#Storytelling Craft

[enchantingepics]

Story Prompt 71

There existed a bond between two individuals. One was a hardened figure, weathered by the trials of time and circumstance. The other, a compassionate soul, whose heart seemed to overflow with empathy for every passing moment.

"You always seem to have a heart for the ones in need," the weathered figure remarked, his voice tinged with a hint of bitterness.

The compassionate soul paused, turning to meet the gaze of his companion. "Isn't that what it means to be human? To feel for others, to share in their joys and sorrows?"

The other scoffed, a cynical edge creeping into his tone. "People die every day, yet you only seem to care when they're dying at my feet."

The words hung heavy in the air, a stark reminder of the divergent paths they had chosen. One, guided by duty and survival, hardened by the harsh realities of life. The other, driven by compassion and empathy, refusing to turn a blind eye to the suffering around him.

[ancientroyalblood]

Character Growth and Change: Crafting Dynamic Protagonists

Characters aren’t static entities frozen in time; they are living, breathing entities that evolve, learn, and change. As I embark on the journey of exploring character growth and change, my thoughts meander through the profound responsibility a writer bears in crafting protagonists that resonate not just at the beginning, but throughout the entire narrative. The Seed of…

[wifegideonnav]

so listen. we all know that if they ever made a tlt show it would be bad pretty much no matter what. so my pitch is let’s just give the project to steven moffat and see what he does with it. by the time he’s done we’ll have a show called “john” all about how tragically and manlily sad jod is and how you know what maybe imperialism is ok sometimes. tamsyn gets buckets of cash, some white guys get acting roles that they’ll regret the rest of their career, and i get a new hbomberguy video essay to rewatch every six months or so. someone call the fucking bbc ive solved this.

[autism-alley]

hi originally posted this at the end of a long thread of back and forth, here’s the og post if you want full context but i feel like this needs to be its own post especially bc i keep seeing this argument being made—the argument that the kids (in this case it was annabeth) SHOULD just know the monsters are monsters and who they are and how to defeat them before ever encountering them, that it’s a problem if they don’t.

the problem is not if 12 year olds should recognize a trap when they see one, even if they’re smart 12 year olds, and if that’s realistic. that is entirely beside the point.

the problem is rick riordan wrote a book series whose formula is bringing myths to the modern age and he’s not sticking true to that in the show—percy jackson and the olympians’ Shtick is taking these classic, ancient threats and giving them a new face. these traps work because these kids are not walking into a cave marked with Get Out and getting ambushed by monsters—the monsters are disguised as harmless mortal human beings, in harmless mortal human being places (for the most part) and i think we—and more importantly, the show—are all forgetting the mist, the magic involved here. it’s not just that medusa is a “creepy lady with her eyes covered” it’s that there is ancient magic at work here, magic that, like the systems of abuse pjo exists to criticize, has been evolving and continuing its malevolence for millennia. it’s formulaic, that’s the point. it’s the same trap you’ve learned about all your childhood, the same trap a thousand children before you learned all their childhoods, and still, it works. you fall into the trap. because that’s how generational abuse works. it’s a trap. it isn’t enough to learn monsters exist, what they look like from a second hand story that originated thousands of years ago. if you want to escape alive, you have to adapt as quickly as they do, recognize their face, and ultimately, beyond any individual trap, the game itself has to change. real, generational change.

so. the problem is rick riordan wrote a series with a formula for action that perfectly captures the overarching, systemic conflicts he was commentating on, and then threw that formula out in the show because it was “unrealistic”. i don’t give a damn about realism when it works to the detriment of the story. this is a story about generational abuse, yes, but it’s told through ‘a tale as old as time’ and that’s why it works so fucking well. and when it comes to basic storytelling, if your characters know the threat before they even walk in and you do practically nothing to then make up for the stakes you have removed, that’s a flaw. now you’ve lost the entertainment value for your audience, on top of also lessening your themes.

something else that is so. honestly soul-crushing as a writer and a creative, is that to me this is reflective of the way we are now afraid to tell earnest stories. stories where we care not for listening to the people who want to pick apart fictional, mythical, fantasy stories for not being “realistic” instead of aligning with our target audience who acknowledges reality is not what makes a story. think of your favorite movie, show, book, comic, what have you—has the reason for your favoritism ever been because it is the most reasonable, the most grounded, the most practical out of any you’ve seen? or is it because of the emotion? the way it speaks to you, to your life and the person you are? the journey it takes you on? is the percy jackson and the olympians book series so good because it’s inherently realistic?

the secret to storytelling is, very simply, focus on your story. everything else is secondary. if it’s written well, it doesn’t matter to me that the characters walk into a trap that, to the audience, is obviously a trap. because i can understand how the characters don’t know it, and how the story falls apart if the narrative just tells the characters it’s a trap from the jump. that’s what dramatic irony is—first used in greek tragedies! this is literally a tale as old as time in every sense except for the end—where it’s happy. and it’s not earned if we don’t first see, over and over, the status quo as a tragic trap.

it’s not about if annabeth (or the other kids) is “smart enough” to not walk into a trap, or about if she’s just too prideful to not walk into what she knows is a trap (or any reason that could apply to the other characters), it’s that annabeth, at the end of the day, is a character. she is a storytelling tool for the messages of the narrative. that doesn’t make her any lesser. in fact ignoring it reduces her, because it reduces what she represents. it’s about how rick riordan, or whoever else at disney, has fumbled the storytelling bag so ridiculously hard that they can’t take the simple, effective formula outlined from start to finish (by good ol 2009 rick himself) and adapt it to the screen without answering the most unimportant, derailing, anti-story questions.

[shorthaltsjester]

god i cannot express how impressed in general i am with the storytelling that cr is doing with candela obscura but what really strikes me is how evident it is that the storytelling they do is defined by the hearts of those who are putting it together rather than adhering to a specific idea or image of a given story that they want to uphold. there is such a stark difference between the tones of chapter one and chapter two (to the fault of neither, i’ve enjoyed them both immensely because they both happen to hit parts of the supernatural-horror genre that I am so deeply fond of and so happy to see in a real play medium).

there’s the obvious difference in gming styles, matt has fantasy running through his veins and that’s evident in the way that chapter one ends up having a tone akin to something like the scarier episodes of buffy the vampire slayer. spenser outright references mike flanagan in his pre-interview thing and good grief is that so so evident in his narration and the way he emphasizes the themes emerging in the story in the environment of the world they journey through and choices like the letter from sean’s mother that subvert the audiences ability to rely on a character’s perception.

but the energy the groups of players bring to the storytelling is obviously also so important, too. like, even just looking at the groups prior to watching each I probably could’ve guessed which might’ve had a more lighthearted tone. the combination of ashley, anjali, and robbie already would be one i’d guess a more warm/goofy vibe for (not to say they can’t be serious and dramatic, but the tone of the seriousness is still warm and the world that prompts them towards drama likewise feels warm) and laura, despite her propensity for goofs, does tend to be a chameleon with group make ups. likewise i think we all had a certain (affectionate) fear™ when it was revealed that marisha, brennan, luis, and travis would be reuniting in another short form story and that has certainly held up and been incredibly bolstered by zehra’s absolute commitment and immersion into the story (constantly fucking blown away that this is her first real play she’s incredible).

this is all just to say as someone deeply interested in digital storytelling, i am so so enamoured by cr’s commitment to following their own desires as humans telling stories to one another while adhering to the requirements they have as a company. and also if you haven’t you should watch candela obscura, especially now that spooky season is here.

[its-your-mind]

HEY. HEY.

HEY @re-dracula WHAT GAVE YOU THE RIGHT TO HAVE JONATHAN ACTUALLY READING THAT PASSAGE OUT LOUD BEHIND SEWARD DESCRIBING THE SCENE, HUH? WITH THE TEARS IN HIS VOICE AND THE PAUSING AND THE SHORT LITTLE INHALES AND THE VOICE CRACKS? WAS IT TRULY NECESSARY??? I WAS ALREADY CRYING. I DIDN'T NEED THIS TOO. WHAT THE FUCK.

[burst-of-iridescent]

Hi! I love all your posts regarding atla and deep diving into Zuko and Katara's relationship-those analysis's are *chief's kiss* perfect

Anywho, I hope you don't mind me asking, but I'm guessing you heard about Bryke wanting to expand the atla universe, and will be creating a new movies, one of which, with the Gaang as adults, but as far as I know won't have any of the returning head writers like Aaron Ehasz..

so my question is: do you think there is any hope for these movies? Because to me I feel like it might just be a fully animated comic (we all know how those turned out) & just be 2 hrs of Katara and Aang saying "Sweetie" back an forth. Yes I'm still saltly

frankly? no.

and that's not even me saying it as a salty zutara shipper who doesn't want to see kat.aang as an established relationship. i doubt how good these movies are going to be because bry.ke have little-to-no understanding of their characters, especially katara and zuko, and at least since atla, haven't shown the self-awareness to hire a writer's team that can compensate for their shortcomings. i've said it before and i'll say it again: they have great, creative ideas and an excellent eye for stunning visuals and an immersive world. but when it comes to the nuances of characterization and story-building, they cannot do it on their own. lok proved that beyond a shadow of a doubt.

but more than bry.ke, these movies are also emblematic of a larger problem that i see in multiple franchises: the subordination of creative, meaningful storytelling in service to shameless nostalgia cash-grabbing. ask yourself, do we really need a story about the adult gaang? most of the main plot threads that they could've expanded on from atla have already been (mostly badly) answered in the comics: what happened to ursa, azula's potential redemption, decolonisation, industrialisation vs tradition, the founding of a new air nomad legacy, zuko's struggles as fire lord. any new story would either have to retcon previously established "canon" or put a new spin on old themes. the latter of which i severely doubt bry.ke's capability to pull off, particularly if any level of nuance is required.

atla is slowly but surely heading in the direction of star wars/harry potter/the mcu in producing new material just for the sake of making money instead of truly adding something impactful to the canon. the fact that absolutely no new atla material since the show itself has ever managed to live up to the original is proof that the franchise has no idea what it's doing.

and before someone comes at me to say that it's impossible to ever live up to the original - just take a look at the hunger games revival happening right now. the ballad of songbirds and snakes has been received so well because it isn't just a shameless cash-grab. it's a valuable contribution to the series that expands on the universe and themes of the original trilogy, giving more depth and nuance to the original books instead of detracting from them. because collins adds to the canon only when she has something meaningful to say, and for a franchise that she could have milked to absolute filth, that restraint reflects not only her integrity as a creator, but the value she places on the stories that she tells - which in turn makes her readers value and respect them as well.

and that's a lesson that i think every single storyteller should take to heart. if you want to be respected as a writer, you have to respect your characters and your stories first. because if you, the creator, don't... why should anyone else?

[alexlibris-bookart]

As we neared the end of the bookmaking process, the final touch – the leather aging – was underway. The result was kept hidden from us until this moment. After aging, we gazed at the cover in awe, speechless.

[kistless]

I loveeee hearing the succession writers talk about writing it's so clear that it's a collaborative effort of a group of people very passionate about writing & that very much respect the intelligence of their audience like

• when writing for an episode they'd go "how would we write this if it was a sitcom" "how would we write this if it was a tragedy" etc so they know where they want the scene to go tonally

• every joke has to be a joke only that character would say, if it's a joke that could be said by anyone they scrap it to avoid one-liner type jokes

• Jesse approaches writing dialogue with the assumption that the characters are always lying about something

• if the characters seem to be getting better or learning from their mistakes they scrap it - the point is that they will never learn the cycle will never stop

• they'll pitch random situations about the characters eg "what if Kendall became a baseball player" and figure out what it would take for that to happen (this is how the tom betrayal arc came to be)

[myguiltyartpleasure]

Cozy games recommendations! part 2

As I promised here is another one bunch of cozy games. This time it's not stardew-like only.

Carto

PC, PS, iOS, Xbox, Nintendo switch (I've completed it for 8.5 hours without any rush)

I don't really see this game in lists of recommended cozy games, but it really deserves to be mentioned! It has interesting concept and beautiful art style. You're playing as a kid, who can change landscape by making changes in their map. You've lost from you grandma, you're trying to find her and all map pieces that were lost. It's a bit of a puzzle, you're travelling through different areas and see different people. It's quite short, but I loved it a lot.

Potion Craft

PC, PS, iOS, Xbox, Nintendo switch (I've played for 32 hours. There are still things to do and developers still release new content)

You're and alchemist in medieval kind of town. You need to create potions according to customer's request (there is no time limit, so don't worry about it). Brewing potions has it's own mechanics, which is easy to get used to. There is no plot, just some optional goals. The final one appears to be creating philosopher's stone. This is a kind of a repetitive game kill some time.

Unpacking

PC, PS, iOS, Xbox, Nintendo switch (I've played for 8 hours)

You're a person going through different stages of life. There are boxes with personal stuff to unpack and to put in places the way you want to. And I've just realized that "Unpacking" isn't just about things, but also about person's own life and problems, which is shown quite subtle. It's very relaxing and cozy

Cloud Gardens

PC, PS, iOS, Xbox, Nintendo switch (I have about 8 hours, but there are still things to do)

The world seems to be post-apocalyptical and you're helping the life to thrive again. Place plants to overgrown ruins and trash to create better scenery. If you love this kind of post-apocalyptical view, you'll like it. Just relax and pick places for plants to grow

Dorfromantik

PC, Nintendo switch (I have about 16 hours)

Place tiles with few rules to create as big area as possible. No plot or quests, just beautiful landscape to create. Apparently there is also a board Dorfromantik game, but I haven't tried it

PowerWash Simulator

PC, PS, iOS, Xbox, Nintendo switch (I have about 120 hours)

You basically just washing different surfaces with pressure washer, but it's really satisfying. There are stories from customers and missing cat, but I usually got too involved in washing process to track them. There is coop mode and paid additional content, but there is enough locations if you don't want to pay extra

Storyteller

PC, iOS, Android, Nintendo switch (I have about 4 hours)

You have a book to fill with stories. You can create ones that asked to be completed or create some weird stories. All you have is a page, characters, scenes and actions to create your fable. I've created number of gay marriages and game allowed me to 😄

What's your definition of cozy game? I have some more to share, but they don't always match the "cozy" term, so I'd love to hear your opinion

[ancientroyalblood]

The Art of Flashbacks: Using Past Events to Enrich Your Story

In the tapestry of storytelling, the past is not a forgotten thread but a vibrant color that infuses depth and meaning into the narrative. Flashbacks are the writer’s brushstrokes, allowing the past to be a living part of the present story. However, the art of using flashbacks goes beyond mere chronological shifts. It involves a thoughtful, deliberate process of weaving past events into the…

[stagefoureddiediaz]

The red string of fate is found in lichtenberg figures!!!

And Eddie’s back on a red rope (the first one he’s been on since Sheila’s balcony iirc) to climb up to him at a time when buck will have the figures.

And maybe Eddie will have some too - if he does in fact get hit by lightning. And all these red strings are connected…

The thing with lichtenberg figures is that they don’t last long - 24 to 48 hours usually (sometimes a bit longer depending on the severity of the strike) so Buck won’t have a permenant reminder, but we the audience will have seen them connected by that red string of fate. There is beauty in it only being visible for a short time - the red string is meant to be invisible - so is getting to see it temporarily is a really lovely narrative device the writers are using to clue the audience in!

[animegoil-vnc]

I didn't even *consider* it wasn't LG himself doing that crazy stunt, but now...

Look, my estimation of the writers for this show has taken some hits this season - if it's not LG himself, time travel shenanigans or not, I'm going to lose so much respect for them.

It'd be one thing if they'd put in clues beforehand - LG maybe smiled a little too much like CXS or did or said something that made us go hmmmm something is off with LG... And then this scene happens and they play up that smirk and confidence and so now we have CLUES to say HOLY SHIT I BET THAT'S CXS. That would be a great setup! That would be exciting because it allows the audience to becomes more invested and engaged as they "pick up what the show is dropping" so to speak. The suspense is around the *anticipation*.

If they make it so that it wasn't LG himself, that would be, in my opinion, a huge breach of the audience's trust. There are so many reasons why it being Lu Guang is important in terms of audience satisfaction and expectation:

The emotional thread tying the show together has always been LG and CXS's relationship, and they've made a point of showing how protective LG is of CXS already.

Despite that, there hasn't been much communication between the two this season despite all the insane plot events that have been happening - this becomes a gap the audience is dying to have filled.

The fact that they've shown LG being suspicious this entire season, which is setting up expectations that LG does indeed know something and that he's going to do something unexpected.

Even if LG hadn't been set up as knowing something about this ahead of time, the suspense and mystery of his background means the audience is waiting for that moment when the story will finally dig into that.

In terms of action, LG hasn't gotten many moments to shine this season yet compared to the others - makes sense since he's (supposed to be) bedridden, but it means the audience is also going to anticipate or be excited about him getting a chance to be the center of the action or plot.

Given all of that, it would be incredibly cruel and bad storytelling (nearly on the level of killing LG off in the first place) if they turned around and removed that agency from LG and revealed it was never him. That kind of yanking around of the audience's feelings would be really, really dissatisfying. Despite all the missteps I personally feel the show has made in storytelling this season by creating hype and suspense through misdirection and questionable pacing choices, I really hope that they're not so hellbent on that vision of their story that they'll make this kind of error.

[allgremlinart]

yeah I know this piece of media has a ton of themes and motifs but like. is it entertaining and coherent ? because if it fails to be engaging or coherent I cant actually consider it the triumph you say it is, but, well. I AM on the themes and motifs website, so please start writing my obituary

[shorthaltsjester]

taliesin and laura remain truly so fantastic at making characters who… don’t necessarily have something extremely and inherently in common but do have experiences that were caused by similar sources and that lead them to have quite different opinions/ideas about things but in ways that are typically very reconcilable? which is a lot of qualifiers but it’s a through line of vex/percy with nobility, jester & cad with loneliness (and also god stuff but in a different post maybe someday i’ll talk about how actually their god stuff is intensely related to their different experiences of loneliness), and now imogen & ashton with being left behind.

like vex was this character who technically had a claim to nobility due to her blood but at the same time was burdened because of that same claim. and percy who was born into and raised by nobility but that nobility ended up making his family the targets of a massacre. and then vex who lets down her walls and Do I Look Like I Come From Money? and percy giving her the title grand mistress of the grey hunt because it has nothing to do with blood, or his love for her, or anything aside from the fact that it’s something she can prove herself worthy of simply by virtue of who she Is, not who someone makes her. and percy and vex’s conversation about forgiveness and it’s necessity for growth as probably two of the characters most inclined to hold grudges.

and caduceus clay who gets left behind with nothing but his Belief while his family goes off into the world. and jester lavorre who gets shut inside with no company except her Belief as her mother protects her from the world. and they both get the burden of loneliness and the understanding of love’s nonmalicious imperfection. and caduceus having a panic attack on a ship and jester telling him that the world is a lot bigger than his cemetery and that means he has to break out of his comfort zone to find his path. and caduceus telling jester that he doesn’t think she gets as much credit as she ought to and she deserves more pastries. and jester thanking caduceus for showing her how cool it is to actually heal people and caduceus asking if she wants to use his shield while he doesn’t need it.

and ashton who was left broken and dying on the ground and was given inescapable pain as their means of survival. and imogen who was left behind by the only person who could provide true understanding of the pain she’d one day come to feel. and ashton who’s a barbarian, who wields their rage casually and unapologetically and who sees the Shittiness of the world but is unrelenting in his version of optimism. and imogen who is weighed down by pessimism she doesn’t Want to have but hasn’t cracked how to undo and who doesn’t admit her anger until it comes up again and again and again and carries it like a burden or like guilt, who we only see really Grasp and feel Confidence about her anger being something good in front of others when she has those conversations with ashton. and like. ashton who looks at imogen and sees a superhero. imogen venturing through ashton’s mind and holding his bleeding and exhausted head and saying i’m sorry. i’m sorry. and imogen who looks at ashton and sees someone special. and fucking “we got him killed.” and “no, we didn’t. don’t you dare. […] we are not what fucking killed that man. […] we are his eventual victory. we are his fucking revenge.” and “i’ll be his revenge.” and “i have no fucking doubt.”

and in general rp wise they both tend to make some of my favourite characters (also typically the ones i find most frustrating) because they both tend to make flaws that are easy to hate and they make those flaws very central to their characters but i think that’s also what makes their character interactions so deeply compelling because so frequently it’s like. yes yes these two characters have like. a helix of things they have in common but also things they deeply disagree on but they’re going to spider-man point at the things that are the same and they’re going to honour their differences while doing so. and it’s just. i always enjoy it so much and i was psyched when i heard about an imogen and ashton side pit stop in last nights episode and i was not let down when i watched the episode today.

[kimboo-york]

Serial Beats for Long Stories

My book Become an Unstoppable Storyteller: How to Craft Compelling Serials was based on the work I did creating this spreadsheet. It's free to copy and use for yourself, no need to buy the book! (But I'd love it if do buy the book!!!!)