Scott McCloud's Story Machine
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For our next writing tool, we’re going to take a look at McCloud’s Story Machine…
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Kurt Vonnegut's Story Shapes
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Last time I wrote about Dan Harmon’s Story Circle. The geometry of same got me thinking about Kurt Vonnegut’s Story Shapes concept…
Read MoreDan Harmon's Story Circle
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I like to collect various writing ideas from writers I look up to. As with all things creative, none of these should be taken as the only way to approach writing…
Read MoreBubble Problem
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Here is a comic book I drew when I was in the first grade. Yes, did name most of the characters after me and my sisters. Yes, perhaps it's unrealistic that the crown jewels include earrings and that someone who stole them would also wear them out in public even though they are stolen and they only have one of the pair...
Read MoreWriting to Think
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About a year ago, I wrote a piece about dollar stores that I thought was really clever. It basically made the case that, even more than yachts or private jets, the dollar store is the true symbol of capitalist excess...
Read More(Possibly) The First Story I Ever Wrote
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This is an image of possibly the first story I ever wrote. Dictated (but not read) to my Mom as I apparently insisted she write it down. I was three years old...
Read MoreWhen Bad Guys Turn Good
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It took decades of Vader getting steeped into our collective psyche for him to become the “face” of Star Wars. But here’s the other thing that sets Vader apart. He was a great bad guy...
Read MoreStory Elements Part 3: Turning Points and Outlines
/The final installment of the storytelling series. This one is more Star Wars heavy, but hopefully helpful nonetheless.
Part 3...
Read MoreStory Elements Part 2: Inciting Incidents, In Medias Res, and MacGuffins
/Here is Part 2 of my old story elements series. In this installment, I introduced the ideas of Inciting Incidents, starting a story in medias res, and the use of MacGuffins.
Part 2: ...
Read MoreStory Elements Part 1: Story from Character and A vs B Plot
/When I was in film school, a friend of mine maintained a website dedicated to paper craft models he’d created for Star Wars Miniatures and posted online for free. In a moment of hubris I wrote some guides for his site to explain some simple storytelling techniques in the context of creating engaging games within Star Wars RPG and Miniatures Battles.
Some years later, my friend’s website is no longer active. In a moment of further hubris, I’ll repost these three guides here in the coming weeks. If the context of Star Wars and/or Role Playing aren’t your thing, I hope you’ll still find the explanations of the techniques interesting.
Part 1: Story and Plot Development...
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