I have a small collection of books on writing and screen writing, all of which I have read at least once. One of the benefits of having the collection is going back and reading them again to find a nugget or two that I might have missed the first time around. One of the books …
Tag: Story structure
Story situations
In this blog I want to look at a different way of looking at story structure that is not events-driven (such as the hero’s journey). All stories are by their nature about ‘situations’ that form the central conflict of a story. However, not all situations are big enough or complex enough to drive a story …
Story telling – a time to think and reflect
I have just got back from a holiday in the Canaries. Holidays are a great time to take in the sunshine, relax and yes - read a little. Reading is a wonderful way of relaxing and this time I read three books - two fiction and one factual. I love a good story and Lee …
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Storytelling – the bad guys
Not all stories are about good versus evil. But when you have a super hero or heroine it’s almost compulsory in storytelling. What would Batman be without the Joker, the Penguin and the Riddler; Superman without Lex Luthor; Thor without Loki: or the Avengers without Thanos? Okay these are comic book heroes and blockbuster movies. …
Storytelling – the reveal sequence
Recently, I was reviewing John Truby’s new book “The Anatomy of Genres - How Story Forms Explain the way the World Works,” with a view to using it as material for my latest blog. However, the more I studied the book, the more I realised I needed to go back to Truby’s earlier work, “The …
Everyone loves a hero (or heroine)
Recently I have been on a Tolkien movie fest. First watching "the Hobbit" series and now getting stuck into “Lord of the rings”. It’s not first time I’ve watched them, I’ve watched them many times. But I am still fascinated by Tolkien’s story telling magic. Of course not all books can be turned into movies, …
Dark endings and the Monster in the house genre
Recently, as a family we were going through our movie collection to find a movie to watch that evening. We found an old one that none of us could remember, so we watched it again. Big mistake - it was terrible. It was a low budget movie with a an awful double twist of an …
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Evaluating New Story Ideas
As a writer, the hardest choice to make is what to write about. Ideas for novels are everywhere, but can they be developed into a good story? How do we choose the best ideas for the best chance of success? Way back in 2019, I wrote review of Erik Brok’s book , “The idea - …
Plot Points, Turning Points and Reversals
If you're a writer and interested in the art of storytelling then you can learn a lot from the world of movies by breaking down stories into their component parts. In my previous blog I focused on how the story narrative can be broken down further into sequences. Yet another way to break down the …
Foreshadowing and Chekhov’s Gun
In my last blog, I looked at the importance of creating tension around the dramatic question of a story. For example, will Luke and Obi Wan get the Death Star plans to the rebels? Will Indie find the Ark of the Covenant? In simple term, tension is created by putting the main character in increasing …
JMJ Williamson 