15 Rules of Storytelling

There’s no magic formula to writing but there are many tips and tricks. Check out these ones used by some of the best writers in the industry:

1. You admire a character for trying more than for their success.
2. You have to keep in mind what’s interesting to you as an audience not what’s fun to do as a writer.
3. Trying for a theme is important, but you won’t see what the story is actually about until you’re at the end of it.
4. Simplification is almost always better.
5. What makes your character comfortable? Now throw the opposite at them and how do they handle it?
6. Come up with your ending before you figure out your middle. The ending is the hardest part.
7. When you’re stuck, make a list of what wouldn’t happen next. Lots of times the material to get you unstuck will show up.
8. Look at stories you like and figure out why you like them.
9. Write everything down before you forget.
10. Discount your first idea — don’t write the obvious.
11. Give your characters opinions. Audiences hate passive characters.
12. If you were your character in this situation, how would you feel? Honesty lends credibility to unbelievable situations.
13. What are the stakes? Give us reason to root for the character. The bigger the odds, the more interesting it is.
14. Story is testing not refining. Sometimes the story needs to develop organically.
15. Coincidences to get characters into trouble are great; coincidences to get them out of it are cheating.