The Storytelling Wizard

Hi Friend,Welcome to the new edition of The Storytelling Wizard! Image created by Author on MidJourney Plot is like a container that holds everything together. It’s also like a cohesive force. Whatever metaphor you use, the importance of plot is inescapable. Without it, the writers would drift aimlessly. Three thousand years of plot creation have given us some simple and least intelligent ways of plot creation as a rule. It’s important to understand the lower bar to raise the bar of any...

Hi Friend,Welcome to the new edition of The Storytelling Wizard! How does Pixar choose the perfect protagonist for all their fiction stories?Plot is character, and character is plot. They both are interdependent. It means an obstacle would be meaningless if a character can resolve it without any struggle. When a character struggles to overcome an obstacle, there's character growth and incremental change through every scene.And every story is about change. Either change of character or...

Hi Friend,Welcome to the new edition of The Storytelling Wizard! How do you create memorable characters? Empathy! But how do you create empathy? Show their desires and motivations (and make me care) Reveal their idiosyncrasies, quirks and flaws (flaws connect people) Place them in great trouble and watch them fight their way out (creates a sense of aspiration) The Three Levels of Liking: Superficial attraction (think high school crush) Enjoying their flaws and unique quirks (like your...

Hi Friend,Welcome to the new edition of The Storytelling Wizard! I've been working super hard on a course (maybe more than one), and I'm looking to launch them very soon. I'm planning to start a few courses in the space of storytelling and visual storytelling: Can we do a quick vote on which one would you be most interested in out of the above three? Which one out of these three courses would you be most interested in? Writing my First Film (Screenwriting) Generative AI for Beginner...

Hi Friend,Welcome to the new edition of The Storytelling Wizard! The most important relationship in the process of screenwriting is the one that the writer creates between the script and the audience. Every relationship is dependent on three pillars: Trust/ Loyalty Communication/ Keeping your promises Charm/ Keeping the romance or spark alive Today, let's talk about the trust factor. When an audience member decides to watch a movie, they have already been promised something in the teaser...

Hi Friend,Welcome to the new edition of The Storytelling Wizard! You might be surprised to see an email in the middle of the week. But if there's something I could share with you, I will not wait for the weekend. :) There's no wrong time to do the right thing. The idea that I want to share with you today took me years to understand and completely internalize within me. It's the idea of a story versus plot. What is a story? And what is a plot? And is there any correlation between them? And...

Hi Friend,Welcome to the new edition of The Storytelling Wizard! Most beginner writers create caricatures, not characters. Image created by author on MidJourney I have always been a rebel without a cause in my life. So, when I heard about screenwriting rules, I immediately wanted to break them. But after writing: • hundreds of incomplete drafts,• a bunch of complete ones, and• fixing some poorly-crafted drafts I went through a character arc (myself) and realized, “Rules are not supposed to be...

Hi Friend,Welcome to the new edition of The Storytelling Wizard! This one's gonna be a quick read because I have been investing my time (last couple of weeks) into creating an email course for you all (check the end of this email). Today, I want to share with you my realizations as I complete 11 years of calling myself a storyteller. In 2014, I wrote my first ever scene of a screenplay. The setting was EXT. HIGHWAY - NIGHTI wanted to start my movie on a highway in the dark, and that's how...

Hi Friend,Welcome to the new edition of The Storytelling Wizard! Do you know what came into existence first? Story or Story Structure? Image Created by Author in MidJourney The first story ever told (possibly in sign language or engraved in the caves) by a human did not follow a story structure. There. I said it! Let me make it super simple for you to grasp — stories came first, then some stories worked, and there were ones that didn’t. Storytellers and writers analyzed them and discovered...