22 Storytelling Tips From Pixar

22 Storytelling Tips from Pixar

Waaay back in the olden days (2012) Pixar storyboard artist Emma Coats gave some amazing writing tips. I love these and have read them dozens of times.

#1: You admire a character for trying more than for their successes.

22 Storytelling Tips From Pixar

#2: You gotta keep in mind what’s interesting to you as an audience, not what’s fun to do as a writer. They can be v. different.

#3: Trying for theme is important, but you won’t see what the story is actually about til you’re at the end of it. Now rewrite.

#4: Once upon a time there was ___. Every day, ___. One day ___. Because of that, ___. Because of that, ___. Until finally ___.

#5: Simplify. Focus. Combine characters. Hop over detours. You’ll feel like you’re losing valuable stuff but it sets you free.

#6: What is your character good at, comfortable with? Throw the polar opposite at them. Challenge them. How do they deal?

22 Storytelling Tips From Pixar

#7: Come up with your ending before you figure out your middle. Seriously. Endings are hard, get yours working up front.

#8: Finish your story, let go even if it’s not perfect. In an ideal world you have both, but move on. Do better next time.

#9: When you’re stuck, make a list of what WOULDN’T happen next. Lots of times the material to get you unstuck will show up.

#10: Pull apart the stories you like. What you like in them is a part of you; you’ve got to recognize it before you can use it.

#11: Putting it on paper lets you start fixing it. If it stays in your head, a perfect idea, you’ll never share it with anyone.

#12: Discount the 1st thing that comes to mind. And the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th – get the obvious out of the way. Surprise yourself.

#13: Give your characters opinions. Passive/malleable might seem likable to you as you write, but it’s poison to the audience.

#14: Why must you tell THIS story? What’s the belief burning within you that your story feeds off of? That’s the heart of it.

22 Storytelling Tips From Pixar

#15: If you were your character, in this situation, how would you feel? Honesty lends credibility to unbelievable situations.

#16: What are the stakes? Give us reason to root for the character. What happens if they don’t succeed? Stack the odds against.

#17: No work is ever wasted. If it’s not working, let go and move on - it’ll come back around to be useful later.

#18: You have to know yourself: the difference between doing your best & fussing. Story is testing, not refining.

#19: Coincidences to get characters into trouble are great; coincidences to get them out of it are cheating.

22 Storytelling Tips From Pixar

#20: Exercise: take the building blocks of a movie you dislike. How d'you rearrange them into what you DO like?

#21: You gotta identify with your situation/characters, can’t just write ‘cool’. What would make YOU act that way?

#22: What’s the essence of your story? Most economical telling of it? If you know that, you can build out from there.

Hope you liked these!

22 Storytelling Tips From Pixar

More Posts from Aftermath-machine1984 and Others

I just learned that once during a council meeting in 1546 John Dudley bitch-slapped Stephen Gardiner and I’m just … wheezing with laughter

Hey, when I was a kid a twenty-something with the cartoon-rotted mind of a rat-brained child, I used to read lots of screenshot-style Let's Plays. (for anyone unfamiliar with the format, it's like a video let's play with commentary, only instead of a video it's a bunch of images from the game and the commentary is in the form of text. Essentially it's like a very long, comprehensive, full-spoilers written review.) I had a grand time corrupting my mind with Darkseed and Harvester without having to actually play them.

Long have I considered making a screenshot let's play of my own, but did not encounter a game that was quite compelling enough. ahem. until now. thinking of doing a screenshot let's play of gollum game, because there's stuff in the game I'd love to scream into the void about but I wouldn't want to do a video commentary - one reason being because I am running the game on the minimum visual settings and it would look as bad as it can possibly look, another being that it's such an intensely dialog-heavy game that I would either be talking over things that you really should be hearing, or pausing the footage in order to talk & blowing up the video length to like 30 hours & creating an editing nightmare for myself.

if I did this it would be posted as pages on my blog like the fanfic image gallery- I would not be posting spoilery commentary on your dash, I would be posting links to where you can read the full installment, probably accompanied by spoiler-free doodles. (I know the game's been out for nearly three weeks and people who would really care about spoilers have had time to watch playthroughs, but I still don't want to post spoilers because what if people just haven't gotten around to watching it yet or something. it's not a massive game but it's also not something so short you can just catch up on it right away on a whim on your lunch break)

a screenshot let's play would be just enough of a time investment that i was sort of hoping someone would indicate a little bit of interest before I actually do anything. not a ton of interest- honestly one (1) like on this post would probably be enough to convince me. if you do not want me to do a screenshot lets play please do not interact with this post, ty

edit: I am hearing some interest so this is now an announcement post! It will be a while before I post anything though, I am going through a second playthrough first to explore dialog options, look for little things I missed & decide on: 1) which dialog choices I will want to make in my official playthrough 2) whether there's enough story divergence to be worth tentatively planning an abbreviated second run playthrough, or if I can cover the game adequately by just giving a brief aside/summary of what happens when you choose the other options if you know the answer to this pls dont tell me! i'm still enjoying exploring the game for myself

So I will probably not start posting my let's play for a few weeks, unless I get really sick of doing productive things & binge this whole game this weekend, which isn't an impossibility.

2 months ago

Please Give me your attention 💔

Please read this as if i were a member of your family. Maybe your sister, your daughter or your friend. As if my family who is going through difficult circumstances is your family.

Please Give Me Your Attention 💔
Please Give Me Your Attention 💔
Please Give Me Your Attention 💔
Please Give Me Your Attention 💔
Please Give Me Your Attention 💔
Please Give Me Your Attention 💔

Hello, I'm Ola, a graduate student from the faculty of science - Al-Azhar University in G@za P@lestine. I truly appreciate you taking a moment to read my story. As you reading my message, myself and my family, “my mother, father, three sisters, and my little brother,” are trying to survive under all kinds of suffering including but not limited to fear, instability, and starvation, thirst, and poverty in northern G@za.

After 508 days of suffering, I am writing to you today with a heavy heart, in desperate need of your help. I can't describe how harsh the situation we are living in is. My family is suffering from the biting cold of winter, and we are facing a severe shortage of food and clothing. Every day feels like a lifetime, and every moment makes me feel helpless and hopeless. 💔

After the prices went up so crazy, I created this campaign to help my family provide food, water and essential needs. I know for sure that you can't help all families that want your help but at least you can help those who come across your life.

Every simple thing makes a difference in changing the situation we are in. So please don't hesitate to help us 🙏💔

It's your time to help and make a difference, Will you?!

Thank you for taking a minute to read this.♥️

My campaign has been vetted by:

@90-ghost here, @northgazaupdates here, and @el-shab-hussien and @nabulsi 's spreadsheet of vetted campaigns #205.

Donate to Ola's Family Call for your Support Amid Crisis, organized by Nesma Khazendar
gofundme.com
Hello, I'm Ola, a graduate student from the faculty of science - Al-Azh… Nesma Khazendar needs your support for Ola's Family Call for your S

Please share my post:

@ot3 @amygdalae @turian @dykesbat @guldaastan @ashwantsafreepalestine @communistchameleon @komsomolka @riding-with-the-wild-hunt @heritageposts @watermotif @mavigator @lacecap @determinate-negation @deepspaceboytoy @paper-mario-wiki @kibumkim @chilewithcarnage @sayruq @turtletoria @vampiricvenus @ghostofanonpast @akajustmerry @mahoushojoe @sar-soor @rhubarbspring @catcrumb @imogen-mangle @soon-palestine @acepumpkinpatrick @gothhabiba @tamamita @taqoou @wolfertinger666 @prisonhannibal @nyancrimew @idontmindifuforgetme

4 weeks ago
My End Of Year Submission Is Done! Im Free!!! ◝(ᵔᗜᵔ)◜

my end of year submission is done! im free!!! ◝(ᵔᗜᵔ)◜

4 months ago

“Bad days can pass with your donations.

**“My name is Rania Youssef. I express the painful reality I live through my art and drawings. Art is my voice, my way of sharing my inner struggles with the world. At this stage, I am seeking the support of artists or donors who can help me spread my campaign and my art to reach as many people as possible.

My family’s daily expenses range between €150-200, a sum we struggle to meet every single day. My father is no longer with us—he was killed by the occupation forces during the siege of Al-Shifa Hospital, right in front of my younger siblings. Now, the responsibility of my family falls entirely on my shoulders.

I live in northern Gaza, where the situation is unbearable. You already know the brutalities committed by the occupation in this region. For political reasons, I cannot share every detail here, but I’m sure you understand.

If you are unable to donate to my campaign, you can still help by sharing it with your friends. Write a few words that capture their attention, and together, we can ensure that my family has a chance to survive.

“Bad Days Can Pass With Your Donations.
“Bad Days Can Pass With Your Donations.
Donate to Help me save my family and achieve my dreams, organized by Rania yousef
gofundme.com
Hello, peace be upon you, free world. I want to introduce myself and my stor… Rania yousef needs your support for Help me save my family and
PayPal.Me
Go to paypal.me/rani567691 and type in the amount. Since it’s PayPal, it's easy and secure. Don’t have a PayPal account? No worries.
2 years ago

OP deactivated, and some of the links were broken/marked unsafe by Firefox, so here's a new compilation post of Leslie Feinburg's (She/her, ze/hir, any pronouns) novels and essays on being transgender:

Stone Butch Blues official free source directly from Author's website:

lesliefeinberg.net

Stone Butch Blues, backup on the webarchive:

Stone butch blues : a novel : Feinberg, Leslie, 1949- : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
Internet Archive
Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Book Award (American Library Association), 1994

Transgender Liberation: A movement whose time has come, on the web archive:

Transgender Warriors: Making History from Joan of Arc to Dennis Rodman, on the web archive:

Lavender and Red, PDF essay collection:

Lavender And Red, a collection of essays by Leslie Feinberg : Leslie Feinburg 1949-2014 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Ar
Internet Archive
A PDF, archived web collection of essays by Transgender activist Leslie Feinburg (she/zie/hir).

Drag King Dreams, on the web archive:

(Also, if anyone ever tells you that the protagonist of Stone Butch Blues ""ends up with a man""........ they're transmisogynistic jackass TERFs who are straight up lying)

Please also check out your local public libraries for these books and see if they carry them, to help support public libraries! If you have a library card already you can checkout Libby and Overdrive to see if your public library carries it as an ebook that you can checkout :)

EDIT: another not included on the orignal masterpost-- Trans Liberation: Beyond Pink or blue !

3 months ago
INKtober 2024-Fight 👊💀

INKtober 2024-Fight 👊💀

GOLDEN BAT vs. FRANKENSTEIN!!

The ultimate old-school monster throw-down!! The evil Dr. Nazo revives the legendary Frankenstein Monster; giving him the promise of the reanimation of his beloved bride, if in return, he serves Nazo as his minion and destroy the scientist’s sworn enemy: Golden Bat!! Can the legendary super-mummy defeat Frankenstein and save the wayward monster and his bride from becoming pawns in Dr. Nazo’s devious schemes!?…

(I know I’m not the first to have thought of this but, this is my version!)

3 years ago

Hackers...

Hi, been a hot minute, but

its more of an instagram fiasco, however it wouldn’t hurt to post it here too.

Hi, Been A Hot Minute, But
Hi, Been A Hot Minute, But
Hi, Been A Hot Minute, But

All of this, for bitcoin and money. Greed is truly a horrid thing. Below are screenshots of this guys cashapp and the fake post he made on my friends account. I may be too hopeful, but I’m hoping they get caught and are also charged with identity theft. Pretending to be my friend to hack others he knows and those who follow him… I’m heated.

Hi, Been A Hot Minute, But
Hi, Been A Hot Minute, But

Be safe, guys.

Another thing, please just block the account if you have an instagram. My bud is in the process of getting it back, but all we can do to stop this guy in their tracks is block the account anywhere it goes.


Tags
2 months ago

Hey, should we check in on that Target boycott? See how it is going?

Hey, Should We Check In On That Target Boycott? See How It Is Going?
Target takes a hit: $12.4 billion in value lost after boycott
thecharlottepost.com
Economic blackout over company shuttering diversity commitment

Reminder that this is still going on (through April 17th) and that we, the consumers, have a lot of power

1 month ago

my dream as a fanfic writer is for one day, one of my fics to be someones comfort fic. like the fic that they reread when they don't feel good and want to be happy. i want my words to comfort someone one day

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aftermath-machine1984 - A calm abode...
A calm abode...

Art by: http://inspiredfatty.tumblr.com

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