writing 101
What is fiction?
writing 101
Why most popular writing advice is shallow copywriting, overlooking literary craft, diversity of style, and true mastery.
TRANSCRIPT
It's almost like a joke in that way. You know, you need there to be some surprise for it to feel fresh. And then for me personally, I like hugely care about just the quality of the words. And that's hard to be too prescriptive about, I think, because I more or less disagree with a lot of writing advice.
And so I don't know if you can really put a
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Students at NYU asked the creators of South Park the million-dollar question:
“What makes a good story?”
They gave one of the best explanations of story I’ve heard:
“If we can take the beats of your outline, and the words ‘and then’ belong between those beats…... See more
Nathan Baughx.comThere are endless riffs on story shape – sometimes subtle, sometimes brutal explorations and excavations of an original tune. Often you may have to search long and hard to find it, but the tune – even in its absence – will be there. In music, poetry, film – arguably all art – digression merely confirms the archetype’s importance.
John Yorke • Into The Woods: How Stories Work and Why We Tell Them
the story shape is structured around how they find, retrieve and finally master the quality in their life that has eluded them.
John Yorke • Into The Woods: How Stories Work and Why We Tell Them
The world or the wood can be as detailed and rich as we like. But the path, which is Cinderella’s own story, goes from here to there, going through this part and that part. Always. And the business of the storyteller, or the novelist, it seems to me, is with the path and not the wood.
Philip Pullman • Daemon Voices: Essays on Storytelling
Robert McKee’s Story emphasizes that storytelling is governed by principles, not rules.
Let me say it again: Every great story ever told is essentially about a five-second moment of transformation or realization, and the purpose of the story is to bring that moment to the greatest clarity possible.
Matthew Dicks • Stories Sell: Storyworthy Strategies to Grow Your Business and Brand
They help storytellers understand the mechanics of a story — such as structure, character arcs, and conflict — without dictating specific choices.