Shorts Essays on Storytelling
The Dramatic Question
Every story is built around a dramatic question the audience wants to know and the storyteller has promised to answer. Stories answer questions; every story you tell, every movie you...
The Dramatic Question
Every story is built around a dramatic question the audience wants to know and the storyteller has promised to answer. Stories answer questions; every story you tell, every movie you...
Spark the Imagination of Your Audience
Offering just enough detail for your audience to get creative and participate in your storytelling. A collection of distorted pentagons doesn’t sound like much, but when you see it... Don’t...
Spark the Imagination of Your Audience
Offering just enough detail for your audience to get creative and participate in your storytelling. A collection of distorted pentagons doesn’t sound like much, but when you see it... Don’t...
How to Make Squid Game Better
A detailed rewrite of the Netflix series to strengthen storylines and characters, and eliminate distractions. Beware: spoilers ahead. This article is written with the assumption that you’ve seen the series....
How to Make Squid Game Better
A detailed rewrite of the Netflix series to strengthen storylines and characters, and eliminate distractions. Beware: spoilers ahead. This article is written with the assumption that you’ve seen the series....
Building Drama by Sharing and Withholding
Use the Grid of Drama to build dramatic tension in your stories. In its most basic form, a story is a flow of information from storyteller to audience. Sometimes, that...
Building Drama by Sharing and Withholding
Use the Grid of Drama to build dramatic tension in your stories. In its most basic form, a story is a flow of information from storyteller to audience. Sometimes, that...
Storytelling at the Atomic Level
Mix these three ingredients to produce a chemical reaction in your stories. My definition of storytelling is loose: the recounting of events in which a central character travels through time...
Storytelling at the Atomic Level
Mix these three ingredients to produce a chemical reaction in your stories. My definition of storytelling is loose: the recounting of events in which a central character travels through time...
How to Build a World in the Mind of Your Audience
Use relatable signals to accelerate the audience's understanding of a story's context. When you’re introduced to a new world, you immediately want to know how it works. It’s the feeling...
How to Build a World in the Mind of Your Audience
Use relatable signals to accelerate the audience's understanding of a story's context. When you’re introduced to a new world, you immediately want to know how it works. It’s the feeling...