I promise not to make this a trend, but I found some actual good advice on storytelling – from one of the Pixar people.

Of course, it’s in the usual x rules for format, but hey, I can live with that because this is actually good, solid advice. So I figured I’d look at it in a bit more detail, from a writer’s perspective.

I’ll copy in the “rules” (more like guidelines), and add my comments after each one.

#1: You admire a character for trying more than for their successes. Well, yes. This is why Rocky (the original, not the endless sequels) was such a hit. It wasn’t that the guy succeeded, it was that he gave everything and then some in the attempt. A noble failure, as it were. The lesson? Don’t make it easy for your characters. Don’t help them. Let them foul up and muddle through. It’s so much more satisfying that way.

#2: You gotta keep in mind what’s interesting to you as an audience, not what’s fun to do as a writer. They can be v. different. Yes, this means nobody wants to know about your character’s collection of exotic pigeons. Unless of course your character is dying and has to choose between eating his beloved pets or starvation. It also means that you need to be aware of your pet obsessions and double-check whether or not normal people (at least, I presume our target audience has some relationship with normal that doesn’t involve a restraining order) are actually likely to care.

#3: Trying for theme is important, but you won’t see what the story is actually about til you’re at the end of it. Now rewrite. The important bit here? You won’t see what the story is actually about until you finish it. This is true. This is always true. Also, for the love of Dog don’t try to shoehorn something in. If something you care about fits the character, by all means have that character care about it and talk about it, but keep it appropriate to that character. Yes, this does mean that your 8th century Japanese woman is not going to even think about anything relevant to 20th or 21st century feminism. Nor will she have a Feminist Glittery Hoo Haa. If you must write one of those, put her where she belongs, on a campus somewhere in late 20th century USA.

#4: Once upon a time there was ___. Every day, ___. One day ___. Because of that, ___. Because of that, ___. Until finally ___. Here we have the more-or-less universal story structure. Things are what they usually are until something different happens. That kicks off a string of events that leads to a conclusion. The string of events is what is known (more or less) as the “middle”, but note the “because of that” aspect. The middle is not merely “stuff happens”. It’s stuff happening that gets kicked off by the something different near the beginning.

#5: Simplify. Focus. Combine characters. Hop over detours. You’ll feel like you’re losing valuable stuff but it sets you free. Otherwise known as “for Dog’s sake don’t give every walk-on a name and full back story. The bartender at the inn your characters visit once is allowed to be a generic placeholder”.

#6: What is your character good at, comfortable with? Throw the polar opposite at them. Challenge them. How do they deal? I have only one thing to say to this. Hehehehe…. (you may picture me rubbing my hands together with evil glee if you wish. Because I totally am).

#7: Come up with your ending before you figure out your middle. Seriously. Endings are hard, get yours working up front. If you don’t have an actual ending, it does help to have some idea where the ending is. If you don’t know you’re heading for that big volcano in the middle of enemy territory, it’s really easy to get distracted by all the other… Ooh! Squirrel!

#8: Finish your story, let go even if it’s not perfect. In an ideal world you have both, but move on. Do better next time. Amen. People read imperfect stories. They rarely if ever read unfinished ones.

#9: When you’re stuck, make a list of what WOULDN’T happen next. Lots of times the material to get you unstuck will show up. I’ll have to try this one. It sounds like a good idea.

#10: Pull apart the stories you like. What you like in them is a part of you; you’ve got to recognize it before you can use it. Don’t worry. No real stories will be harmed by this action. When you figure out the building blocks of the things that speak to you, you have a better idea how to make it work for you. The flip side of this is that bad storytelling starts to really bother you.

#11: Putting it on paper lets you start fixing it. If it stays in your head, a perfect idea, you’ll never share it with anyone. No further comment needed.

#12: Discount the 1st thing that comes to mind. And the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th – get the obvious out of the way. Surprise yourself. Just remember that if it comes to swinging on the chandelier while wearing scuba kit, you probably went a little too far.

#13: Give your characters opinions. Passive/malleable might seem likable to you as you write, but it’s poison to the audience. YES. Print this one out in all caps bolded 18 point, and then tattoo it inside your eyeballs. Seriously. The story is about people (for values of people that include monsters, talking cars, dogs, toys come to life…) doing things. Not having things done to them.

#14: Why must you tell THIS story? What’s the belief burning within you that your story feeds off of? That’s the heart of it. And if you don’t see it, look for it, because you have to make it yours to make it something someone else wants to read.

#15: If you were your character, in this situation, how would you feel? Honesty lends credibility to unbelievable situations. Yes indeed. And this does include your antagonists, even the stomach-twistingly evil ones who creep you out. Possibly especially them, because it’s way too easy to turn them into cartoon villains.

#16: What are the stakes? Give us reason to root for the character. What happens if they don’t succeed? Stack the odds against. Just please set this up at the start, or build it into your back story. Don’t just go dropping random mountains on the poor sod. That gets boring because the trouble comes from outside and has nothing to do with what the characters are actually doing.

#17: No work is ever wasted. If it’s not working, let go and move on – it’ll come back around to be useful later. Yes, this does mean you can flag a story with [fill in this bit later] and skip to the next scene if you can’t figure out how the heck your characters get out of the steaming pile of… fail you left them in. In extreme cases, you can find that you don’t actually need the [this bit] after all. And stories you’ve had on the backburner because you didn’t know what to do with them can wrap into other pieces as subplots or even twist together to a bigger whole.

#18: You have to know yourself: the difference between doing your best & fussing. Story is testing, not refining. Oh, yes. Just… yes.

#19: Coincidences to get characters into trouble are great; coincidences to get them out of it are cheating. Excuse me while I applaud wildly to this one.

#20: Exercise: take the building blocks of a movie you dislike. How d’you rearrange them into what you DO like? Do this with books, too. If what you don’t like is impossible to be rearranged out, look at one thing you could change to save it.

#21: You gotta identify with your situation/characters, can’t just write ‘cool’. What would make YOU act that way? Substitute “talented”, “intelligent”, “lovable”, or any other adjective you like for “cool” and you’ve about got it. You can’t just tell your readers that some character is X. You have to show them being X or it’s just a whole lot of hooey.

#22: What’s the essence of your story? Most economical telling of it? If you know that, you can build out from there. This is a damn sight harder than it looks, but worth the effort. If nothing else you end up with an elevator blurb or a throwaway line you can dangle in front of potential readers to see if they bite. Plus, if you know what the essence of the piece is, you can remove anything that gets in the way of it (if these leaves you without a story, you may have a problem).

So there you have it. Short, sweet, and to the point (the original, not my commentary). Go thou and do these things.