Mary Kennedy Eastham,
had the good fortune of growing up in a small New England town. She spread her
wings and moved to New York City, San Francisco and Malibu which is where many
of these stories took shape. Her first book, The Shadow of A Dog I Can't
Forget, now in its Fifth Printing, was a 2011 WILD CARD winner in the Hollywood
Book Festival and a 2010 Celebrity Achiever Award winner. Her second book, Squinting Over Water - Stories recently
was a Runner-Up WILD CARD winner in the Paris Book Festival. Learn more about
Mary and her books at her website.
Pixar's 22 Rules of Phenomenal Storytelling
I live in Silicon
Valley and was lucky enough to be in a seminar where Emma Coats, a Pixar storyboard
artist shared with us these rules of Phenomenal Storytelling. They are
shaped around the world of movie-making but they are great creative tidbits of
inspiration that we can all use.
1. You admire a
character for trying more than for their successes.
2. You gotta keep in
mind what's interesting to you as an audience NOT what's fun to do as a writer.
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.
4. Once upon a time
there was______________. Every day____________. One day__________. Because of
that__________________________ until finally _____________________________.
5, Simplify. Focus.
Combine characters. Hop over detours. You'll feel like you're losing valuable
stuff but it actually sets you free.
6. What is your
character good at, comfortable with? Throw the polar opposite at them.
Challenge them. How do they deal?
7. Come up with your
ending before you figure out your middle. Seriously. Endings are hard, get
yours working up front.
8. Finish your story
and let go, even if it's not perfect. In an ideal world you have both, but move
on. Do better next time.
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.
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.
11. Putting it on
paper lets you start fixing it. If it stays in your head, that perfect
idea, you'll never share it with anyone.
12. Discount the
first thing that comes to mind and the second and the third and the fourth and
the fifth. Get the obvious out of the way. Surprise yourself.
13. Give your
characters opinions. Passive, malleable might seem likeable to you as a
writer but its poison to the audience.
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.
15. If you were your
character in this situation, how would you feel? Honesty lends credibility to unbelievable
situations.
16. What are the
stakes? Give us reason to root for the character. What happens if they don't
succeed? Stack the odds against them.
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.
18. Coincidences to
get characters into trouble are great; coincidences to get them out if it is
cheating.
19. You have to know
yourself. The difference between doing your best and forcing the story is
testing not refining.
20. Here's an
exercise: take the building blocks of a movie you dislike. How would you
rearrange them into what you DO like.
21. You gotta
identify with your character's situations. You can't just write cool. What
would make YOU act that way?
22. What's the
essence of your story, the most economical telling of it? If you know that, you
can build out from there.
Squinting Over Water - Stories
There are no perfect people
here. These characters are you and me trying to make sense of things --
good and bad -- coming up with a Plan B when life gets messy. One early reader said
she would walk across continents to get to this book. These whimsical stories
transformed her, made her believe once again in the true beauty and
playfulness of life.
7 comments:
Wow! Your list is great and very helpful. I particularly like #6.
Thanks for sharing.
These are excellent for beginners and veterans alike. I bet they'd be really good tools in schools, any grade, any English class.
Geoff Mehl
www.geoffmehl.com
I love this list! I think it will be especially helpful when I'm staring at the computer and thinking...where does it go from here? Thanks so much for posting this!
JoAnn Bassett
Love that list! I'm printing it out and keeping it. I sometimes forget to include the feelings of characters, and that's so important (and one of the reasons why Pixar films are so popular). bobbi c.
Just printed this one out. Thank you!
I love your blog. It's informative, fun, and always filled with guests who bring something exciting with them. But you've got to stop adding to my TBR pile! :) This book just hit the top of the pile.
E.
Wow. I love all your comments. I know we're all
writers so I try to post things that will really
add to your write-better list. Thank you all for
responding. You've made my week-end!
Mary Kennedy Eastham
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