Tag: writing

The clues to a great story

Just watched American filmmaker Andrew Stanton’s TED Talk on the clues to a great story.

Incisive and worth a watch. Here are his main points:

  1. Stories should make a promise to the reader: this story will lead somewhere that is worth your time.
  2. Make the reader work for their reward – we are born problem solvers who are compelled to deduce – the well-organised absence of information in a story is designed to draw the audience/reader in.
  3. Structure the story to make the audience put things together – elements the storyteller provides and the order you place them in are crucial to engage the audience and hold their attention.
  4. Make the reader care – draw them into the story and encourage them to invest in the narrative by making them put things together to hold their attention
  5. All well-drawn characters should have spine which drives their choices – this acts as their motor, propelling them in positive or negative directions according to their temperament. This is the engine that drives them and the story.
  6. Change is fundamental to telling a good story – avoid statics scenarios. Drama is built on dynamism and change.
  7. “Drama is anticipation mingled with uncertainty” – playwright William Archer – succinctly defines the core of fiction.
    • make the reader want to know what happens next
    • create tensions and construct anticipation in the story to hold the reader’s attention
    • the story should build short and long-term tensions to make the reader want to know how it will all conclude in the end
    • constructed honest conflicts with truth that create doubt about what the outcome might be – will the main character find what he is looking for ? Will it all turn out OK in the end ?
  8. Liking your main character is important – the reader will want to follow the story of a character they like and want to see overcome and succeed.
  9.  find out what drives a character and describe the story of how they take the wheel and steer the story in their own direction
  10. stories should have an overarching theme – a grand lineage which underpins the narrative, a guideline, a constant, a roadmap. A strong theme always runs through a good story.
  11. Can the storyteller evoke wonder in your story which promotes a sense of affirmation of being alive in the reader?
  12. use what you know and draw from it – use well-chosen words that evoke sound, sight, taste, touch, and smell to draw in the reader.