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Many silent movies and stories without dialogue manage to create powerful connections with their public. I'll even say most of my favorite stories have very noticeable, deeply emotional scenes without dialogue. While I understand they are not the most common, and they are clearly not easy, I don't think they should be simply dismissed. Being too categoric and rigid is also a sin, in my opinion.

What about just straight up logical causality?

Great video. Appreciate your attitude towards structure. I'm a fan of StoryGrid too because it's so specific and descriptive--I just think it takes it too far, trying to turn art into science. However, for an amateur like me trying to understand the building blocks to a great story, it's super helpful. Thanks for boiling down all the silly terms into simple concepts!

Regarding ClickUp - For what it's worth, I run a small accounting firm, and ClickUp is super helpful. Haven't used it for my writing yet... Maybe it's about time.

YES! That rap was good by itself. Add in the video pieces and it's *kisses fingers* Keep up the great content =)

I knew a kid back in the day named Douglas Douglas Douglas. Full legal name.

1.5x on that intro kinda goes crazy

I do lots of research into most of my names. I have 2 protagonists that are twins in one of my stories. I named them Taiwo and Kehinde. Those names respectively mean the first and second twin, the first to taste the Earth and the one who fell behind. The culture that their world borrows from is the Yoruba people’s culture. So I researched Yoruba names. Funny thing, I picked Yoruba at random cause I thought it was an interesting culture, but it turns out they have an absurdly high twin birthrate! Their culture has a lot of beliefs and traditions around twins!

This is such good advice! Keep it written down for a book!

I still have my fear Stanley and the adventures he went on with my grandma. Treasured memories

I already committed two sins lol. But... I'm wondering if there are exceptions? For instance, my opening chapter has a character exploring a terrifying landscape all by himself (it's a horror story). There's no one for him to talk to, except monstrous shadows steadily creeping in on him. He's not the type of dumbass to yell 'HELLOOOOOO? Is anyone there????' 🤣Nor is he the type to 'egg-on' any enemies or tell them to back off. He's a very calculative and even cold man who keeps to himself and only speaks when it's necessary for him to speak. In fact, his entire character arc revolves around him being less indifferent, less cold, and more in tuned with his humanity. I feel if I add in dialogue at this opening, all for the sake of fulfilling a dialogue quota, it might undermine the sharp contrast between that opening scene and its conclusion, since everything eventually comes to full circle and he returns to that dreadful place (but now as a changed man).

"Paul Atreides fantastic surname" More like greek mythology XD

😂 Your going to go far kid

I've read tim grahls book where he apparently follows all of the storygrid's precepts, and oh boy was it terrible. Truly one of worst written books I've ever read. The only good thing i had to say about it was that it was extremely readable and fast paced lol

I read a book with no dialog. It was told between letters. diary entries and personal memories. I thought it was great. But I also think it's the exception to the rule.

Not a big fan of the story grid. While there's obviously a lot of sound advice in there (i.e. he certainly knows his shit), there are two major flaws. a) ironically the book is terribly structured and desperately needs an editor; it constantly seems to be moving somewhere but never lives up to the promise, and doesn't even provide the so-called obligatory scenes for each genre that it suggests are essential; b) it's probably the most dogmatic book on writing I've ever read. Sure, you could argue there are things that you need to follow but the approach here is very much one of "my way or the highway" and it contains a whole lot of rules and regulations and checkboxes to follow to make sure everything is pristine according to his guidelines. It really takes a lot of the fun out of writing and editing. Much prefer e.g. Vandermeer's Wonderbook, which is quite a wild ride and emphasises the need for hard work, creativity & keeping the spark alive beyond all else and recommends various different ways of working with plot & structure, depending on the novel's needs.

These are sins only in the hands of inept writers. McCarthy, McMurtry, and a host of others all use varying levels of Psychic distance. I do take your point about scenes though. So much contemporary writing (especially fantasy) is full of 'filler'.

Meanwhile guy gavriel kay will have one chapter with single hyper close POV and then a chapter where he narrates the thoughts and history of 20 different characters.

I have pro-writing aid and I like it a lot. The only problem is that it sometimes wants you to correct dialogue that by it's very nature is ungrammatical. I heard that you can adapt it to your genre and your readership. My Readership is middle school kids and it would be wonderful if there was some way to adapt it to that. On th subject of planning: I was a discovery writer and I was structurally unsound, so I am changing my writing method and need to learn to plan. My current book which is at the beginning of the second draft, needs to be carefully planned. It's not easy adapting to a new methos, but it's got to be done.

Please don't take this as a criticism, but your cover and title for your talking dogs novel suggest that it's a Middle Grade story. I know because I am a middle grade writer. I have to know what's suitable for my audience i.e. The right cover and the right title is important for the target audience as you say. It's the first impression that counts.

Please don't write first person like WIll of the Many. Write interesting characters who flavor their prose, use the mechanisms of first person in interesting ways, and don't walk us throuhg basic thoughts constantly because you feel you have to prove your character is smart. We dont' need all the introspection all the time. When a character puts every thought on the page, it takes the responsibility of thinking in the characters head out of the readers hands. It kills subtext, and makes for a really awful read. If you avoid this style of dumping all the thoughts on the reader, when the character does introspect, then it hits harder. You can have close psychic distance and not be so obnoxious. Also the idea that good stories don't vary psychic distance is silly.

I've struggled to get a handle on Psychic Distance. I understand the need for consistency but there's also the issue not needing to know every little thought the character has. There's also the issue of holding back information for a later reveal. For example, Robert Jordan did this with Rand and I don't know if that was a psychic distance sin or not. (I'm hazy on remembering the details but something along the lines of Rand holding a small statue, patting it, and thinking "not yet. but soon." We don't find out what Rand's plan with that statue is until multiple books later. But clearly Rand was thinking about his plans. Jordan withheld that info from us. Sin? Or good foretelling?

I think Psychic Distance can vary. It's like choosing between a long shot and a close up: one focal length isn't the best for every scene, or even every beat. I also vary PD by character. I write multi-POV, and some characters are very in their head, and we're in there with them. Others are less introspective and the 'camera' maintains a distance. But even with the introspective character, the PD varies: we get his thoughts when they are needed and/or interesting. We don't want to hear his inner monolog non stop.

Well... 1:07 - now I really DO feel demoralized! ;)

One thing about Psychic Distancing that I think might not be entirely true, is that changing it is a death sentence. Now, don't misunderstand, I'm not saying that you should ever go from not being in a character's or casts' head, to being there, that is bad. Rather, I'm saying that if you are distanced from your characters' heads, but on occasion let a small amount of their thoughts into the prose in a way that's not even entirely changing which distance you're using, but just giving some insight to the scene or situation that they're in, it can actually read pretty well in my opinion. In my own writing, I mostly stick to the first level where you don't get to see inside the characters' heads--except for one specific character who is suffering PTSD, survivor's guilt, and general trauma, his head is pretty open for the reader, albeit in a way that's written more as if a third character suddenly appeared in the room--but I occasionally allow some bit of the next level to slip in by describing an emotion or feeling--physical or mental--that is an objective reality of what is happening in the scene. For example, a character in my story smells the iron scent of blood, and I write it as if somehow my narrator knows that must be true, not because we have a direct line of access to their thoughts, just that within the scene there is blood every, so anyone would be able to smell that. Perhaps I am entirely wrong about this, but for now I will maintain that it's not the end of the world, and can even be a benefit or advantage, to let bits and pieces of the other forms of Psychic Distancing slip into whichever form you chose to use.

Those are not sins, but tools. Tools are never bad. You don't need dialogue to understand thought process of character in writing. You can go inside his head and know what he is thinking about on any topic. In a movie almost always you need dialogue for that. If I remember correctly you can see exception of it in Seventeen Moments of Spring, where thought process of main character is heard by viewers (it makes it boring, because it is a motion picture; in book it could be fun).

Beginning writers have terrible Processing Language. Almost any story can be done if the writer has decent processing language.

Agreed. As living Beings, we live inside our heads, which is our ultimate perspective of ourselves and the world we live in. Nothing can be closer than First Person Perspective.

As someone who grew up on anime and manga culture for the longest, and never followed Hollywood, I never really felt my stories fitting into traditional Western structures like The Hero's Journey, yet I still tried forcing my stories to fit because it the was the golden stardand. But after I discovered about Kishotenketsu it was a game changer. I personally love slice of life animes. There aren't big conflicts, there aren't villains to be defeated nor a quest to be completed. It's just people living their lives and interacting with one another and the setting. I love this. My all time favorite anime Natsume Yuujinchou is like this, it's full of beautiful messages in each episode, and every episode is very 'episodic', meaning it wraps up nicely in that short 23 minutes. Slice of Life has an umbrella subgenre called "yashikei" (lit. healing). And even another one which is called 'slow life' that's present in lots of portal fantasy animes (isekai), it's basic premise being about a salaryman or woman dying from overworking (because that's a big issue in Japan) and being summoned or reincarnating in a fantasy world where they can live a truly 'slow' life, be farmers, be a noblewoman, whatever. There are so many animes and mangas with this plot at the point of being a cliche already. And again and again I'm still hooked on them. So, now I use kishotenketsu for my stories as well. I stopped caring about chasing that Hollywood golden standard. Instead of stressing over finding my protagonists "dark moment of the soul" moment, I can truly focus on the characters and their interactions. I can focus on theme and deliver powerful messages just like Natsume Yuujinchou has inspired me. And honestly... I'm happy, for once, with what I write.

I bought McKee's Book per your recommendation. The history of Dialogue was informative. When I study a craft book, I first skim it to get a feel for the content. Reading a book of this nature takes a lot of intense concentration. I'm almost eighty years old. This book floored me with Depth and Content. I have a lot to learn. Now I know what to do. Thank You.

A few months ago I decided to restart all of my stalled WIPS, and now they're all called "[Story Name] - Garbage Draft".

Ai art is stealing other peoples work and making something with the data Did you read it? *stealing* how would you feel if someone stole your book ideas and used a robot to make something worse?

5:11 I immediately thought of this. I saw the movie "The Snowman" starring Michael Fassbender, a grisly murder mystery, but when they introduced the main character's name as Harry Hole, I was like.... are you serious?

19:40 Did you say... re-occurring...

Alright, the intro was hilarious. I don't know if you were going for funny, but it's simultaneously hilarious and helpful.

Dudeeee, the start is absolutely beautiful 😂

Or, alternatively write a complicated plot with many characters and subplots. Other ways of writing stories and novels are available.

Stopped at about 2 min to thank and congratulate you. :helpless laughter: My god, the COMMITMENT

I almost entirely agree. That Molly bit was a bit much, I just added she's a hormonal teen to that. And I wouldve stopped if it kept going. The vision is a bit much, but it also kinda makes his character and gives a possibile answer to his "chivalry." Ghost was just filler and sucked, but Butcher made it feel like Chicago needed Dresden. And for the off page stuff, a recap or a warning to read the short stories woùld have been nice. That character death in 17 had me going... uhhh what. Felt like Sirus' death in HP. Parkour

Great. Just tools to understand stories. Names don't matter so much as knowing the guidelines to adapt them as one sees fit.

I frankly don't understand any plot framework. I just write, the story seems to flow, stuff happens.

very helpful vid but can you please stop using ai art?

Just drop the album already!

Fantastic opening song! That was fantastic! 🙂

I have signed up to click up. It will be useful in December when I retire from the day job and begin my full time author career.

I have no idea why it's a three act structure if the second act is half the story and has a midpoint break that could naturally split the second act into two acts. I just think of hit as four acts. The first act sets the protagonist up for a failure that forces them into accepting the quest. The second act shows our hero setting up a solution that avoids having to face their fears. Act three it all unravels into the end of their world. And in the fourth act, with nothing left to lose, they confront their fears and abandon the safe illusions they attempted to protect themselves with. For final structure, the Cat Beats work well for me.

This is the coolest writing and reading related intro I've ever seen!

BARS

OMG NOT THE CRINGE KING, I clutch myself so bad my arse turned inside out.