Storytelling tips

 The other day my teacher played a Ted Talk for us about storytelling. Andrew Stanton was the speaker. He talked about a few different key tips to making a good story, Ive decided to write them down and explain them so i can use them for my storyline creation process. These have opened some new ideas for me and my project so i wanted to share and elaborate on them!

He started off by establishing that making a good story is about making the audience care. I have to hav a story and start it off in an eye catching manner so they grow curiosity and continue watching to figure out whats going to happen next in my story line. Making the audience care about what you created is key. Then he talked about the "Unifying theory of 2+2". This theory basically consist of giving the viewers/audience a formula but not a product (give them 2+2 not =4). You can't just hand someone the storyline straight out, you have to develop it through story telling in a dialogue manner or in a cinematic manner. You don't want to spoon feed the audience, you have to keep things up in the air, leave topics up to interpretation, etc. The third tip he presented was giving your characters spine. A spine for your character is basically an underlying goal that pushes the character to make the decisions they do. Sometimes the character might not even notice that their actions are being motivated by that goal but it will always be there. This tip helps in stories for character development. 

"Use what you know, Draw from it"- Andrew Stanton. To create a good story, it is incredibly useful to take from your real life. This tip is so important for when i finish developing my story due to my genre being coming of age, I've explained before how this genre revolves around relatability. People love coming of age because they see themselves in real, raw, unique characters. I have to take from my real life and put it on paper because its what i know best. I know what its like to live and thats why using what i know and drawing from it is so useful especially when it comes to my project. Andrew also mentioned how there are only guidelines in story telling, theres no rules. This genuinely has opened a new eye for me because starting this project i low-key felt like i need to be following a specific rule book for this project. I feel like i have been a little restricted mentally when it come sot creating a story but this ted talk has helped me start to develop my storyline in a more efficient and more creative form.