Narrative First
Subtext
Critiques based on inadequate understandings of narrative create great distress.
Greater specificity in how we look at story results in a greater understanding of how narrative truly works.
Structure is the carrier wave of your story’s message.
Clarifying horrifically bad information.
Knowing why structure functions clues one in on the importance of structure.
The base operating system of a character signals to the Audience why the Main Character behaves a certain way, expecting certain results.
Some prefer to take action, others prefer to internalize. Knowing which one clues Authors in on the kind of conflict their Main Charater faces.
All growth is not transformative; sometimes a character stands fast to their resolve in order to change the world around them.
When it comes to making your narrative mean something, a clear indication of the central character's point-of-view is paramount.
Archetypes consist of one Action and one Decision element.
In a complete story, characters perform a function.
A better method for appreciating character relationships exists.
The cliché of the century finds roots in human psychology.
Some characters grow by maintaining their resolve against all odds.
How a character thinks determines the order of Acts within a story.
Peaceful resolutions come in many different ways, regardless of how reprehensible.
An examination of a missed opportunity for story greatness.
A meaningful ending is one where the Author communicates a complete argument.
The combination of a successful outcome with an unresolved emotional state creates this bittersweet narrative.
The combination of a failed outcome with a sense of peace creates this bittersweet narrative.
Mix equal parts objective failure with subjective angst.
Meaningful endings are a result of orchestrating a compelling argument.
Visually stunning but lacking heart? It's not just one thing that is wrong, it's two.
For a narrative to enjoy lasting meaning, an argument must form the foundation of its structure.
What do Sean Penn’s _Into the Wild_ and M. Night Shyamalan’s _The Sixth Sense_ have in common? Much more than you would probably think.
But not every character needs to change their personal point-of-view.
Stories are as long as they need to be to fully explore the argument being made.
A look under the hood proves to be a tremendous waste of energy.
The event that creates the original inequity motivates the efforts to bring about resolution.
Influence Characters challenge the Main Character to deal with their justifications.
The seemingly crazy ways your partner looks at the world could help you better understand story.
Steadfast characters believe the same thing that drives them should drive everyone.
Narrative structure isn't always about the story--sometimes it can help an Author better understand their Audience.
Replacing one director with another resulted in competing storyforms--with different levels of scope.
A simple question you can ask to determine the thematic issues of your story.
The conspiracy to keep secret the hidden code of narrative structure.
The truth is out there. In this episode.
Exploring character arc in characters that don't "change."
Separate the perspective of the Main Character from the function of the Protagonist and open up an entirely new world of storytelling.
Break this relationship and your story falls apart.
A way to see character arc without the perspective of time.
Compare the end with the beginning to determine Resolve.
You know how great one tastes, but you probably don't know what goes into it.
When defining the structure of your story, who you are looking at and who you are looking from within matters.
Thinking in terms of Hero only is limiting.
Most story paradigms emphasize the amount of time spent on an Act over the more important order in which the Acts appear.
In order to clearly define the Goal of your story, define who the Audience roots for and make that side the Protagonist.
A simple way to look at the theory's eight essential dynamic story points of narrative.
