plot

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That Ultimate Buffy Scene – Willow’s Long Walk

What does storytelling me

What does storytelling mean to me? Sometimes, I have to look back at the tales that make me glad to play in the writers’ sandbox. The moments, an


Who’s On First – A Character System for Variety in Scenes

Are you using all your st

Are you using all your story? All the characters, all the possibilities and combinations that a tale has ready to unleash? On the one hand

variety of scenes

Been There Done That? Similar Problems with Writing Similar Scenes

There are stories that re

There are stories that rely on their central concept to shape much of their plot into their favorite kind of sequence, and try to make it our favorite


The Long-Running Series – Two of Four “Easy” Lessons from Role-Playing Games

(Reality check: This is w

(Reality check: This is written in the aftermath of the Great Los Angeles Rainstorm—and yes, this week that’s reality. All part of preparing t

Severus Snape

Loose Cannons can Lose Your Canon – WHEN Should You Shake Up Your Characters?

Why would a story that ri

Why would a story that rips forward at light-speed pace take a whole first season for what seemed like ordinary short-term TV conflicts? When Baby


Babylon 5’s One Key to Character Arcs

One way. There just might

One way. There just might be one irresistible way to track and reveal how a character evolves—and make the most of how that arc drives the whole


Writing a Character Arc – Through Other Characters

If the heart of a story i

If the heart of a story is the conflicts it puts a character through, and especially the


Darth Vader Missed It and Dracula Never Tried – Character Plot Twists that Matter

What single choice could

What single choice could make a story? Sure, we writers have dozens of strengths we might weave into a tale, but could there be one clear dec

Backstory failure

The Two Laws of Backstory (and why Superman breaks both)

It’s one of the har

It's one of the hardest moments in writing—knowing that even though you’ve picked a perfect character or an ideal plot complication, you have to w

Villains - why so serous

Does your villain need more evil?

Is your story good enough

Is your story good enough? In fact… you’ve probably been exploring and sweating to make your protagonist more real, more dynamic, and the suppo


The Prologue Checklist

“What’s past is p

“What's past is prologue.” –William Shakespeare, The Tempest   It’s only natural—you’ve got


Deals, Decoys, and Dirty Tricks for your Characters

Your hero’s trapped

Your hero's trapped by his enemies, no way to run or fight—unless he can take what those goons really want and use it against them. Your villain nee