How great stories are built: the Hero's Journey, Vonnegut's shapes of stories, Pixar's story spine, promises and payoffs, plot twists, endings and more, with examples from books and film.
Suspense & Tension
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May 8, 2025
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7 min read
Surprising yet inevitable
Story Structure
Apr 20, 2025
6 min read
A key story decision nobody talks about
Mar 16, 2025
5 min read
Once upon a time...
Jan 26, 2025
The two ingredients to Aaron Sorkin's 'drive shaft of drama'
Sep 9, 2024
7 down, 1 to go
Jul 21, 2024
4 patterns seen across great stories
Jun 18, 2024
A 63-second masterclass in storytelling promises from George Lucas
Dec 16, 2023
One counterintuitive piece of storytelling advice to help you build a more powerful story
Dec 9, 2023
13 min read
Build narratives like a rapper
Dec 3, 2023
A team of researchers identified 6 core emotional arcs from a data set of 1300+ novels
Nov 25, 2023
3 strategies to gamify your storytelling
Oct 9, 2023
10 min read
Going beyond the 12-step process to talk about Archetypes, Rites of Passage, and Conflict
Aug 28, 2023
8 min read
Kurt Vonnegut’s failed thesis is a masterpiece in understanding story
Aug 5, 2023
15 min read
Proven storytelling structures you can use to take the reader on a similar, but different, journey
Jun 9, 2023
4 min read
The 3 keys to tell stories that last
Jun 2, 2023
3 min read
Starting your story "in the midst of things"
May 13, 2023
If you mention something in your story, make it intentional
May 6, 2023
A simple yet effective cognitive trick to not lose your audience
Mar 14, 2023
The 6 crucial elements of a Tragedy, according to Aristotle
Feb 25, 2023
Christopher Nolan’s go-to technique to end a story
Feb 4, 2023
A sneaky powerful lesson in storytelling from the creators of South Park
Jan 28, 2023
If your story doesn't answer these 5 questions, you don't have a story
Jan 21, 2023
A powerful lesson on framing from Lord of the Rings
Oct 29, 2022
Pixar's 22 Rules of Storytelling (Part 3)
Oct 22, 2022
The principles powering the most successful creative company of the last half century