Into The Woods: How Stories Work and Why We Tell Them

asking the question ‘How the hell do I get out of that?’ Scene and story shape directly echo each other. Subversion of expectation is actually a mini journey ‘into the woods’. Effectively a character goes ‘into the woods’ in every scene.

They are our avatars and thus our entry point:

They need not all begin with big bangs – they can simply be the first crack that allows the daylight

a deeply unfashionable man is invited into a privileged world and in so doing creates the coolest club on the planet.

In a three-act drama, the first and second turning points broadly correspond to the inciting incident and crisis points, with the first act being the set-up of the story and the last act its climax.

Correlation does not imply causation – if something fits, we can’t conclude that it’s right.

The choices they make will illustrate their character.

In every scene, remember, a protagonist is presented with a mini crisis, and must make a choice as to how to surmount it. Meeting with a subversion of expectation – a blow to their established plans – a character must choose a new course of action. In doing so they reveal a little bit more of who they are.

in both films the protagonists are dead and the audience is manipulated to think the opposite, before being exposed to reality in the final scenes.