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Mythcreants frequently uses movies and shows to discuss storytelling techniques. However, videos and books are different mediums that come with their own storytelling trade-offs, not to mention different technical implementation. Let’s go over six important differences. Read more »
The latest Star Wars trilogy is what happens when two directors get in a slap fight and the production company does nothing to stop them. Left with nowhere to take the last movie, J.J. Abrams strung together a plot that’s best described as “let’s make … read more »
Stories are great for taking us to extraordinary places, showing us compelling characters, and teaching important lessons. But what about stories within those stories? After all, it would only make sense that the characters would want their own tales of extraordinary places and important lessons. … read more »
One of the phrases that’s been popularized in online storytelling discussions in recent years is the “sexy lamp test.”* This test is applied to a female character to judge whether the storyteller has given her an adequate presence in the story. A character fails the … read more »
Additional viewpoints are a valuable tool for storytelling, but they are drastically overused. Careless use of multiple viewpoints is so common that most writers would do better by using only one. However, since it’s obvious that writers won’t stop using extra viewpoints anytime soon, let’s … read more »
When we review a manuscript for content editing, we can usually tell what the writer is passionate about. Unfortunately, many manuscripts have a mismatch between what the writer loves and what the story needs. That creates serious problems in a creative work. We don’t tell … read more »
It can be tricky to take a protagonist from blissfully ignorant to embroiled in a tense conflict between secret factions. That’s probably why I’ve encountered many manuscripts where a mysterious kidnapping or murder takes place and then a mentor shows up and tells the hero … read more »
A lot of things can go wrong with a story’s beginning, and one of the most common problems is that it’s just boring. Instead of grabbing readers, the beginning slowly meanders around waiting for the story to start. Even if the narrative picks up later, … read more »
Every member of Team Good should help save the day. But the larger your ensemble cast is, the trickier it can be to make sure everyone is contributing. When a protagonist doesn’t pull their weight, they end up feeling superfluous at best and annoying at … read more »
Sometimes, the reactions we assign to characters in the outline stage don’t feel natural when written out. In these cases, it can be difficult to judge whether planned character behaviors are unrealistic or the storyteller just isn’t in the right mindset. Since character choices can … read more »