The single most important question, I think, that one must ask one’s self about a character is what are they really afraid of?”Robert Towne via ∞
Build+Ship
One of the few things I know about writing is this: spend it all. Shoot it, play it, lose it, all, right away, every time. Do not hoard what seems good for a later place in the book, or for another book; give it, give it all, give it now. The impulse to save something good for a better place later is the signal to spend it now. Something more will arise for later, something better. These things will fill from behind, from beneath, like water. Similarly, the impulse to keep to yourself what you have learned is not only shameful, it is destructive. Anything you do not give freely and abundantly becomes lost to you. You open your safe and find ashes.”
In this Ted talk Andrew Stanton, screenwriter at Pixar, gives us the building blocks of story. He doesn’t lay out these thoughts in a list, but it kind of makes sense to display these elements that way.
- Story telling is joke telling. Knowing your punchline, your ending. Orchestrating everything from first to last towards a singular goal.
- Make me care—emotionally, intellectually, aesthetically… whatever. I know what it means to not care. Make me care.
- A well told promise is like a rock being pulled back in a sling shot, getting ready to propel you forward, through the story, to the end.
- Don’t give the audience 4, give them 2 + 2. The audience actually wants to work for their meal, they just don’t want to know that they’re doing it. The elements you provide and where you place them are crucial. It’s the invisible force that holds our attention to a story.
- All well drawn characters have a spine, an inner motor, a dominant unconscious goal they’re striving for, an itch that they can’t scratch. Michael Corleone wanted to impress his dad. Wall•e wanted to find the beauty.
- Change is fundamental in story. If things go static stories die because life is never static. “Drama is anticipation mingled with uncertainty.” Have you created honest struggle/conflict between characters/themselves? Will Dory remember what Nemo’s dad told her? Will they ever actually find Nemo??
- Storytelling has guidelines not hard and fast rules.
- A story should have a theme. Laurence of Arabia’s is “who are you?” Everything he does is an attempt to figure that out.
- The magic ingredient: can you invoke wonder. The best stories infuse wonder.
- Use what you know, capture a truth from your experience, express values you feel deep down in your core.
Friendly Internet Reminder: Making things for other people is really, really hard.”
All life is suffering.
Attachment is the root of suffering.
It is possible not to suffer.
If you are a robot.”
Geoff Barnes via Pappy
You can’t take a bag of cool to the bank.”
Here’s a list of podcasts I’m currently listening to.
Back To Work: Merlin Mann, or “Pappy”, on work. Well, mostly on blood glucose levels and making your own carbonated water, but there’s a little about work in there. It’s worth it. The first 5-10 episodes are excellent, if I’m remembering correctly.
WTF: Marc Maron, a long time comedian, interviews other comedians. I’ve been listening to this one for almost 3 years—always good. (note: I interview Marc Maron in one of the podcasts below).
The Big Web Show: Jeffrey Zeldman interviewing people on the web. I can’t tell if I like this one or not. Earlier episodes were great—the last several haven’t been worth it. Zeldman’s kinda phoning it in, it feels.
Social Triggers: Derek’s a friend, so I listen out of respect… but then I’m always talking about the episode later on. Great stuff in here.
Huffduffer: With this fabulous little tool you can bookmarklet pages and it will extract the audio into a feed you can subscribe to in iTunes. Great for that Louis C.K. interview on NPR or to test the thing you’re not sure you want to subscribe to.
A podcast I’m running
I’m releasing a lil’ podcast myself. Matterful.co is where I’ll be dropping lil’ audio nuggets.
If you want to find out more about it, listen to the first episode where I interview Marc Maron. That gets into the back story.
