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Read the Science Fiction Thriller

From the founder of Storymind

Man Made follows a mysterious force as it sweeps around the globe erasing anything man made - from buildings, vehicles, and technology to medicines, clothing, and dental work.

Governments stagger under the panic, religions are at a loss for an explanation, scientists strive for any means to stop or divert the phenomenon, and the world’s population from families to individuals struggle to prepare for The Event, which will drive humanity back beyond the stone age.

The Event is coming.

Are you prepared?

Copyright Melanie Anne Phillips


Storymind

Free Writing Resources

Introduction


Over the last twenty-five years, I’ve written thousands of articles on story structure and storytelling.  Here, I’ve gathered together a few of the best on the topic of storytelling.  I hope you find them illuminating in concept and practical in application.


Table Of Contents


Trick 1 - Building Size (Changing Scope)


Trick 2 - Red Herrings (Changing Importance)


Trick 3 - Meaning Reversals (Shifting Context to Change Meaning)


Trick 4 - Message Reversals (Shifting Context to Change Message)


Trick 5 - Building Importance (Changing Impact)


Trick 6  Non-Causality (Out of Context Experiences)


Trick 7 - Out of Sequence Experiences (Changing Temporal Relationships)


Trick 8 - Flashbacks and Flash Forwards


Trick 9 - Designing Your Plot – Multi Appreciation Moments


Trick 10 - Revealing Your Goal


Trick 11 - Genre: Revealing Your Story’s Personality


Trick 12 - Character Dismissals


Trick 13 - Introducing Characters in Act One


Trick 14 - The Big Picture


Trick 15 - The Collective Goal


Trick 16 - Characters’ Personal Goals


Trick 17 - Don’t Forget the Requirements!


Trick 18 - Creating Extra Tension with Consequences


Trick 19 - Success or Failure?


Trick 20 - Writing from a Character’s Point of View


Trick 21 - Fire Your Protagonist


Storytelling Tricks For Novelists



Trick 22 - Novels Aren’t Stories


Trick 23 - Get Into Your Characters’ Heads


Trick 24 - Keep A Daily Log Of Tidbits

Trick 25 - Don’t Hold Back


Storytelling Tricks For Screenwriters


Trick 26 - Screenwriting 101


Trick 27 - Teaser

Trick 28 - Remember your audience

Trick 29 - Don’t be overly literary in your scene description

Trick 30 - Don’t get stuck in a genre trap

Trick 31 - Use “Tracking Dialog”

Trick 32 - Find interesting and believable ways to drop exposition

Trick 33 - Don’t preach

Trick 34 - Give your Main Character a personal issue as well as a goal to accomplish

Trick 35 - Characters don’t have to change to grow

Trick 36 - There are many kinds of ending

Trick 37 - Use index cards to work out the scenes in your script

Trick 38 - Break up long monologs among several characters

Trick 39 - Use “Red Herrings”

Trick 40 - Don’t say it if you can show it

Trick 41 - Drop exposition through arguments

Storytelling Tricks for Multi-Story Ensemble Series and Soap Operas

Trick 42 - Subplots

Trick 43 - Relationships of Subplots to Plot

Trick 44 - Multi-Story Formats

Trick 45 - Stretching Time

A Grab Bag of Tricks for All Media

Trick 46 - The Rule of Threes

Trick 47 - Avoiding the Genre Trap


Trick 48 - Genre – Act by Act


Trick 49 - Genre: Revealing Your Story’s Personality


Trick 50 - Characters – The Attributes of Age




50 Sure-Fire
Storytelling Tricks


By Melanie Anne Phillips
Creator of StoryWeaver

Read it here for free!

 Also available in Paperback
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