 Year Old Virgin

And here’s where I actually define it if you just want to skip to here:

• Creating a Polarized Ensemble, Part 1: The Pros and Cons of Polarization
• How to Create a Polarized Ensemble, Part 2: Two-Way and Four-Way Polarization
• How to Create a Polarized Ensemble, Part 3: Maintaining The Ensemble
• How to Create a Polarized Ensemble, Conclusion: Partial Polarization
• Rulebook Casefile: Polarization Meets Reality in “Deliverance”
• Rulebook Casefile: Head-Heart-Gut in “The Good Place”

Oh why not, here’s one more diagram- I loved making these things: