As THE STORY SPOT grows, it seems to be a good idea to collect here, for you, a list of our posts covering the “essentials of story” and more. Many of these also happen to be some of our most popular posts.
We hope these are helpful to you as you create and collaborate on your own stories. We encourage you to add your comments to so that your thoughts and impressions might be of use to others.
Thank you for visiting. Enjoy!
dianejwright and all of us here at THE STORY SPOT
STORY BASICS
- The Logline: Your New Best Friend
- Five Ways to Tame Your Logline
- Outlines, Treatments, & Pitches
- Drama! Dramatize. Dramatic.
- Plot vs. Story
- Ground Rules: Set Them Early
- Characters for an Epic Tale
- Special Guest: Michael Hauge on the Prologue
- Focus on the Protagonist
- Is Your Hero Sympathetic and What the Heck Does That Mean?
- Creating a Formidable Antagonist
- “More on Villians” on What It’s Like
- Throughline & 2nd Act Sag
- Special Guest: Author Blake Snyder on The Midpoint
- Suspension of Disbelief
- Characters Everyone Loves to Hate
- Gestures Illustrated
- Creating Emotion. There IS a Better Way
CREATIVITY & THE PROCESS
- New Writers! Be Unafraid! 10 Tips for Diving In
- Children Are Brilliant. Weren’t You?
- Your First 10 Scripts
- Cory Doctorow’s Tips for Finishing Your Writing Projects
- Writer’s Block Busters
- Five Tips for a Killer Rewrite
- Breaking It Down: Improving Your Scripts
- Story Consulting 101
- Collaboration: Five Ways to Make It Work
- Five Ways to Hone Your Focus in the New Year
- Special Guest: Jim Cirile on Your Agent Relationship
THE BIZ
- How to Be a Script Reader and Give Great Coverage
- Back to Basics: The Query Letter
- Before You Send That Query
- Indie Scripts vs. Studio Scripts
- Story in Memoir
- Story Dwelling: The Emotional Future of Video Gaming
There are more posts to explore! Start with our SPOT ON menu at the top left (under our logo). We love suggestions of topics you’d like to read about. CONTACT US and let us know what’s on your mind.
