Posts Tagged ‘writing tools’
Your story matters. But does the audience know that?
Framing is about connecting the very specific ideas and events in a story to something larger. Use the Story Matrix to create a frame that will connect your story to something universal.
Read More“This happened, then this happened, then…” Create suspense in your storytelling
Whenever there’s a sequence of events—this happened, then that happened, then this happened—we inevitably want to find out what happened next.
Also—and this is key—this banal sequence has raised a question, namely, What’s the guy saying? And you’ll probably stick around ‘til you find out.
Read MoreGrab your audience’s attention with the XY Story Formula
What will make your audience unable to resist diving into your story?
Read MoreWhere do you get your ideas from? Notice what you notice.
The best stories come from people following their taste, diving into something that inspires them. Your taste matters.
And how do you know what your taste actually is? You have to listen to yourself, pay attention to what excites you, what you talk about.
Which idea is keeping you up at night thinking about it?
Which idea are you telling your friends about?
And then invest in it: invest your time and your attention.
Pay attention to what you pay attention to.
Feel the burn.
Get better at helping others make their work shine. It’s a wonderful gift to give another storyteller. But it’s not all altruism: every time you work through a story, you learn more about your own work, and how to improve it.
Read MoreFeeling Stuck on a Project?Escape from the Dark Forest!
Don’t let luck control whether you actually create your work or not. When the Dark Forest has closed in, escape with a Focus Session.
Read MoreStory toolbox: the Focus Sentence & the XY Story Formula out in the wild
In the Out on the Wire Working Group, the story tools I’m proposing get a major workout. When people put my ideas from the podcast into action, they figure out what works and what doesn’t, and then, because they’re posting about what they find right on the group, I get to learn from them.
Read MoreVisual Scripting video training – FREE template download
Visual Scripting is a method for natively writing comics and other visual narrative media in physical space, envisioning layout, and better utilizing physical elements of books (such as page turns)…without drawing.
Read MoreVisual Scripting: using InDesign to write scripts native to comics
Learn to write comics directly in page layouts without (necessarily) drawing. Stay attuned to the visual: draft comics in words and design simultaneously.
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