Curriculum

Storytelling

CHARACTERS

• Compile Dossiers for Your Characters 33
• Explore Characters’ Lives, Zone by Zone
• Find Your Characters’ ‘Desire Lines’ 49
• Use the Wheel of Archetypes 54
• Spin the Wheel of Archetypes

NARRATIVE

• Work in the Right Genre
• Give Your Story a Narrative Arc
• Structure Your Story, Moment by Moment
• Give Stories More Than One Arc
• Show Characters Hitting Brick Walls
• Nest Journeys Inside Journeys

THE WORLD OF THE STORY

• Create Small, Knowable Places
• Map the Character’s ‘Circles of Life’
• Use Place to Explain Character, Identity, and Ideas
• Place Stories in a Larger World

ACTION AND SCENES

• Depict Specific, Deliberate Actions
• Use Speech Acts to Propel the Story
• Build Actions into Scenes
• Create Mystery—Then Surprise the Reader

RHYTHM AND BEATS

• Use Beats to Move Stories Forward
• Use Beats For Descriptions
• Yo-Yo Scene and Summary

DETAILS

• Find Details By Looking Inside-Out
• Isolate Details to Make Big Points
• Use Status Details to Reveal Ego and Desire
• Put Details into Action

THE SENSES

• Help the Reader to See
• Help the Reader to Hear
• Help the Reader to Feel

WORDPLAY

• Tap Into Life’s Everyday Rhythms
• Use Metaphors and Similes to Orient and Disorient
• Play Improv with Words
• Remember that Good is Great

NUMBERS

• Use Ones to Highlight People, Places, and Issues
• Use Twos for Oppositions and Complements
• Use Threes to Reveal Dynamic Relations
• Use Lists to Show complexity

The Mechanics of Writing

SENTENCES

• Follow the Golden Rule for Sentences
• Give Every Sentence Clear Blasts
• Build Hinge and Roller-Coaster Sentences
• Alternate Short and Long Sentences

WORDS

• Use Simple Words, Almost Always
• Use Longer Words as Precision Instruments
• Use Active Verbs, Even to Describe Passivity
• Use the Verbs To Be and To Have . . . Only Rarely
• Avoid Bureaucratese and Empty-Calorie Words
• Avoid Aggressive Adjectives and Adverbs

PARAGRAPHS

• Make Every Paragraph an ‘Idea Bucket’
• Follow the Golden Rule in Every Paragraph
• ‘Climb the Arc’ in Most Paragraphs

COMPOSITION

• Make Every Piece a Journey
• Find the Right Shape
• Slot Your Paragraphs
• Make Transitions Lightly

Technical Procedures

GRAMMAR

• Make Sure the Parts of Speech Get Along
• Use Punctuation to Direct Traffic
• Select the Right Word, Not Something Close

EDITING

• Search and Destroy, From Big to Small
• Fix Problem Paragraphs With Tabloid Headlines
• Edit by Reading Aloud and Backward
• Murder Your Darlings

Analysis

STORYTELLING FOR ANALYSIS

• Narrate Complex Issues
• Use Beats to Make Arguments
• Use Cliffhangers to Drive Analysis
• Use the Senses in Arguments and Rhetoric
• Allow Ideas To Unfold, One by One

QUESTIONS AND BRAINSTORMING

• To Get Started, Spill Your Mind
• Combine This-or-That and W Questions
• Always Ask: What Causes What?

FRAMING

• Use Testimony of Experts and Others
• Consider Hypotheticals and Scenarios
• Find a Super Model to Guide Analysis

MAKING A CASE

• Climb the ‘Ladder of Abstraction’
• Identify and Operationalize Variables
• Crunch the Numbers
• Play the Game of Halves