Some of these made it into the book in a transformed form, but others didn’t. And hey, it’s an excuse to link to my favorite video again!  I...

This is another section that only got cut from the book at the last moment.  Really valuable stuff.  Hero Personality Profiles, Part 1: ...

Hey guys, remember when this used to be an underrated movies blog? Most of you probably don’t, but if you journey all the way back to Jan...

 Did you know that books take a long time to write, and even longer to make it into the hands of readers?  This series is from late 2012, ...

Here's another one that never made it into the sidebar for some reason, so it’ll be new to a lot of you. Hey guys, did you know that ...

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 regretfull...

This is another series that only got cut from the book at the last minute. Specific Genre Structures, Part 1: Comedy Specific Genre Str...

This is where it all began.  I decided to branch out from my Storyteller’s Rulebook pieces and start thinking seriously about story, and c...

I love this section. It was one of the last things I cut from the book. How to Generate a Story Idea, Option 1: Imagine the Worst Case ...

This is all really solid advice that I still stand by. Good for all writers, but especially for screenwriters. Please share this with an...

This is another one that’s somewhat painful to archive. I wrote this when I was a cocky 30-something in the first blush of career success...

This is a painful series to re-read. To a certain extent, it was a diary of my struggles as much as it was advice for you guys. Neverthe...

This series, for whatever reason, is not in the sidebar, so I completely forgot it existed until I had to link to it yesterday. It’s full ...

I just got an email from a book reader who pointed out that I promise readers that they’ll find some charts on my blog, but those charts a...

Hey guys, we bought a house!  (Directly across the street from the house we’ve been renting, so it’s a short move, distance wise, but I’m ...

This was an interesting case where I closely examined the movie only to discover that it kind of fell apart under the scrutiny. Ultimatel...

As I update the old checklists, I thought it would also be good to take some time along the way to look deeper into irony. As we did with ...

Another early one. We’ll spend some more time on this movie tomorrow... The Ultimate Story Checklist: Casablanca Straying From the Part...

This was the very first movie I ever did, so there’s a lot fewer posts: The Ultimate Story Checklist: Bridesmaids Straying From the Pa...

 A wonderful movie: The Ultimate Story Checklist: The Bourne Identity Straying from the Party Line: The Bourne Identity, Part 1: No Mo...