Yay, it’s my final updated checklist ever! (Unless I do the TV checklists. I don’t think I will because those checklists were only slightly updated. I still may archive them though.) Unexpectedly, this movie did a pretty terrible job with the checklist, mainly because it kept switching heroes.
Podcast
Monday, July 31, 2017
Sunday, July 30, 2017
Infographic on Theme
Hi, everybody! Before we do the next archive, a reader named Martin Cavannagh asked me share a big infographic he made about Theme. He defines Theme slightly differently than I do, but there’s a lot of good insights here, so I’m happy to share it. Check it out!
Thursday, July 27, 2017
The First 15 Minutes Project: The Archive
So back before the Road Tests of the Ultimate Story Checklist, I had a series where I would go step by step through the first 15 minutes of a film or TV pilot and figure out how they got us on the side of the hero. Many of these eventually got checklists, but many never did, so they can only be found here (How have I never done The French Connection or The Apartment?) The above graphic is from the fifth piece below where I went through the first four and noticed something: One shortcut to sympathy is to have your white character high-five a black person.
- The First 15 Minutes Project #1: Clarice Starling in Silence of the Lambs
- The First 15 Minutes Project #2: The 40 Year Old Virgin
- The First 15 Minutes Project #3: Popeye Doyle in The French Connection
- The First 15 Minutes Project #4: Mickey Ward in The Fighter
- The First 15 Minutes Project #5: Shortcuts to Sympathy
- The First 15 Minutes Project #6: Rick Blaine in Casablanca
- The First 15 Minutes Project #6: The Little Tramp in Modern Times
- The First 15 Minutes Project #7: Dave in Breaking Away
- The First 15 Minutes Project #8: C.C. Baxter in The Apartment
- The First 15 Minutes Project #9: Jake Gittes in Chinatown
- The First 15 Minutes Project #10: Dave Chappellet in Downhill Racer
- The First 15 Minutes Project #11: Tom Ripley in The Talented Mr. Ripley
- The First 15 Minutes Project #12: Richard Boyle in Salvador
- The First 15 Minutes Project: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
- The First 15 Minutes Project: Cady Heron in Mean Girls
- The First 15 Minutes Project: Peter Parker in Spider-Man
- The First 15 Minutes Project: Max Fischer in Rushmore
- The First 15 Minutes Project: Juno McGuff in Juno
Wednesday, July 26, 2017
Problem, Opportunity, Conflict: The Archive
I enjoyed making graphics like the one above, and it was a bit of a let-down to realize that none of them were going to make it into the book, but it’s probably for the best. It might have made it harder to set up the audiobook.
Tuesday, July 25, 2017
The Meddler: The Archive
This was a series I did where I would take a movie or book, break down all my problems with it, and then pitched my rewrite of all or part of it. I just had a blast re-reading these. I put a tremendous amount of work into these.
- The Meddler #1: Some problems with The Town...
- The Meddler #2: ...And My Fixes For The Town
- The Meddler #3: Some problems with The Ghost Writer...
- The Meddler #4: …And My Fixes for The Ghost Writer
- The Meddler #5: Some Problems with Julie and Julia...
- The Meddler #6: ...And My Fixes For Julie and Julia
- The Meddler #7: Some Problems with Walk the Line...
- The Meddler #8: My Fixes for Walk the Line, aka Man in Black
- The Meddler Presents: Harry Potter Week!
- Meddling With Harry Potter Book 4
- Meddling With Harry Potter Book 5
- Meddling With Harry Potter Book 6
- Meddling With Harry Potter Book 7
- The Meddler #9: Some problems With Flags of Our Fathers
- The Meddler #10: ...And My Fixes For Flags of Our Fathers
- Gone Girl Meddler Week, Part 1: Where the Movie Blows It
- The Meddler: Gone Girl (Book and Movie), Part 2: Amy’s Nonsensical Plan
- The Meddler: Gone Girl (Book and Movie), Part 3: The Three Big Pregnancy Problems
Monday, July 24, 2017
How to Write a Screenplay in 30 Easy Steps: The Archive
This is obviously a relic from the days when this was pretty much exclusively a screenwriting blog, but this method (which is no longer really my method) could apply to other types of writing as well. I love the comic I chopped up to use as illustrations for this. I totally forget what it was or where I found it...
- How To Write A Screenplay in 30 Easy Steps, Part One: Ideas
- How To Write A Screenplay in 30 Easy Steps, Part Two: The Homework
- How To Write A Screenplay in 30 Easy Steps, Part Three: Troubleshooting
- How To Write A Screenplay in 30 Easy Steps, Part Four: The Rough Draft
- How To Write A Screenplay in 30 Easy Steps, Part Five: The Second Draft
Sunday, July 23, 2017
Now You Can Finally Finetune (How to Revise): The Archive
One of my mottos is “Don’t Revise, Rewrite!”, so I always direct writers to my “How to Rewrite” series first, but yes, eventually, once all your rewriting is done, you will be ready to revise, so I’ve got this additional series as well. Some of these got moved to other places in the book.
- NOW You Can Revise, Introduction: When It’s Finally Time to Fine Tune
- NOW You Can Revise, Step 2: Cut Ten More Pages Out
- NOW You Can Revise, Step 3: Build a Theme Tree
- Now You Can Revise, Part 4: Add More “I Understand You” Moments
- Now You Can Revise, Part 5: Set Up More of Your Pay-Offs
- Now You Can Revise, Part 6: Use the Final Draft Tools
- Now You Can Revise, Conclusion: You’re a Poet But You Don’t Know It.
Thursday, July 20, 2017
How to Rewrite: The Archive
A series that mostly made it into the book, but the section below on Common First Draft notes was mostly cut, and is well-worth reading...
- How to Re-Write Part 1: Don’t Revise, Re-Write!
- How to Re-Write, Part 2: First You Have to Fall Out of Love
- How to Re-Write, Part 3: Heed The Notes You Get and the Notes You Don’t Get
- How to Re-Write, Part 4: It’s Hard to Fill a Hole Without Digging a New One
- How to Re-Write, Part 5: Don’t Paper Over the Problem
- How to Re-Write, Part 6: Pair Off Your Problems
- How to Re-Write, Part 7: Allow Your Changes to Snowball
- Common First Draft Notes, Part 1: General Notes
- Common First Draft Notes, Part 2: Character Notes
- Common First Draft Notes, Part 3: Dialogue Notes
- How to Re-Write, Addendum: Motivation Too Weak? Don’t Multiply It—Simplify It!
Wednesday, July 19, 2017
Interweaving an Irreconcilable Theme: The Archive
Well, it’s happened again, I went searching for my Theme series only to discover that I never did one! As with Dialogue, I apparently just stitched that portion of the Checklist together out of Storyteller’s Rulebook pieces, so I have to dump all my Theme pieces here and let you put it together yourself!
- Storyteller’s Rulebook #7: Movies Are About Change, TV is About Fate
- Storyteller’s Rulebook #12: Depth is Found in Holes
- Storyteller’s Rulebook #41: Drama Is How It Is, Genre Is How It Feels
- Storyteller’s Rulebook #44: Leave A Question Unanswered
- Storyteller's Rulebook: The Rule of Evidence, Part 1
- Storyteller's Rulebook: The Rule of Evidence, Part 2
- Beyond Good vs. Sucky, the Conclusion: Theme
- Storyteller’s Rulebook #51: Nothing's Wrong Until You Make It Wrong
- Storyteller's Rulebook #64: Know The Way The World Works --Any World
- Storyteller’s Rulebook #65: The Mastermind Exception
- Storyteller’s Rulebook #66: If You Laugh At Death, You Suffer the Consequences
- Storyteller’s Rulebook #68: Don't Flip That Metaphor!
- Storyteller's Rulebook #70: If You Want To Be Lean, You Have To Be Dense
- Storyteller’s Rulebook #71: Screw-Ups Don't Screw Up All Day Long
- Storyteller’s Rulebook #72: Beware the Dark Side (Of Bio-Pics)
- Storyteller’s Rulebook #76: Redemption Requires Actual Guilt
- Storyteller’s Rulebook #81: Dare To Confront the Great Hypocrisy
- Storyteller’s Rulebook #95: Money Is Too Generic. Be Specific.
- Storyteller’s Rulebook #96: The Difference Between Literature and Entertainment
- Storyteller’s Rulebook #100: Theme = Good Vs. Good
- Rulebook Casefile: Unintended Consequences in The Apartment
- Storyteller's Rulebook #112: Audiences Are More Interested in Ethics Than Morals
- Storyteller's Rulebook #119: Great Genre Stories Must Be Metaphors
- Storyteller's Rulebook #120: Reboots Must Re-Establish the Metaphor
- Storyteller's Rulebook #121: Don’t Presume Your Premise
- Storyteller's Rulebook #:133 Tough Decisions Must Have Tough Consequences
- Storyteller's Rulebook #164: Ideas are the Enemy of Observations
- NOW You Can Revise, Step 3: Build a Theme Tree
- Know More Than You Show, Conclusion: Theme
- Storyteller's Rulebook #188: Have Something Authentic to Say About Your Setting
- Storyteller's Rulebook #192: Tap Into Real Life National Pain
- Rulebook Casefile: Exchange of a Symbolic Object in Iron Man
- The Big Idea, Addendum: The Ironic Conclusion
- Storyteller’s Rulebook: The Ending Should Lean Towards One Side of the Thematic Dilemma
- Storyteller’s Rulebook: More Thoughts on Object Exchanges
Tuesday, July 18, 2017
How to Manage Expectations (aka Tone): The Archive
This section got completely cut from the book at one point, then put back in at half its original length, so there’s lots of good stuff here that didn’t make it into the book...
- How to Manage Expectations, Prologue: Every Criticism is the Product of an Unmet Expectation
- How to Manage Expectations, Step 1: Choose a Genre
- How to Manage Expectations, Step 2: Choose a Sub-Genre or Two (But Not Three)
- How to Manage Expectations, Step 3: Pay Off Two Genre Expectations For Every One You Defy
- How to Manage Expectations, Step 4: Set the Mood
- How to Manage Expectations, Step 5: Plant the Right Questions...
- How to Manage Expectations, Step 6: …And Evade the Wrong Questions
- How to Manage Expectations, Step 7: Put A Frame On It
- How to Manage Expectations, Step 8: Drop One Shoe, Then Wait
- How to Manage Expectations, Step 9: More Fun With Foreshadowing
- How to Manage Expectations, Addendum: Know the Dramatic Question
Monday, July 17, 2017
How to Craft Dialogue: The Archive
So, funny story: I go to archive my “How to Write Dialogue” series and discover that it isn’t in the sidebar, which seems weird. So then I search for it. It turns out that it doesn’t exist. Because I never wrote one. The other six sections of the checklist were based on series I wrote, but I apparently just cobbled together the Dialogue section of the checklist from “Storyteller’s Rulebook” posts I’d written. So I decide that it’s high time this was in the sidebar, so I make a list of all the posts with a tag that says Dialogue, and I realize that I haven’t been doing this with the other categories, because it’s a ton of work, because I’ve written hundreds of “Storyteller’s Rulebook” posts. Nevertheless, here you go: I never wrote this series so you get more than you could have asked for:
- Storyteller’s Rulebook #22: Be An Armchair Journalist
- Storyteller’s Rulebook: Bonus Follow-Up Report!
- There were lots of posts about Head-Heart-Gut, so I’ll just link you to the archive I’ve already done of those posts: Head-Heart-Gut (aka How to Create a Polarized Ensemble): The Archive
- Storyteller’s Rulebook #29: Know What They Do All Day
- Storyteller’s Rulebook #30: Be A Good God
- Storyteller’s Rulebook #33: Be Unhateable
- Storyteller’s Rulebook #42: People Only Want What They Want
- Beyond Good Vs. Sucky, Part 5: Dialogue
- Storyteller’s Rulebook #55: Angry Minds Don't Think Alike
- Storyteller’s Rulebook #59: Upsetting News Is The Best News
- Storyteller’s Rulebook #61: Sweet Potato Is Better Than Sweetheart
- Storyteller’s Rulebook #63: If They Hang Themselves, It Should Probably Be Accidental
- Storyteller’s Rulebook #67: Be A Little Bit Incomprehensible
- Storyteller's Rulebook #105: Explaining the Plot is Not Your Characters’ Job
- Storyteller's Rulebook #115: People Lie About Their Feelings
- Storyteller's Rulebook #116: Listen to Despicable People
- Storyteller's Rulebook #118: Limit Your Hero's Perspective
- Storyteller's Rulebook #121: Sympathy Isn’t Necessary, But Empathy Is
- Storyteller’s Rulebook #127: Have One Gutpunch Scene
- Storyteller's Rulebook #130: Practice Loving Everybody
- Storyteller’s Rulebook #132: What We Talk About When We Don’t Talk About What We’re Really Talking About
- Storyteller’s Rulebook #138: People Don’t Speak in Complex Sentences
- Storyteller's Rulebook #167: Don't Make Them Say It
- Now You Can Revise, Part 4: Add More “I Understand You” Moments
- Storyteller's Rulebook #172: Commas Are Death
- Storyteller’s Rulebook #173: Beware of Instant Conflict!
- Storyteller's Rulebook #173: Know How to Dog Whistle
- Storytelling Rulebook #181: Know the Three Levels of Tradecraft
- Storyteller's Rulebook #182: Cut the Dull Bits Out (And Keep the Personality In)
- Storyteller’s Rulebook #196: Ban Parallel Construction
Sunday, July 16, 2017
How to Build a Scene: The Archive
Listen to the Nazi monkey!
- How to Build a Scene, Part 1: Stop! Go Back!
- How to Build a Scene, Part 2: Figure Out What The Scene Has To Do
- How to Build a Scene, Part 3: Choose an Emotional Location
- How to Build a Scene, Part 4: Push and Pull and Give and Take
- How to Build a Scene, Part 5: Tricks and Traps
- How to Build a Scene, Part 6: Don't Stay on Topic
- How to Build a Scene: The Checklist
- How to Build a Scene, Epilogue: Mix and Match
- Storyteller’s Rulebook #108: Give Each Scene Its Own Ticking Clock
- Storyteller’s Rulebook #109: Create Subconscious Anticipation
- How to Build a Scene, Addendum: Know What the Audience is Rooting For
- How to Build a Scene, Addendum: Do You Have a Surface Conflict and a Suppressed Conflict?
Thursday, July 13, 2017
How to Structure a Story Around a Big Problem: The Archive
It’s interesting to see how much this all changed on its way into the book:
- How to Structure a Story Around a Big Problem, Introduction
- How to Structure a Story Around a Large Problem: What's the Difference Between Problems, Flaws, and Goals?
- How To Structure a Story Around a Large Problem: 14 Steps x 56 Movies = 784 Examples
- How To Structure a Story Around a Large Problem, Step 1: The Longstanding Personal Problem
- How To Structure a Story Around a Large Problem, Step 2: The Public Humiliation
- How To Structure a Story Around a Large Problem, Step 3: The Intimidating Opportunity
- How To Structure a Story Around a Large Problem, Step 4: Hesitation
- How To Structure a Story Around a Large Problem, Step 5: The Hero Commits
- How To Structure a Story Around a Large Problem, Step 6: Committing Creates Unexpected Conflict
- How To Structure a Story Around a Large Problem, Step 7: The Hero Tries to Solve the Problem the Easy Way
- How To Structure a Story Around a Large Problem, Step 8: The Promise of the Premise is Fulfilled
- How To Structure a Story Around a Large Problem, Step 9: The Midpoint Disaster
- How To Structure a Story Around a Large Problem, Step 10: The Hero Tries the Hard Way
- How To Structure a Story Around a Large Problem, Step 11: The Spiritual Crisis
- How To Structure a Story Around a Large Problem, Step 12: Proactive Pursuit of the True Goal
- How To Structure a Story Around a Large Problem, Step 13: The Timeline is Unexpectedly Moved Up
- How To Structure a Story Around a Large Problem, Step 14: Climax and Epilogue
Wednesday, July 12, 2017
How to Create a Compelling Character: The Archive
Forget what I said yesterday, this is the real backbone of the book. The introduction of this story became the opening of the book and the conclusion became the conclusion. This one was calling out for an archive because the original posts were written out of order and re-numbered later, making them a nightmare to read the way Blogger had them sorted. Lots of interesting stuff here: It’s fascinating how late in the process the Moment of Humanity arrived.
- How to Create a Compelling Character: An Introduction
- How to Create a Compelling Character, Step 1: Establish Their Public Identity
- How to Create a Compelling Character, Step 2: Contrast Their Outer and Inner Lives
- How to Create a Compelling Character, Step 3: Choose A Metaphor Family
- How to Create a Compelling Character, Step 4: Determine their Default Personality Trait
- How to Create a Compelling Character, Step 5: Give Them Something To Fear
- How to Create a Compelling Character, Step 6: Give Them A Painful Dilemma
- How to Create a Compelling Character, Step 7: Let Them Lay Down The Law
- How to Create a Compelling Character, Step 8: Give Them a False Goal and a True Goal
- How to Create a Compelling Character, Step 9: Give Them TWO Statements of Philosophy
- How to Create a Compelling Character, Step 10: Make Them Resourceful
- How to Create a Compelling Character, Step 11: Establish Their Deadline.
- How to Create a Compelling Character, Conclusion
- How to Create a Compelling Character, Addendum: Why Do Their Friends Like Them?
- How to Create a Compelling Character, Addendum: Determine Their Default Strategy
- How to Create a Compelling Character, Addendum: Add A Moment of Humanity
- How to Create a Compelling Character, Addendum: What Are the Rules They Live By?
- How to Create a Compelling Character, Addendum: One Quick Shortcut To Finding A Character’s Voice
Tuesday, July 11, 2017
How to Evaluate a Story Idea: The Archive
These posts formed a lot of the backbone of the book, but it’s interesting to check out their original form, and there’s a lot here that didn’t make it into the book’s slimmed-down narrative.
- The Big Idea, Part 1: Are Ideas Cheap or Valuable?
- The Big Idea, Part 2: Does It Matter What Else Is Out There?
- The Big Idea, Part 3: What is "High Concept" Anyway?
- The Big Idea, Part 4: Are There Too Few Good Ideas or Too Many?
- The Big Idea, Part 5: Do You Start With Plot or Character?
- The Big Idea, Part 6: Story Happens When Character Collides With Plot
- The Big Idea, Part 7: Every Main Character Must Be Volatile
- The Big Idea, Part 8: Won't Somebody Think of the Trailer?
- The Big Idea, Part 9: The Twist is Not the Concept
- The Big Idea, Part 10: The Concept Has to Survive Past the Twist
- The Big Idea, Part 11: All Good Stories Are Ironic
- The Big Idea, Part 12: Keep the Dilemma Alive
- The Big Idea, Finale: Unique Characters are Overrated, Unique Relationships are Better
- Rulebook Casefile: Milking the Unique Relationship in The Apartment
- Storyteller's Rulebook #110: Conflicts Are Better Than Obstacles
- Storyteller's Rulebook #112: Throw in a Left Turn
- Storyteller's Rulebook #121: Don’t Presume Your Premise
- Storyteller's Rulebook #131: Write Down Your Bad Ideas
- The Big Idea, Addendum: What Urges Are You Satisfying?
Monday, July 10, 2017
The Secrets of Story Book Videos: The Archive
Hey guys, I’ve never put my book videos into the sidebar, so here they are! I would love to go back and do some more of these if I get the time (each represents many, many hours of work!)
Video #1 is about how you should let objects do the talking:
Video #2 is about how characters should use tricks and traps:
Video #3 is about creating moments of humanity for your characters. I recently updated this one just a bit:
Video #4 is about how to work exposition into your story:
Video #5 is about the need to have as many ironies as possible:
Video #1 is about how you should let objects do the talking:
Video #2 is about how characters should use tricks and traps:
Video #3 is about creating moments of humanity for your characters. I recently updated this one just a bit:
Video #4 is about how to work exposition into your story:
Video #5 is about the need to have as many ironies as possible:
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