Invisible Ink

rw-book-cover

Highlights

Seven easy steps to a better story Once upon a time … And every day … Until one day … And because of this … And because of this … Until finally … And ever since that day … (Location 147)
Once upon a time and And every day. They are your act 1. What is the purpose of act 1? It tells the audience everything they need to know to understand the story that is to follow. (Location 166)
Every decision you make should be based on the idea of dramatizing your armature idea. (Location 375)
This is what is meant by dramatization. It is showing rather than telling. We know that those things to which we have an emotional connection stick with us better than those for which we have none. Dramatization is a way to get your intellectual ideas across to your audience emotionally. (Location 554)
The second act is a kind of ritual pain that changes your character. Usually your character has what has been called a fatal flaw. There is something they need to learn before they can be transformed into a better, more mature, person. (Location 804)
Because change is never easy, and is resisted, it is your job as storyteller to apply as much pressure on your characters as possible. You must back them into a corner and force them to change. Make it as painful as you can. (Location 837)
A character always knows what he wants, but hardly ever what he needs. In the end, the character usually gets close to what he wants and chooses the need instead. (Location 847)
Find that thing that your character would rather die than do and make them do it. (Location 883)
What is the ritual pain that begins his change? His father is shot. Michael may not approve of his family’s business, but he does care for them. (Location 942)
At the end of this scene, Marion has decided to give back the money. She is better now, so although we may be shocked that she is killed, we do not feel cheated. (Location 1063)
It only happened (Location 1092)
because the storytellers wanted it to happen, but not because it was a logical thing a reasonable person would do. (Location 1092)
It is the same with a hero. If you can show that a hero had fears, doubts, and human foibles but did a heroic thing anyway, it makes him all the more heroic. (Location 1123)
Masculine traits are anything that moves the story forward externally. For example, Character A, a policeman, finds out that the murderer in the case he’s investigating is another cop. That is a masculine element. The murdering cop is Character A’s best friend and once risked his life to save Character A. This is a female element. It is the balance of these two elements that creates dramatic tension and keeps an audience interested. It keeps their brains working: What is Character A going to do? It creates depth. (Location 1167)
Your responsibility as a storyteller is to be a good teacher, not a good preacher. If you only talk about what you want to say, you are only proselytizing. But if you show your audience through (Location 1321)
demonstration, it will learn, seemingly, on its own. Not only that, but its members will learn it more thoroughly. (Location 1322)
Genre is irrelevant to the dramatist. A dramatist should only be concerned with drama. If one genre can help you tell your story better than another, use it. No genre is better or worse than another. (Location 1346)
Simply put, the climax of a story puts the protagonist in an intense situation that forces a choice that shows growth or lack of growth. (Location 1400)
What happens is that storytellers try to include subplots to flesh out their world and make it feel full. This is never a reason to introduce a character or subordinate (sub) plot. I like to call them supporting plots. They are there to support the main plot. Everything should hang off the same armature. (Location 1415)
Guess what—that is not so. You are a slave to your story, not a master. Your characters, places, scenes, and sequences must be built around the armature. (Location 1427)
Exposition is some of the hardest writing to do. Finding a natural way to have characters speak (Location 1497)
things they already know can seem impossible at times. It is easy to do it clumsily. This is the kind of thing you should learn from observing the way others do it. (Location 1498)
As a storyteller, your job is to get out of the way of the story. This isn’t about you. It may be about what you have to say, but it isn’t about you. Let go of your ego. (Location 1511)
Sometimes audience members need a representative within (Location 1520)
the narrative. It allows you to address and dismiss their concerns so that they can stay engrossed in the story. (Location 1520)
After it was revealed, a hush came over the audience as they took in the magnificent ship. Then Luke exclaims, “What a piece of junk!” The crowed erupted with laughter, because that’s not at all what we were thinking. This was George Lucas’s world and we knew nothing about it. There is no way we would have known that the ship was considered a piece of junk without that clever bit of dialogue. (Location 1531)
The conclusion is that whenever possible the public must be informed. Except when the surprise is a twist, that is, when the unexpected ending is, in itself, the highlight of the story. —Alfred Hitchcock (Location 1550)
This form of invisible ink is often ignored by inexperienced storycrafters. They will often jump right to the third little pig expecting the audience will “get it.” It won’t. (Location 1607)