Basic rules of storytelling: how to write interesting stories

You don't have to be a professional writer or screenwriter to create a compelling story. We've broken down the key principles used by storytellers at Disney, Pixar, and Hollywood and compiled them into the ultimate guide. Storytelling is not difficult. See for yourself!

What is storytelling

Storytelling is the art of telling stories. There are many nuances behind this seemingly simple definition. We all tell each other stories and communicate through them, but at the same time, not every oral story or article on the Internet becomes a story.

Storytelling is not just a story about an event. This is the creation of catchy stories that capture attention and affect the feelings and emotions of people. For a good story, several components are important at once - the conflict, the characters, and the world around them.

How to tell an interesting story

1. Come up with an idea

The main thing with which it is worth starting work on a story is an idea. A strong idea helps to tie all the parts of the story together and convey the main idea to the audience. Such an idea teaches, shows, and explains. This is a short but capacious thought that will remain in the minds of people. Sometimes writers use distraction to come up with an interesting story. For example, you can play a game or visit the Canadian online Casino. Vivid emotions can help you come up with an interesting plot, and besides that, you can earn real money in the casino.

Strong ideas don't have to be positive and uplifting. For example, the cult series House M.D. is based on the idea that all people lie. Thanks to the strong story of the main character, this idea has become the main leitmotif of every episode of the medical series.

To learn to notice strong ideas and come up with your own, you can practice finding them in your favorite films and books. The most successful and popular movie ideas are usually short and fit on one poster or poster.

2. Define the audience

The next important step is to determine who the story will be for. The best stories in the world are universal and catch people of any gender and age. This is how Disney and Pixar make their cartoons. Thanks to this approach, the values ​​from stories such as Wall-e and Finding Nemo are close and understandable to most people.

Creating a universal story isn't easy, and it doesn't always work for some brands and ad campaigns. Moreover, not all storytelling will make a full-length film. Many successful stories use the reverse technique—they target the experiences, problems, or joys of a particular group of people.

3. Come up with a hero

What is storytelling without a hero? For a good story, a hero is just as important as a strong idea. In storytelling, a character is just as important as a good idea. This is the character through which the audience learns the story. A hero for a story can be found in reality or invented on your own. The main thing is that he is interesting to the audience and evokes empathy.

There are two popular and effective ways to come up with a character - this is to mentally get stuck with him in an elevator and imagine that you are interviewing him. The first method allows you to imagine the character and behavior of the hero in an unexpected situation. What would your character do if he was in a locked elevator car? Would he have yelled, banged on the door, and called emergency services, or would he have spent that time reading a book?

The second way with an interview makes it possible to get to know the hero better in a relaxed atmosphere. Imagine that you are talking to the hero in a pleasant quiet place and try to find out as many interesting details of his life as possible: where was he born and raised? Who did you make friends with? What is he dreaming about?

4. Understand what the hero needs

The desires and needs of the hero help shape his character and understand his motivation. The motivation of the hero allows him to move forward. This is the fuel for storytelling.

The simple question "What does the hero want?" helps you get started right away. For training, this question can be asked to any famous heroes of literature and cinema.

In good stories, the desires of the characters often conflict with their needs. This makes the stories more interesting and the characters more alive. Often the whole story is built on such a conflict.

You can come up with the desires and needs of the hero using Maslow's pyramid of needs, which writers and screenwriters often use in storytelling. The essence of Abraham Maslow's theory is that people usually satisfy the most basic needs first, for example, for food and security, and then more complex needs - for love, belonging, and respect.

5. Invent the world

When the idea, the hero, and his needs are ready, you can invent a world in which the hero exists. The world is the whole environment of the hero, a set of rules and restrictions that guide us in this story. Sometimes the world is the time period in which the story takes place.

Worlds can be anything, from real-life to magical with fictional living beings and completely different laws of physics. The question “What if?” helps to come up with an interesting world. And the search for the most unusual answers to it.

6. Come up with a logical structure

A structure is a summary of how a character's story develops in the world. We all use structure when we want to retell events or the content of books and films.

Structure helps to bring order to the story and turns storytelling into a finished work. This is a framework on which you can add the necessary events and heroes, and get rid of the excess.

Most often, when talking about the structure of the plot, you can come across the term tripartite structure. Simply put, this is the beginning of the story, the middle, and the end. The first part usually accounts for the introduction and beginning of the story, the second tells all the main events, and the third shows the audience the result of these events and gives conclusions about them.

7. Create a trigger

The opening, or initiating event, is that moment in the story that upsets the balance in the hero's life and forces him to act. Most often, this is some kind of unexpected and unpleasant event, for example, a car breakdown on the eve of a trip or losing the keys on the way home.

The plot in any story plays the role of posing a problem. At the moment of the tie, the audience should have the question “How will it all end in the end?” and curiosity to know the end of the story.