Beyond Good Vs. Sucky: The Archive

This was my very first attempt to break down writing into different categories and give a list of advice on each.  Still lots of good stuff here.

• Storyteller's Rulebook: Beyond Good vs. Sucky
• Beyond Good vs. Sucky, Part 2: Character
• Beyond Good vs. Sucky, Part 3: Story
• Beyond Good vs. Sucky, Part 4: Structure
• Beyond Good Vs. Sucky, Part 5: Dialogue
• Beyond Good vs. Sucky, the Conclusion: Theme
• Beyond Good vs. Sucky, Epilogue

The Shining: The Archive

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.

• The Ultimate Story Checklist: The Shining
• Straying From the Party Line # 6: Tag-Team Heroes in The Shining
• Specific Genre Structures, Part 3: Horror
• Rulebook Casefile: Exchange of an Object in The Shining

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!

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

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.

• Problem, Opportunity, Conflict, Part 1: The Problem with Inciting Incidents
• Problem, Opportunity, Conflict, Part 2: How It Works
• Problem, Opportunity, Conflict, Part 3: Test Run
• Problem, Opportunity, Conflict, Part 4: How It Plays Out

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

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

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.

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!

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

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

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

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?

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

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

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?

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:

The Secrets of Story Podcast: The Archive

Hi guys, I figured I should go ahead and create an archive page for my podcast (I’ve already archived the ten episodes I guest-co-hosted the Narrative Breakdown podcast). We sure have been slow in putting these things out, but I always enjoy them when I do. Feel free to subscribe to us on iTunes and rate us and review us there!

In the first episode, I introduce my co-host James Kennedy and we debate about how critical you should be of your own work, based on this post:


In our second episode, James and I debate one step in my structure, in which I claim that the hero should try the easy way:

In our third episode, we broke format for a super-sized episode in which James performed his Laika script with his niece and nephew, than I jumped in to give notes.   This episode turned out to be, in my opinion, eminently skippable, but I include it in the interest of completeness...

In our fourth episode, James and debate about contentious dialogue.  (Interestingly, I can find no one post where I recommend contentious dialogue. This is the closest I could find.)

In the fifth episode James and I are joined by acclaimed novelist Jonathan Auxier and we debate about how strict you have to be with POV in your prose, based on this post.

In the sixth episode, James and I discuss Dan Harmon’s story structure and Raiders of the Lost Ark:


And then, a mere year later, came episode 7, about expectations and tactics!


In our eighth episode, we start out with my belief that most stories are based on problem solving, but then James brings up the hidden back half of the hero’s journey offered by Lord Raglan, and, of course, brings it all around to The Last Jedi. And then he claims that you caused Trump by not liking Jar-Jar Binks.  Thanks a lot! 

Podcast Episode 5: POV with Jonathan Auxier!

Hey guys, I just hid Thursday’s post to call more attention to this one, because Harvey Jerkwater just posted his very-cool version of my musical idea to the comments.  Read it in the comments and comment yourself!  (I’ll have my comments on it up later...)

Hi everybody, it’s been a long time since we had a new episode of the podcast!   This time around, James Kennedy and I are happy to be joined by acclaimed novelist Jonathan Auxier to discuss POV in prose, and we had previously done in this post and this post.  (As always, the music is from FreeMusicArchive.com. It’s “Lucky Me” by Scott Holmes, with an Attribution/NonCommercial license.)

The Secrets of Story Podcast · Episode 5: POV with Jonathan Auxier

The Fugitive: The Archive

It’s interesting that this movie didn’t do as well on the structure section as you’d think...

• The Ultimate Story Checklist: The Fugitive
• Straying From the Party Line: The Not-Quite-Everyman Hero of The Fugitive
• Rulebook Casefile: Defying Genre Conventions and Finding an Ironic Final Outcome in The Fugitive
• Rulebook Casefile: The Impartial Thematic Dilemma in The Fugitive
• Straying from the Party Line: Reversing Payoff and Set-Up in The Fugitive
• Storyteller’s Rulebook: Not All Determination Needs to be Grim

An interesting question that was cut when I cut this down from the longer fifth version of the checklist:

Are the physics of the world (realistic or stylized?) established early and maintained throughout?

They’re somewhat-stylized, as established by the waterfall jump. It’s thrilling because we can’t imagine how he’ll survive, but once he does without injury, we subtly go “Oh, okay, physical danger in this movie isn’t a big deal, so we switch to “how will he do this”, as opposed to “will he make it”

The Fighter: The Archive

Not a universally beloved movie, nor one with a huge cultural impact, but one of my favorites...  

• The Ultimate Story Checklist: The Fighter
• Straying from the Party Line: Wrapping Up the Drama a Little Early in The Fighter
• Straying from the Party Line: Micky and Mookie as Passive Heroes
• Rulebook Casefile: The Ultimate Gutpunch in The Fighter
• Rulebook Casefile: A Subconscious Ticking Clock in The Fighter
• Rulebook Casefile: Info-Drip in The Fighter
• Rulebook Casefile: An Ironic Corrected Statement of Philosophy in The Fighter

The Babadook: The Archive

A modern masterpiece.

• The Ultimate Story Checklist: The Babadook
• Rulebook Casefile: Jennifer Kent vs. the Naysayers
• Straying from the Party Line: The Selfless and Self-Less Heroine of The Babadook
• Straying from the Party Line: The Babadook vs. Genre Expectations
• Rulebook Casefile: The Progress of the Problem in the Opening of The Babadook
• Storyteller’s Rulebook: Should a Monsters Ever Meet Its Metaphor?

Here's a question that got cut that I miss (I frequently regret cutting this question):
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Are unrealistic genre-specific elements a big metaphor for a more common experience (not how life really is, but how life really feels)?

Very much so.  The Babadook = The Dada Book.

Sunset Boulevard: The Archive

Just one more week to go, folks! Also next week: A new podcast!

• The Ultimate Story Checklist: Sunset Boulevard
• Straying From the Party Line # 12: Sunset Boulevard
• Rulebook Casefile: Parallel Characters in Sunset Boulevard
• Straying From the Party Line, Bonus Edition: Re-Visiting Sunset Boulevard

Star Wars: The Archive

This was the first movie whose coverage I archived, but now I’ve archived the archive!

• The Ultimate Story Checklist: Star Wars 
• How Star Wars Proves That Legacies are Better than Prophesies 
• The Value of Obi Wan’s Counterintuitive Metaphor Family in Star Wars
• Luke as Emotional Manipulator in Star Wars
• The Value of the Half-Fact in Star Wars
• The Way the Worlds Work in Star Wars 
• The Value of Shaggy Dog Storytelling in Star Wars
• Considering Luke's Late Introduction and the Deleted Scenes of Star Wars
• James Kennedy wrote an in-depth letter (1, 2, 3) about why we like Luke, and I responded
• How Star Wars Tapped into Real Life National Pain
• How Return of the Jedi Dared to Confront the Great Hypocrisy
• How Star Wars Set Its Tone and Rewrote Our Genre Expectations
• Freudian and Jungian Arcs in Star Wars
• The Value of Moving Up the Timeline in Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back 
• The Value of Writing it Bad Today so You Can Write It Better Tomorrow
• The Way That No World Works in the Prequels
• And finally, I did a four-part series (1, 2, 3, 4) entitled The Force Awakens Was Great Until It Wasn’t 

When I updated the checklist to version six, I lost some answers that were interesting from the longer checklist, so let’s put those here:
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Are the physics of the world (realistic or stylized?) established early and maintained throughout?	The princess is hit by a laser and faints somewhat harmlessly. Horrible things will happen off-screen to characters we don’t care about, but characters we like will be hurt only in gentle ways, as in Obi Wan’s vanishing, which he accepts before it comes.  Even the choking is indirect, which makes it more chilling but less brutal to watch.
Are set-up and pay-off used to dazzle the audience (and maybe distract attention from plot contrivances)?	Not really.  The plotting feels somewhat haphazard, without much payoff in this movie.  This isn’t necessarily bad: the shaggy-dog all-over-the-galaxy plot-progression is actually quite thrilling in an off-kilter kind of way.  We never cycle back around to anything (never go back to Tatooine, etc.) or cut ahead (introducing the rebel base before Luke gets there, etc.)

The 40 Year Old Virgin: The Archive

This is another one where some interesting questions were cut from the checklist in the course of updating it from version 5 to version 6, so I've included those below... 

• The Ultimate Story Checklist: The 40 Year Old Virgin
• Straying From the Party Line: Gentle Scenework in "The 40 Year Old Virgin"
• Straying from the Party Line: The Lame Third Act Escalation in The 40 Year Old Virgin
• Rulebook Casefile: The Way the World Works (and Doesn’t) in The 40 Year Virgin
• Storyteller’s Rulebook: Use Visual Metaphors, Not Verbal Similes
• Rulebook Casefile: Assembling Gut, Heart, and Head in The 40 Year Old Virgin

Are unrealistic genre-specific elements a big metaphor for a more common experience (not how life really is, but how life really feels)?	Yes, every man feels like he doesn’t get enough sex, but this is an extreme example.  Likewise the waxing scene, etc, are examples of common anxieties made huge.  Flying through the billboard at the end symbolizes sex and a breakthrough.
Are set-up and pay-off used to dazzle the audience (and maybe distract attention from plot contrivances)?	Yes, her “Sell Your Stuff on Ebay” store is established as a joke, so we don’t figure out that this will eventually be the solution to his problem.  (Although, as with almost everything else, this wasn’t in the original script, and they just worked it in after they saw that their exterior story location really did have such a store across the street!)

The Silence of the Lambs: The Archive

A perfect movie...

• The Ultimate Story Checklist: Silence of the Lambs
• Straying From the Party Line # 2: The Strands of the Movie Never Come Together
• Storyteller's Rulebook #180: Don't Call Attention to Your Structure
• Rulebook Casefile: Manipulating the Plot to Empower the Rookie in Silence of the Lambs
• Rulebook Casefile: Conflict-Driven Exposition in Silence of the Lambs
• New Checklist and Rulebook Casefile: Un-Selfless Motivation in Silence of the Lambs
• Storyteller’s Rulebook: Don’t Let it Write Itself

Sideways: The Archive

I would have thought that I did more posts about this movie, but it looks like I just did three...

• The Ultimate Story Checklist: Sideways
• Straying from the Party Line / Rulebook Casefile: The Low-Concept Movie and the “Holy Crap!” Scenes in Sideways
• Rulebook Casefile: Hidden Flip-Side-Strengths in Sideways

Rushmore: The Archive

I just discovered that this one never made it into the sidebar, so this one will be new for many of you.

• The Ultimate Story Checklist: Rushmore
• Straying from the Party Line: Rushmore’s Offscreen Catharsis
• Rulebook Casefile: The “I Understand You” Moment in Rushmore
• Rulebook Casefile: The Irresolvable Thematic Dilemma in Rushmore
• Rulebook Casefile: Wes Anderson’s Unique Imagery and Mood

Raising Arizona: The Archive

I usually take the summer off starting around now, but I should finish up these revised checklists first, so let’s keep going! It’s nice to jump from L to R as I go through these things alphabetically.

• The Ultimate Story Checklist: Raising Arizona
• Straying from the Party Line: Telling vs Showing in Raising Arizona
• Straying from the Party Line: The Tidy Conclusion of Raising Arizona
• Rulebook Casefile: The (Strange) Way the World Works in Raising Arizona
• Storyteller's Rulebook: The Best Voiceover is Unreliable Voiceover
• Rulebook Casefile: Parallel Characters in Raising Arizona

Iron Man: The Archive

• The Ultimate Story Checklist: Iron Man
• Straying From the Party Line # 9: Iron Man
• Rulebook Casefile: Exchange of a Symbolic Object in Iron Man
• Storyteller’s Rulebook: Plant Solutions as Problems 

This is another one where I had to cut a question from the checklist that elicited an interesting answer, so I’ll preserve it here for posterity:

Are set-up and pay-off used to dazzle the audience (and maybe distract attention from plot contrivances)?

Yes and no: some plot contrivances could have been covered up better with set-up and payoff: At the end, why is Pepper standing in the same spot 10 minutes later? Why doesn’t Pepper call Tony earlier? On the other hand: The icing problem is nicely set-up as a problem, so that we don’t realize that it’ll be a solution later, and Tony giving away his heart, and getting it back, is set up as a character beat, so we don’t realize that it’ll be a plot solution later. Also: Coulson always being around pestering Tony is seen as a problem, so we buy it when it turns into a solution later.