Building Size (Changing Scope)

This technique holds audience interest by revealing the true size of something over the course of the story until it can be seen to be either larger or smaller than it originally appeared. This makes things appear to grow or diminish as the story unfolds.

Conspiracy stories are usually good examples of increasing scope, as only the tip of the iceberg first comes to light and the full extent is ultimately much bigger. The motion picture All The President’s Men illustrates this nicely. Stories about things being less extensive than they originally appear are not unlike The Wizard Of Oz in which a seemingly huge network of power turns out to be just one man behind a curtain.

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(Excerpted from the book, 50 Sure-First Storytelling Tricks)

Trick 5

Building Importance (Changing Impact)

In this technique, things not only appear more or less important, but actually become so. This was a favorite of Hitchcock in such films as North By Northwest and television series like MacGuyver. In an episode of The Twilight Zone, for example, Mickey Rooney plays a jockey who gets his wish to be big, only to be too large to run the race of a lifetime.

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(Excerpted from the book, 50 Sure-First Storytelling Tricks)

Trick 4

Message Reversals (Shifting Context to Change Message)

When we shift context to create a different message , the structure remains the same, but our appreciation of it changes. This can be seen very clearly in a Twilight Zone episode entitled, Invaders, in which Agnes Moorhead plays a lady alone on a farm besieged by aliens from another world. The aliens in question are only six inches tall, wear odd space suits and attack the simple country woman with space age weapons. Nearly defeated, she finally musters the strength to overcome the little demons, and smashes their miniature flying saucer. On its side we see the American Flag, the letters U.S.A. and hear the last broadcast of the landing team saying they have been slaughtered by a giant. Now, the structure didn’t change, but our sympathies sure did, which was the purpose of the piece.

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(Excerpted from the book, 50 Sure-First Storytelling Tricks)

Trick 3

Meaning Reversals (Shifting Context to Change Meaning)

Reversals change context. In other words, part of the meaning of anything we consider is due to its environment. The phrase, guilt by association, expresses this notion. In storytelling, we can play upon audience empathy and sympathy by making it like or dislike something, only to have it find out it was mistaken.

There is an old Mickey Mouse cartoon called Mickey’s Trailer which exemplifies this nicely. The story opens with Mickey stepping from his house in the country with blue skies and white clouds. He yawns, stretches, then pushes a button on the house. All at once, the lawn roll up, the fence folds in and the house becomes a trailer. Then, the sky and clouds fold up revealing the trailer is actually parked in a junkyard. Certainly a reversal from our original understanding.

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(Excerpted from the book, 50 Sure-First Storytelling Tricks)

Trick 2

Red Herrings (Changing Importance)

Red herrings are designed to make something appear more or less important than it really is. Several good examples of this technique can be found in the motion picture The Fugitive. In one scene a police car flashes its lights and siren at Dr. Kimble, but only to tell him to move along. In another scene, Kimble is in his apartment when an entire battalion of police show up with sirens blazing and guns drawn. It turns out they were really after the son of his landlord and had no interest in him at all. Red herrings can inject storytelling tension where more structurally related weaving may be lethargic.

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(Excerpted from the book, 50 Sure-First Storytelling Tricks)

Trick  1

Building Size (Changing Scope)

This first technique holds audience interest by revealing the true size of something over the course of the story until it can be seen to be either larger or smaller than it originally appeared. This makes things appear to grow or diminish as the story unfolds.

Conspiracy stories are usually good examples of increasing scope, as only the tip of the iceberg first comes to light and the full extent is ultimately much bigger. The motion picture All The President’s Men illustrates this nicely. Stories about things being less extensive than they originally appear are not unlike The Wizard Of Oz in which a seemingly huge network of power turns out to be just one man behind a curtain.

Don’t wait!  Get all 50 tips right now!

In Paperback or for your Kindle

For many writers, an incredible number of good ideas are lost simply because they aren’t written down. That great concept you were sure you couldn’t possibly forget five minutes ago has now become nothing but the feeling that it was absolutely fantastic, but the memory of exactly what it was is gone forever.

With all the social media and personal electronics available, there’s always a place to take a simple note, even if it is just to text message to yourself. That idea may never go anywhere by itself, but if you have it at your fingertips it may lead to an even better notion or become part of a larger development or even show up as a line of dialog for one of your characters.

Remember – ideas – really interesting ideas – aren’t available on demand. They come when they want to and vanish just as easily if you don’t take the time to document them even if you are in the middle of some other pressing activity of everyday life.

Writing isn’t just about putting words on a page. It is about having something valuable to say. When a thought worth having enters your mind, don’t let it escape before you get its number so you can call it back later.