I’m also a fan of what can be callled the stubbornness arc- when a character,‘after rejecting a premise, CONTINUES to reject that premise that they need to change, and instead dig in their heels despite the downfall it brings. Some characters don’t learn- if they don’t, show us why, and watch the fire burn.
@@M97V It's integer sequence A280864, aka the "cup of coffee" sequence, aka "Lexicographically earliest infinite sequence of distinct positive terms such that, for any prime p, any run of consecutive multiples of p has length exactly 2"
The belief model for character writing is really nice, especially because when a character is going through a change like zuko in atla, its because the character comes up against a cognitive dissonance in some form. Cognitive dissonance is a conflict of beliefs, and this seems to be the core to creating well written character growth
I love the way you explain things because you can verbalize and logically explain things that I stumble my way through with feeling. Like when I write I sit there and fiddle around with my outline until it "feels" right to me. But you can actually put words to how I feel. Great content! Big fan.
You mean instead of doing things intuitively, LocalScriptMan has multiple Templates based in some kind of logic to do his writing, which is very usefull.
actually I think you would chatter teeth and knock knees together and shout with a pointed finger - "G-G-GHOST!!" then run out of the mansion screaming
Sometimes I don’t learn anything new in your videos. Sometimes I do. But sometimes it’s more of a confirmation that I’m not doing things wrong. Today was a confirmation day.
@@youcantbeatk7006If it sounds like he’s repeating himself, it’s because his advice branches out from the same fundamental perspectives about storytelling. The human body has principles about it that apply to pretty much every system and subsystem, and Local’s beliefs about storytelling all come from similar principles about screenplay writing. Sure, it might not be as entertaining than coming up with different theories and angles every video, but I think he’s trying to pivot from entertainment to education. I kind of like that for every one of his videos I have a solid understanding of what his ideal end result is and where he’s coming from Edit- just want to be clear I’m not trying to be condescending or a dick. I apologize if it came off that way. I’m just trying to share my thoughts on your thoughts ykyk
@@TomEyeTheSFMguy Not when it's a video. If you need repetition to help you learn, watch the video again. Bro doesn't need to make 4 videos repeating the same advice, almost verbatim at times.
I saw a couple of your videos a while back but only more recently found you again. I've become obsessed. Your videos and advice has been instrumental in giving my creative writing another go after putting it off for months. For that, I just wanna say I appreciate these a lot and hope you continue making videos for a long time to come. No pressure lol.
the 3 act structure the 4 act strucutre (Ki-Sho-Ten-Ketsu) the 5 act structure the 7 act structure the 8 act structure (Pixar story spine) the 9 act structure (3x3 = 9) the 11act structure the 15 act structure ("save the cat" story beats) the 17 act structure ("the hero's journey" story beats) the 27 act structure (3x3x3 = "27 chapters") Rags to Riches (Rise) Riches to Rags (Fall) Rags to Riches to Rags (Icarus) Riches to Rags to Riches (Rebirth) Rags to Riches to Rags to Riches (Cinderella) Riches to Rags to Riches to Rags (Oedipus) [More in the comments]
I remember finding a video where a guy was trying to explain why kishotenketsu is the second coming of Christ, and it's why Japanese stories are better than Western ones, and blah blah blah. It's literally the same shit. I've been saying it for ages that story structures are observations not guidelines.
Rag-riches singularity ("And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O men of little faith?" Matthew 6:28-30)
That 4 part (not called "acts" at the time) breakdown predated the "three act" conception in the West. You'll find it in older books like William Foster-Harris's Basic Formulas of Fiction, where it was described as "situation, complication, crisis, and climax," and echoed by writers like James N. Frey who came up before the three act paradigm became standard in Western education around the 1960s. It just didn't get pushed out of favor in Japan like it did here. The three act breakdown can be so _unhelpful_ to aspiring writers, though, that finding a working alternative probably does feel like a religious vision.
Goal orientated plot 1. Set a goal 2. Plan for it 3. Train for it 4. Act on it 5. Hit an obstacle 6. Improvise 7. Succeed 8. Lessons learnt / epilogue Teamwork troubles plot 1. Set up 2. Obstacle 3. Fail due to poor teamwork 4. Argue about whose fault it is 5. Separate, try alone. 6. Fail alone, admit defeat 7. Fix teamwork (apologize) 8. Work together, succeed 9. Lessons learnt. "Careful what you wish for" plot 1. Life before the wish 2. The wish 3. Everything goes well (for a bit) 4. It backfired 5. Stubborn 6. Admit mistakes 7. Fix mistakes / undo wish 8. Lessons learnt. Every crime show 1. Find the body 2. Find clues 3. Follow a lead / find a witness 4. Find more clues 5. Solve the mystery 6. Final chase scene 7. Epilogue Every hospital drama 1. Find the patient 2. Run some tests 3. Attempt a treatment 4. Run more tests. 5. Eureka moment 6. Final surgery/ medication 7. Epilogue Every monster movie 1. Introduce the monster (lab escape, death in jungle, etc) 2. Introduce MC 3. Introduce side character №1 4. Introduce side characters №2+3+4... 5. Leave for adventure 6. The warning 7. Start adventure 8. Minor obstacle leads to minor mistake (Chekhov's gun) 9. Go deeper 10. Shit hits the fan. Split up. 11. Obstacle → attempt → failure → death → repeat 12. Regrouping reorganise. 13. Final showdown. Start. 14. Final twist (Chekhov's gun) 15. Final showdown. End. 16. After credits: The monster is still out there. BONUS Sub plot = the monster bleeds Sub plot = you slept with my wife! Sub plot = we need to save X Sub plot = you knew / were the mole.
@@youcantbeatk7006 while I agree that the hype is overblown, I think the big thing about Kishotenketsu is less about the act structure itself and more about the fundamentally different emotional focus that it has as compared to western traditions of storytelling. The idea of a "plot that fundamentally does not need conflict" is a very new perspective rich with fresh ideas when infused with Western conventions.
That advice about starting with an emotional roadmap instantly clicked! That's such a good idea, and it basically solves all my problems as a writer (okay, not all, not even close). I love writing for long stretches at a time, just getting really immersed in a story, but I immediately lose my drive if I've outlined the plot too much, but this frequently ends up in a mega-long, spiraling story with messed up pacing. How does _every single one_ of your videos have at least one critical piece of advice in it!? My writing has improved so much since stumbling across your channel, it's insane.
Referring to the Fibonacci Sequence as "You know, that frappucino spiral... or whatever." was your "you can't handle the truth" or "you complete me" moment. I bravely refuse to ever watch further lest it diminish the impact. That said, the rest was good too.
It's amazing how drastically i went from "oh god am i doing something inefficiently or badly with my story" to "oh no wait he's describing exactly what i'm doing as a good thing phew"
I've heard some writers describe the externalization vs belief thing as: want vs ghost The ghost being a wrong idea about how the world works or about themselves In Rocky's case the want would be "to live a normal life" and the ghost would be "bc im a loser I shouldn't aspire to more"
Had to stop the vid at 8:12 until I finished laughing. Your presentations are always a bright spot in a miserable world; the fact that they're informative (and so well presented) is just a bonus. I look forward to them more than you'll ever know. 🙏
Michael Arndt has the most comprehensive breakdown of the thematic function of major story beats I've ever come across. If you don't know, he wrote Toy Story 3 and Little Miss Sunshine. I was directed to his youtube channel from a comments section like this, and now I'm passing it on because he really is that useful.
thank you SO much for your comment, Michael Arndt's series is incredibly insightful and helpful. I am so grateful to you for leaving this comment here because it really broadened my horizons and gave me extremely valuable information. thank you!
Hey, a Macabre Storytelling reference! If you're looking for more fellow storytelling technique analyzers here, you may find the channel 'schnee' a good use of your time. He's done a lot of videos on Arcane, so it might be a good excuse for you to talk more about that show if you ever get inspired to make a video from one of his (or otherwise have thoughts to share in response to how he talks about storytelling). 3 suggestions to watch from his channel: - How Arcane Writes MORAL AMBIGUITY (9 Methods, 4 Rules) - How a GREAT Show Uses a BAD Character | ARCANE (Marcus Analysis) - How (NOT) To Write Madness | Arcane vs Game Of Thrones So glad you're making these kind of videos, man. Need more pushback against traditional schools of thoughts on storytelling methods (not that they're necessarily wrong or unhelpful, but they're not the only ways to approach writing stories, and for many they're more a force * against * us than practical means for us to do what we need to do to make our stories a reality), since they're often treated as dogma, when really they're supposed to be guides to help us write the stories we'd like to see.
I'm so glad the schnee is getting some rep here. I love watching his arcane videos. These 2 should collaborate sometime, I think it would be a really insightful video.
He has some great videos I like, especially The Repugnancy of Tony Soprano, but god his critique of The Last of Us Part II just feels like an incoherent rant.
Because of this video, I now have a rough outline of my 3 act structure for an episodic series I've been trying to write for 2 years with no clear direction forward and a basic layout of my protagonist's core motivations. Bro you rule! Thank you for the insight and inspiration! 🙏🏽😁
You, sir, are the only person I've ever heard who expresses an understanding of narrative that resonates with me. I've been developing my own mental models along these exact same lines, but you've clearly landed solidly on the ground I've been circling. Thank you.
A nugget of inspiration indeed. I’ve been developing a character, actually a series of characters based off of different (somewhat exaggerated) aspects of me. And I make them hate each other and then I use that to come to emotional clarity for myself since I have a chronic disconnect with myself, how I feel, and the validity and reasons for those feelings. So I use characters to bridge that gap (As I write this I add yet another item to my “do I have autism?” list.) But now those characters are less exclusively extensions of myself and I want to do things with them because they’re compelling to me. So they needs arcs. And I always have the best ideas when watching these videos. So thanks for helping things make sense!
Have you ever written a book about your writing theories? Because if not, you should consider it. This is incredible content. Also, I appreciate the dracula flow reference at the end.
There's actually a board game (if that's even the correct term) my friends and I enjoy playing sometimes called Microscope, where you basically establish a log line, beginning, and ending, then fill in the space between with ostensibly chapters and scenes. The key is that players have to take turns passing around the "focus", who gets to dictate what aspect of the story gets particular attention. It's always a blast and generates some really wild and interesting stories in that "exploratory vignette second act" way, highly recommend
Man, your videos are both funny and super smart. Like, way smarter than most youtubers and writers handing out writing tips. I'd love to see you poping out 1 hour long videos laying out your techniques and impressions. Anyways, keep up the good work mate!
I just wanted to say that this video in particular helped me crystalize and reframe a personal observation I used to hold. which boiled down too "Man I make for a terrible protagonist" and this really explained for me why I was wrong about that and that it's just I don't work as a arc based character. And yes I know characters are not people but experimenting with self insert fics was why I came to that conclusion. Great stuff, I really dig your "insights as entertainment" format your going for.
I always think a lot about 12 Angry Men when it comes to arcs and acts. I feel like it speaks really well to your idea of how a character should react to their core beliefs being challenged, i.e. anytime anyone says anything to Juror No. 3.The climax being his monologue where he fully rejects everything that's happened over the past 90 minutes, insists on his own beliefs, realizes what's at the root of his beliefs, and ultimately relents. I'm somewhat bummed that a decent number of vids have been deleted, but I completely understand the rationale. I wouldn't want people hearing my opinions on things from years ago too if I didn't still believe them.
I really like how you always deconstruct the rules of writing, or the lack thereof. I know some who have foregone story ideas they loved and fit in their narrative simply because it didn’t match a certain arc structure. Luckily, I never have such issues, as I follow the real teachings of William Hare Rose Jurnee.
“Keep on smoking them Sequoia Banshee boogers…” Is… is that from Dracula flow!? Besides that, I appreciate your content and giving your thoughts. The more I watch you, the more I want to write and put your advice to work. But I am definitely going to put that “sandboxing” method to the test. It sounds like more my style!
I would categorize the Boxer as one of those series of vignettes where the main character meets different perspectives on the thematic question (Minor spoilers ahead) The thematic question is, I think, "what is the purpose of life?" and while the final confrontation is between the nihilistic Yu ("life doesn't really have a purpose") and J ("to experience the beauty of the world") but we meet plenty of other perspectives in between ("to achieve personal excellence", "to be the best person" (a more narcissistic answer), etc)
6:50 i just came up with this on my own half a week ago for my main character and the side character with whom she gets introduced. It felt so liberating, everything just clicked into place somehow.
Thank you for this, I had quit gaming to write and I'm on a writing fever. I have an easy time creating worlds, plots, and twists but man, Characters are hard for me. Your videos are helping me better flesh them out so thank you.
I would argue that character beliefs (and all beliefs for that matter) can be broken down FURTHER into values. This character believes this because they value THIS. Then when those values clash or the character has to decide which value is more valuable, conflict can arise.
If you want more amazing perspectives on this style of writing the acts and structure, Craig Mazin dropped some straight gold on the John August podcast ep 403. Ironically, his deeper points didn’t fully hit me until I watched multiple of LocalScriptMan videos. Now my top two favs.
Every time you post I feel the itch to write more. Thank you so much for your incredible videos! Every single one has added value to y life and the storylines in my head have never been better
Thank you so much, im tired of other writing gurus telling me all characters need the same things to be interesting. To me its about what your story is about and if that arc falls in line with the story you wanna tell. All stories are different and not all great movies are great for the same reasons.
I’d love for you to talk about static characters as main characters, like Snow White etc. Also interesting writing stories: third graders have to be able to read any folktale, myth, or fable from any culture and discern its characters (and their traits), settings (both time and place), conflict (internal and external), solution, and theme (which is typically a lesson at this age). And they need to be able to do this by September. So I thought, since I like writing, what better way to get students to understand these story elements they’ve been studying than to have them use those story elements to write their own story. So we studied internal conflict (which I simplified as something you want that you don’t have) and external conflict (which I simplified as something that is stopping you from getting what you want) and we studied how conflicts and their solutions reveal whatever theme or lesson the author wants to teach. And then we started writing and something very interesting happened. Third graders have very interesting lessons to teach it turns out. Some examples of morals I’ve learned from their fables are: -beat up your enemies -be nice to everyone -listen to your mom but not your dad -don’t trust thieves -always change, never stay the same -steal Needless to say, I do not write the same anymore. And they all passed.
Thank you, thank you so much for your videos. They have been so helpful in giving me insight into how to make my ideas tangible. Yours are the only videos on writing where I actively pause the video because what you said prompted me to apply it to my story, like the practice section of a school textbook. This video alone made me step away for 15 minutes because I had a breakthrough about my midpoint and had to write it all down. Now I've got a core element to work towards in the first half and build off of in the latter. Thank you so so much. I know you get these comments a lot and I'm only adding to the pile but seriously, thank you. For something that means so much to me to the point it's sometimes the only reason I get up out of bed, thank you so so much for sharing your advice the way you do.
There's always such utility in your uploads for writers at large. I really appreciate that about what you try to create for the viewers. I'm not a screenwriter but even so, there's still a lot of value in your advice...and the secret MS Paint tutorials are always a solid bonus - wait, have I said too much?
This is probably the most useful video on character arcs I’ve come across. It’s clear, easy to follow with great examples and is helping my planing process of my writing a whole lot
I love your channel and videos! Sometimes I can get distracted during videos but you do a great job of keeping your topics interesting, still doing your own thing too. Thanks for your awesome advice!
“You know the Frappuccino spiral” Me: starts thinking their is some kind of social incident “Where the numbers are the sum of the two prior” Me: oh the Fibonacci sequence. Then I realize that’s the Frappuccino spiral you were talking about and I’m just a math geek
Holy cow, this is actually the best writing advice I've ever heard! it's exactly what I've been looking for ever since I got bit by the writing bug in middle school but which no creative writing class ever managed to impart.
I want you to know that this and other videos of yours have given me the help I needed to *actually* plot things. For the first time in *ever* I have something I can consider to be approaching a plot. I have a couple of barebones story beats. I have an arc or two. They're on the level of complexity of the examples you used (which is to say it's nowhere near the book I want to write) but the fact that it's anything at all has me so freaking jazzed. Thank you so much.
Finished this once, chewed on it for a minute or so. Almost immediately started it over, because something you’ve said has sparked this nagging ghost of a thought tickling at the back of my brain. And then, bam! Five minutes in, I’ve suddenly got this massive epiphany regarding one of my protags beliefs, lies, wants, the whole shebang. After that, everything shifts just a hair to the right, scenes and plot threads and characterizations and all these vague intuitions prodding me along now aligning themselves like this fucking beauty of a constellation, and suddenly I can see the beating heart of my story coming into focus. It’s been a pretty good day already, Local, but you just MADE it. Thank you so much for the help!
The satisfaction i got when i realized i wrote a story that included many of the things you mentioned without ever having watched this video or learned anything about act/emotional structures
LocalScriptMan needs to sell a course where he explains everything you need to write a good script in a step-by-step format. It’ll make him a lot of money, too. A course like that would be a dream come true!
It's amazing that you are able to put together this clear a deconstruction, with such confidence, at your age. Your YT character is coming along, too. It'll be very interesting to see your journey here over the coming years.
This is by far the video of yours that I've watched the most times, I would absolutely adore more content specifically on plots, story structure, arcs, emotional journeys, all that stuff. As a bookwriter instead of a screenwriter, I found a lot of your stuff to be applicable, this being probably the most.
What I hate about Half Face is that his eye would never, NEVER NEVER AS IN EVER work as normal as it does. Like, it just hangs there on the inner muscles but there is no eyelid at all, no supporting structure... It would never hold in line with the second eye!
This was really helpful! I write Visual Novels, and they have branching structures with multiple endings. It’s important to me that each ending exist as an emotional foil for the others, rather than just being defined by the presence of different plot points. It’s very fun to get to have your cake and eat it too, in that you get to explore the same story becoming tragic or heroic, based on how the protagonist approaches their own growth. Anyway, what you said about act one being an emotional status quo rather than just a world one is helping me to figure out how to handle the start of my story: even as plot events are progressing right off the bat, if my structure is based around EMOTIONAL development, the important foundations can be laid in how the protag is engaging with events, rather than the events themselves. Thank you for another insightful video!
When I was younger I had this story I loved. recently I've revisitied, and I have had so much fun, and have felt so good with what I've done, and i can tell a large part of it is stuff i have learned from this video, mainnly theme. the first story had tons and tons of plots and characters, and it was messy, but now I have a central theme and it has done a lot of good in making it all tell something I think is pretty frickin cool. So, thanks. Thanks for helping me love writing again 👍
10:18 There are other options. One option is that the character is undergoing multiple charater 'arcs' simultaneously and they go forward in some, but not others. They might even be influencing one another or be mutually exclusive. Another is that we don't get to see the resolution, the story builds up to a point and then cuts away before we can see it. Another is that it's left ambigious and audience members are divided/uncertain about how the character ended up. Another is that the 'main character' doesn't get an arc at all, but causes the 'supporting characters' to have one. This one is weird because now the 'main character' is the 'supporting character' so our vernacular breaks down, but in practice it works quite well (see paddington bear). And in fantasy and scifi there are even more options. Maybe the character is split into two, with two versions going in different directions. Maybe there is a time travel element, where to achieve their arc they must undo their arc etc etc.
I feel that when trying to use the concept of a narrative arc as a tool to help you write, these are all just the same types of arcs that he described, but with the narrative structure cropped differently around them.
All interesting ideas and points, but if you are trying to disprove something he said, you dropped the ball HARD. Undergoing multiple arcs is irrelevant to what constitutes an arc itself. Everyone will learn more than one thing in their life, and having multiple chances to change in different ways doesn't change the fact that there's just two types of arcs themselves. As he said, either there is change by the end or there isn't, and if one arc ends with regression, no amount of interaction with the other arc changes that. Not seeing the resolution doesn't mean there isn't one, and since the author knows what that resolution is, it's still the same story. The same goes for ambiguous endings, though if the writer him/herself doesn't have a clear cut idea for how the story ends, then it's not a real ending. If the main character doesn't have an arc at all, then it's a static character, something he acknowledged. If a character is split in two, it is now *two* separate characters, and if they have different arcs then they are separate. If they fuse back at the end, they become one character again. If there is a change in a different direction then it's the first example he gave, and if there isn't change then it's either a regression or static.
Just a thought. Bringing a character who had an arc into a story where they don't have one for the purpose of being a static supporting character. Maybe that someone is now a mentor character who shows the new hero what they can be at the end of their arc. Just a thought.
Really love these videos They're really useful for thinking about how character arcs work in a more practical way than some books I've read because you use some good clear examples You also have some incredibly funny charts lol Keep up the good work
Bro seriously wtf. I just used this shit and suddenly my whole story escalated so fast I had to write faster than ever before the ideas escaped from my adhd brain (I think I have it... maybe?). I suddenly had an actual reason why the fuck Im even write this shit, all around the main characters. Thanks a lot
Hey Local, please read to the end. I am aware that you want a consistent brand when it comes to your channel. You want to surpass hollow media criticism, and instead ascend beyond that to analysing media with a purpose. I respect that, and I agree with that, and I do fully understand and agree with the idea that your other videos like the Avatar ones for instance do clutter up your channel, and muddy the purpose of it. However, they are still relics of the early days off the channel, and as someone who's been here since 12k, I don't want your other videos to be lost media. What other channels in similar situations have done is that they have simply unlisted the videos. Not made them private, but unlisted them. That way the videos can only be found via link, search won't work, nor will entering your channel page give you the ability to view them. You could create a playlist that you put on your channel with all the videos on it in the playlist tab and title it "old videos" or something similar. The avatar videos are intensely fascinating to me, and I absolutely loved your perspective on them. It would be excellent if I could view them again.
Definitely agree I’ve been here awhile and I’ve watched through all his videos but I was insanely confused when I couldn’t find some vids. Reminds me of Mamamax when he removed a ton of his vids however they’re in an unlisted playlist now.
The Sopranos is an excellent example of "vignette" storytelling in the second Act if you could call it. The entire show is episodic and unlike Breaking bad, it doesn't feel planned from the beginning. The episodes are almost always are built up just to represent an obscure aspect of Tony's personality, a different perspective of a mafioso, small character development with one of the side characters, many of which are not central to the story as a whole yet provide an expansive perspective on the entire world they live in. Often times it feels like they think "what's an aspect of this world" and make it an episode.
Sir John Act-Structure may not have invented the act structure, but he did borrow heavily from the earlier writing of J. Earl Plot-Devise in his 1684 treatises on literature, and Duke S Machina's work in 1632 on how to save your hero from the corner you may have pointed them into.
Hi! Love your content! A refreshing take on the whole writing-advice channel genre! I love it so much. Small suggestion, during your MS-paint drawing scenes, make the background black, that way those scenes are in "dark mode", if you get what I mean. Or, you can do a funny and upload the same video twice in "dark" and "light" mode idk. It was just easier on my eyes when the background was black.
Thank you Local Script Man. Your videos always manage to give me inspiration and ideas, even when the ideas aren't related to the video I think it comes from the energy you bring
Marty McFly remains reactive throughout the entire first back to the future movie as far as i'm aware. After the midpoint, Lorraine asks him out to the dance, and he reacts by coming up with the plan for George to rescue her. Marvin breaks his hand, and he reacts by playing guitar on stage. Doc rips up the letter, and he reacts by going back 10 minutes early to warn him about the terrorists. The truth is action and reaction are such useless distinctions, everyone act is a reaction from a certain perspective. Why should that be a crux of how you write your story?
Bro your doodles and linework are deceptively appealing. All the spacings and the square brush. Don't think we don't see your art background seeping through
Funny, I just did a script using some of your channel advice and ended up figuring out and using a lot of this arc stuff before the video. Shows this stuff is something like a mathematical frame work I guess.
After watching this video, I now have 3 pages of A5 with a bunch of writing I feel confident with, and I thank you for the theories lining up my long planted ideas and personal theorising about story stuff. The problem whenever I line stuff up though is that once it’s done, I gotta do it all over again… man…
Dude, your videos are incredible man. Better than film school. I found your channel as I’m writing this ensemble feature and without you I’d be drowning. Sending some good vibes from Texas 👊
Your advice is fantastic. It's practically aligned with my perspective on writing (we must have similar sources), but your understandings allow me to draw new connections I hadn't before. Thank you.
this is the spiritual successor to the 'draw your shapes' rule from that old video, and like that old video this new one is just what i needed to get out of the block
every single video has had advice i needed. the whole fuckin catalog. ive rewatched almost all of your vids at least once. you are genuinely the best resource for writing on all of youtube
Th-the Krabby Patty secret formula..! Thanks for the breakdown, you really helped me understand a major struggle I have in my writing process. Feels like I can see the items I can aim for now when writing
So many people define a negative arc like “they embrace the lie they’ve been believing” and a positive arc like “they identify the lie and change”. What if it’s not a lie, what if it’s just another philosophy? I don’t like how so many authors feel they have to take sides by the end of their book. I try to present both sides as fairly as possible and make it clear that delineating the truth may not even be possible. I have my antagonists being 100% nihilists, wanting to tear down the lie that they believe meaning is, so everyone can see and embrace their truth. This may sound harsh but, they’re in an age where nihilism might be the most rational position and the people they kill mostly wanted death anyways. We’ve discovered everything there is to discover about the universe and physics, we’re trapped below light speed, petering out as a species. In this case, the optimist heroes trying to create change might very well be so forceful that they border on terrorism, cramming down hope on a people that hate hope. Maybe I will pick a side eventually, but I don’t feel I have to. The reader could pick their own sides. Technically, neither are demonstrably better in the real world so why must it be in fantasy?
Thanks for this video, dude, really appreciate it. Your ideas here are spot-on. Thinking more about core character beliefs as what drives a character is definitely brilliant. And, as you say, combining this with the central theme and creating characters as "branches" from the central theme, it really starts jelling as an awesome plot generating device. I run roleplaying games and this stuff is absolute gold for writing adventure and character-driven stuff. Thanks so much for your contribution. This has sparked so so many ideas for my games. :)
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@@NotEHcopCan you not read?
@@ginge641 is that read or read?
Now, imagine if I actually followed this advice rather than doing nothing at all 😢
Do it now. Put something on paper today
Just write dude
Just do it my guy
Do it bro. We believe in you!
GET YOUR MIND ON A GOOGLE DOCK RIGHT NOW, NO IS NOT AN OPTION
I’m also a fan of what can be callled the stubbornness arc- when a character,‘after rejecting a premise, CONTINUES to reject that premise that they need to change, and instead dig in their heels despite the downfall it brings. Some characters don’t learn- if they don’t, show us why, and watch the fire burn.
So kinda like Greek Tragedies
@@YEY0806 Some greek tragedies are about the character changing and the world no longer accepting them for that, leading to tragedy
W.W.
Election is a great story in which all of the characters behave like this!
that falls under the "type B" described in the video right
I love the Frappuccino sequence. 1, 2, 4, 3, 6, 8, 5, 10, 12, 9, 7, 14, 16, 11, and so on.
There are 3 people on the planet that will get this joke.
I’m two of them
what
I’m 6.
@@M97V It's integer sequence A280864, aka the "cup of coffee" sequence, aka "Lexicographically earliest infinite sequence of distinct positive terms such that, for any prime p, any run of consecutive multiples of p has length exactly 2"
SOMEBODY EXPLAIN THIS TO MEEEEEEEEEEE!!!
you're like the one person who gives actionable writing advice
The belief model for character writing is really nice, especially because when a character is going through a change like zuko in atla, its because the character comes up against a cognitive dissonance in some form. Cognitive dissonance is a conflict of beliefs, and this seems to be the core to creating well written character growth
I love the way you explain things because you can verbalize and logically explain things that I stumble my way through with feeling. Like when I write I sit there and fiddle around with my outline until it "feels" right to me. But you can actually put words to how I feel. Great content! Big fan.
You mean instead of doing things intuitively, LocalScriptMan has multiple Templates based in some kind of logic to do his writing, which is very usefull.
Me as a physicist, I would science the SHIT out of ghost. Omg that's what every scientist craves. Something that is really hard to understand. 🎉
actually I think you would chatter teeth and knock knees together and shout with a pointed finger - "G-G-GHOST!!" then run out of the mansion screaming
@@celebalert5616 initially sure. But jump scares are not what changes your character.
@@4984christian or are they...? (Vsauce theme)
Imagine LSMan reaches the end of act 2 and starts to upload complete opposite arguments to TH-cam
Sometimes I don’t learn anything new in your videos. Sometimes I do. But sometimes it’s more of a confirmation that I’m not doing things wrong. Today was a confirmation day.
Same though I do get a little tired when he keeps making videos with the same advice about themes over and over again.
@@youcantbeatk7006If it sounds like he’s repeating himself, it’s because his advice branches out from the same fundamental perspectives about storytelling. The human body has principles about it that apply to pretty much every system and subsystem, and Local’s beliefs about storytelling all come from similar principles about screenplay writing. Sure, it might not be as entertaining than coming up with different theories and angles every video, but I think he’s trying to pivot from entertainment to education. I kind of like that for every one of his videos I have a solid understanding of what his ideal end result is and where he’s coming from
Edit- just want to be clear I’m not trying to be condescending or a dick. I apologize if it came off that way. I’m just trying to share my thoughts on your thoughts ykyk
@@diego_wagnerEven from an educational respective, repeating yourself isn't helpful.
@@youcantbeatk7006 Actually it is.
@@TomEyeTheSFMguy Not when it's a video. If you need repetition to help you learn, watch the video again. Bro doesn't need to make 4 videos repeating the same advice, almost verbatim at times.
Dude, most useful writing advice I've ever seen and I don't write screenplays but novels.
Haven't finished the video but I'm sold
Hell yeah
You’re genuinely more of a help than my film school
I saw a couple of your videos a while back but only more recently found you again. I've become obsessed. Your videos and advice has been instrumental in giving my creative writing another go after putting it off for months. For that, I just wanna say I appreciate these a lot and hope you continue making videos for a long time to come. No pressure lol.
Thank you thank you. I will do my best
the 3 act structure
the 4 act strucutre (Ki-Sho-Ten-Ketsu)
the 5 act structure
the 7 act structure
the 8 act structure (Pixar story spine)
the 9 act structure (3x3 = 9)
the 11act structure
the 15 act structure ("save the cat" story beats)
the 17 act structure ("the hero's journey" story beats)
the 27 act structure (3x3x3 = "27 chapters")
Rags to Riches (Rise)
Riches to Rags (Fall)
Rags to Riches to Rags (Icarus)
Riches to Rags to Riches (Rebirth)
Rags to Riches to Rags to Riches (Cinderella)
Riches to Rags to Riches to Rags (Oedipus)
[More in the comments]
I remember finding a video where a guy was trying to explain why kishotenketsu is the second coming of Christ, and it's why Japanese stories are better than Western ones, and blah blah blah. It's literally the same shit. I've been saying it for ages that story structures are observations not guidelines.
Rag-riches singularity ("And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O men of little faith?" Matthew 6:28-30)
That 4 part (not called "acts" at the time) breakdown predated the "three act" conception in the West. You'll find it in older books like William Foster-Harris's Basic Formulas of Fiction, where it was described as "situation, complication, crisis, and climax," and echoed by writers like James N. Frey who came up before the three act paradigm became standard in Western education around the 1960s. It just didn't get pushed out of favor in Japan like it did here.
The three act breakdown can be so _unhelpful_ to aspiring writers, though, that finding a working alternative probably does feel like a religious vision.
Goal orientated plot
1. Set a goal
2. Plan for it
3. Train for it
4. Act on it
5. Hit an obstacle
6. Improvise
7. Succeed
8. Lessons learnt / epilogue
Teamwork troubles plot
1. Set up
2. Obstacle
3. Fail due to poor teamwork
4. Argue about whose fault it is
5. Separate, try alone.
6. Fail alone, admit defeat
7. Fix teamwork (apologize)
8. Work together, succeed
9. Lessons learnt.
"Careful what you wish for" plot
1. Life before the wish
2. The wish
3. Everything goes well (for a bit)
4. It backfired
5. Stubborn
6. Admit mistakes
7. Fix mistakes / undo wish
8. Lessons learnt.
Every crime show
1. Find the body
2. Find clues
3. Follow a lead / find a witness
4. Find more clues
5. Solve the mystery
6. Final chase scene
7. Epilogue
Every hospital drama
1. Find the patient
2. Run some tests
3. Attempt a treatment
4. Run more tests.
5. Eureka moment
6. Final surgery/ medication
7. Epilogue
Every monster movie
1. Introduce the monster (lab escape, death in jungle, etc)
2. Introduce MC
3. Introduce side character №1
4. Introduce side characters №2+3+4...
5. Leave for adventure
6. The warning
7. Start adventure
8. Minor obstacle leads to minor mistake (Chekhov's gun)
9. Go deeper
10. Shit hits the fan. Split up.
11. Obstacle → attempt → failure → death → repeat
12. Regrouping reorganise.
13. Final showdown. Start.
14. Final twist (Chekhov's gun)
15. Final showdown. End.
16. After credits: The monster is still out there.
BONUS
Sub plot = the monster bleeds
Sub plot = you slept with my wife!
Sub plot = we need to save X
Sub plot = you knew / were the mole.
@@youcantbeatk7006 while I agree that the hype is overblown, I think the big thing about Kishotenketsu is less about the act structure itself and more about the fundamentally different emotional focus that it has as compared to western traditions of storytelling. The idea of a "plot that fundamentally does not need conflict" is a very new perspective rich with fresh ideas when infused with Western conventions.
I support the frolicking movement. All mankind should frolic rather than simply walk. Yes, this is now a movement.
That advice about starting with an emotional roadmap instantly clicked! That's such a good idea, and it basically solves all my problems as a writer (okay, not all, not even close). I love writing for long stretches at a time, just getting really immersed in a story, but I immediately lose my drive if I've outlined the plot too much, but this frequently ends up in a mega-long, spiraling story with messed up pacing.
How does _every single one_ of your videos have at least one critical piece of advice in it!? My writing has improved so much since stumbling across your channel, it's insane.
"How does every single one of your videos have at least one critical piece of advice in it!?" For real. Like, who IS this guy?!
Referring to the Fibonacci Sequence as "You know, that frappucino spiral... or whatever." was your "you can't handle the truth" or "you complete me" moment. I bravely refuse to ever watch further lest it diminish the impact. That said, the rest was good too.
It's amazing how drastically i went from "oh god am i doing something inefficiently or badly with my story" to "oh no wait he's describing exactly what i'm doing as a good thing phew"
I've heard some writers describe the externalization vs belief thing as: want vs ghost
The ghost being a wrong idea about how the world works or about themselves
In Rocky's case the want would be "to live a normal life" and the ghost would be "bc im a loser I shouldn't aspire to more"
Had to stop the vid at 8:12 until I finished laughing. Your presentations are always a bright spot in a miserable world; the fact that they're informative (and so well presented) is just a bonus. I look forward to them more than you'll ever know. 🙏
Michael Arndt has the most comprehensive breakdown of the thematic function of major story beats I've ever come across.
If you don't know, he wrote Toy Story 3 and Little Miss Sunshine. I was directed to his youtube channel from a comments section like this, and now I'm passing it on because he really is that useful.
thank you SO much for your comment, Michael Arndt's series is incredibly insightful and helpful. I am so grateful to you for leaving this comment here because it really broadened my horizons and gave me extremely valuable information. thank you!
Hey, a Macabre Storytelling reference!
If you're looking for more fellow storytelling technique analyzers here, you may find the channel 'schnee' a good use of your time. He's done a lot of videos on Arcane, so it might be a good excuse for you to talk more about that show if you ever get inspired to make a video from one of his (or otherwise have thoughts to share in response to how he talks about storytelling).
3 suggestions to watch from his channel:
- How Arcane Writes MORAL AMBIGUITY (9 Methods, 4 Rules)
- How a GREAT Show Uses a BAD Character | ARCANE (Marcus Analysis)
- How (NOT) To Write Madness | Arcane vs Game Of Thrones
So glad you're making these kind of videos, man. Need more pushback against traditional schools of thoughts on storytelling methods (not that they're necessarily wrong or unhelpful, but they're not the only ways to approach writing stories, and for many they're more a force * against * us than practical means for us to do what we need to do to make our stories a reality), since they're often treated as dogma, when really they're supposed to be guides to help us write the stories we'd like to see.
I'm so glad the schnee is getting some rep here. I love watching his arcane videos. These 2 should collaborate sometime, I think it would be a really insightful video.
SCHNEE MENTION
@@CatherineHicks-k4c A LSM/schnee collab would be so awesome!
He has some great videos I like, especially The Repugnancy of Tony Soprano, but god his critique of The Last of Us Part II just feels like an incoherent rant.
fear not ! lucas has mentioned schnee wight quite a bit on his channel
Because of this video, I now have a rough outline of my 3 act structure for an episodic series I've been trying to write for 2 years with no clear direction forward and a basic layout of my protagonist's core motivations. Bro you rule! Thank you for the insight and inspiration! 🙏🏽😁
You, sir, are the only person I've ever heard who expresses an understanding of narrative that resonates with me. I've been developing my own mental models along these exact same lines, but you've clearly landed solidly on the ground I've been circling. Thank you.
Sometimes all it takes for an old technique to work is for a smart guy to rephrase it for you.
A nugget of inspiration indeed. I’ve been developing a character, actually a series of characters based off of different (somewhat exaggerated) aspects of me. And I make them hate each other and then I use that to come to emotional clarity for myself since I have a chronic disconnect with myself, how I feel, and the validity and reasons for those feelings. So I use characters to bridge that gap (As I write this I add yet another item to my “do I have autism?” list.) But now those characters are less exclusively extensions of myself and I want to do things with them because they’re compelling to me. So they needs arcs. And I always have the best ideas when watching these videos. So thanks for helping things make sense!
Have you ever written a book about your writing theories? Because if not, you should consider it. This is incredible content.
Also, I appreciate the dracula flow reference at the end.
Every time I watch a video of yours I feel like I have a new idea for my story that I have spent far too long shoving into a dark corner
There's actually a board game (if that's even the correct term) my friends and I enjoy playing sometimes called Microscope, where you basically establish a log line, beginning, and ending, then fill in the space between with ostensibly chapters and scenes. The key is that players have to take turns passing around the "focus", who gets to dictate what aspect of the story gets particular attention. It's always a blast and generates some really wild and interesting stories in that "exploratory vignette second act" way, highly recommend
i’d call it a storytelling/worldbuilding game but yes microscope is great. look into kingdom by the same guy.
“Your story will have a three act structure whether you try to give it one or not”, WELL THANK GOODNESS- I just have to find it now🤩
Man, your videos are both funny and super smart. Like, way smarter than most youtubers and writers handing out writing tips. I'd love to see you poping out 1 hour long videos laying out your techniques and impressions. Anyways, keep up the good work mate!
I just wanted to say that this video in particular helped me crystalize and reframe a personal observation I used to hold.
which boiled down too "Man I make for a terrible protagonist" and this really explained for me why I was wrong about that and that it's just I don't work as a arc based character. And yes I know characters are not people but experimenting with self insert fics was why I came to that conclusion.
Great stuff, I really dig your "insights as entertainment" format your going for.
Lsm: Why does she want to be an astronaut?
Me: Space is cool!
Lsm: She’s running away from her problems.
Me: Oh…
I wanted you to make this so bad. Thank you. I might edit/make another comment after I watch
I always think a lot about 12 Angry Men when it comes to arcs and acts. I feel like it speaks really well to your idea of how a character should react to their core beliefs being challenged, i.e. anytime anyone says anything to Juror No. 3.The climax being his monologue where he fully rejects everything that's happened over the past 90 minutes, insists on his own beliefs, realizes what's at the root of his beliefs, and ultimately relents.
I'm somewhat bummed that a decent number of vids have been deleted, but I completely understand the rationale. I wouldn't want people hearing my opinions on things from years ago too if I didn't still believe them.
I really like how you always deconstruct the rules of writing, or the lack thereof. I know some who have foregone story ideas they loved and fit in their narrative simply because it didn’t match a certain arc structure. Luckily, I never have such issues, as I follow the real teachings of William Hare Rose Jurnee.
“Keep on smoking them Sequoia Banshee boogers…”
Is… is that from Dracula flow!?
Besides that, I appreciate your content and giving your thoughts. The more I watch you, the more I want to write and put your advice to work. But I am definitely going to put that “sandboxing” method to the test. It sounds like more my style!
I would categorize the Boxer as one of those series of vignettes where the main character meets different perspectives on the thematic question
(Minor spoilers ahead)
The thematic question is, I think, "what is the purpose of life?" and while the final confrontation is between the nihilistic Yu ("life doesn't really have a purpose") and J ("to experience the beauty of the world") but we meet plenty of other perspectives in between ("to achieve personal excellence", "to be the best person" (a more narcissistic answer), etc)
This has cleared so much up for me, the shift in language really makes a world of difference, thank you for this 🙏🙏🙏
6:50 i just came up with this on my own half a week ago for my main character and the side character with whom she gets introduced. It felt so liberating, everything just clicked into place somehow.
Thank you for this, I had quit gaming to write and I'm on a writing fever. I have an easy time creating worlds, plots, and twists but man, Characters are hard for me. Your videos are helping me better flesh them out so thank you.
I would argue that character beliefs (and all beliefs for that matter) can be broken down FURTHER into values. This character believes this because they value THIS. Then when those values clash or the character has to decide which value is more valuable, conflict can arise.
If you want more amazing perspectives on this style of writing the acts and structure, Craig Mazin dropped some straight gold on the John August podcast ep 403. Ironically, his deeper points didn’t fully hit me until I watched multiple of LocalScriptMan videos. Now my top two favs.
Another great example of the hero trying to change his character but failing because the story demands his services: Unforgiven.
Every time you post I feel the itch to write more.
Thank you so much for your incredible videos! Every single one has added value to y life and the storylines in my head have never been better
Thank you so much, im tired of other writing gurus telling me all characters need the same things to be interesting. To me its about what your story is about and if that arc falls in line with the story you wanna tell. All stories are different and not all great movies are great for the same reasons.
I’d love for you to talk about static characters as main characters, like Snow White etc.
Also interesting writing stories: third graders have to be able to read any folktale, myth, or fable from any culture and discern its characters (and their traits), settings (both time and place), conflict (internal and external), solution, and theme (which is typically a lesson at this age). And they need to be able to do this by September.
So I thought, since I like writing, what better way to get students to understand these story elements they’ve been studying than to have them use those story elements to write their own story. So we studied internal conflict (which I simplified as something you want that you don’t have) and external conflict (which I simplified as something that is stopping you from getting what you want) and we studied how conflicts and their solutions reveal whatever theme or lesson the author wants to teach. And then we started writing and something very interesting happened.
Third graders have very interesting lessons to teach it turns out. Some examples of morals I’ve learned from their fables are:
-beat up your enemies
-be nice to everyone
-listen to your mom but not your dad
-don’t trust thieves
-always change, never stay the same
-steal
Needless to say, I do not write the same anymore. And they all passed.
Now I’ll be thinking, want , Need and BELIEF😊
We just need money and some GODDAMN FAITH ARTHUR
Thank you, thank you so much for your videos. They have been so helpful in giving me insight into how to make my ideas tangible. Yours are the only videos on writing where I actively pause the video because what you said prompted me to apply it to my story, like the practice section of a school textbook. This video alone made me step away for 15 minutes because I had a breakthrough about my midpoint and had to write it all down. Now I've got a core element to work towards in the first half and build off of in the latter. Thank you so so much. I know you get these comments a lot and I'm only adding to the pile but seriously, thank you. For something that means so much to me to the point it's sometimes the only reason I get up out of bed, thank you so so much for sharing your advice the way you do.
There's always such utility in your uploads for writers at large. I really appreciate that about what you try to create for the viewers. I'm not a screenwriter but even so, there's still a lot of value in your advice...and the secret MS Paint tutorials are always a solid bonus - wait, have I said too much?
This is probably the most useful video on character arcs I’ve come across. It’s clear, easy to follow with great examples and is helping my planing process of my writing a whole lot
I love your channel and videos! Sometimes I can get distracted during videos but you do a great job of keeping your topics interesting, still doing your own thing too. Thanks for your awesome advice!
“You know the Frappuccino spiral”
Me: starts thinking their is some kind of social incident
“Where the numbers are the sum of the two prior”
Me: oh the Fibonacci sequence.
Then I realize that’s the Frappuccino spiral you were talking about and I’m just a math geek
Genuinely some of the best character/act structure writing advice I have ever seen,
Thanks LSMan.
This video is a gold mine that I come back to often.
This dead ass cured my writers block thank you
Holy cow, this is actually the best writing advice I've ever heard! it's exactly what I've been looking for ever since I got bit by the writing bug in middle school but which no creative writing class ever managed to impart.
I want you to know that this and other videos of yours have given me the help I needed to *actually* plot things. For the first time in *ever* I have something I can consider to be approaching a plot. I have a couple of barebones story beats. I have an arc or two. They're on the level of complexity of the examples you used (which is to say it's nowhere near the book I want to write) but the fact that it's anything at all has me so freaking jazzed. Thank you so much.
Finished this once, chewed on it for a minute or so. Almost immediately started it over, because something you’ve said has sparked this nagging ghost of a thought tickling at the back of my brain. And then, bam! Five minutes in, I’ve suddenly got this massive epiphany regarding one of my protags beliefs, lies, wants, the whole shebang.
After that, everything shifts just a hair to the right, scenes and plot threads and characterizations and all these vague intuitions prodding me along now aligning themselves like this fucking beauty of a constellation, and suddenly I can see the beating heart of my story coming into focus.
It’s been a pretty good day already, Local, but you just MADE it. Thank you so much for the help!
Also, nice heel kick
The satisfaction i got when i realized i wrote a story that included many of the things you mentioned without ever having watched this video or learned anything about act/emotional structures
LocalScriptMan needs to sell a course where he explains everything you need to write a good script in a step-by-step format. It’ll make him a lot of money, too. A course like that would be a dream come true!
It's amazing that you are able to put together this clear a deconstruction, with such confidence, at your age.
Your YT character is coming along, too. It'll be very interesting to see your journey here over the coming years.
This is by far the video of yours that I've watched the most times, I would absolutely adore more content specifically on plots, story structure, arcs, emotional journeys, all that stuff. As a bookwriter instead of a screenwriter, I found a lot of your stuff to be applicable, this being probably the most.
What I hate about Half Face is that his eye would never,
NEVER NEVER AS IN EVER
work as normal as it does. Like, it just hangs there on the inner muscles but there is no eyelid at all, no supporting structure... It would never hold in line with the second eye!
This was really helpful! I write Visual Novels, and they have branching structures with multiple endings. It’s important to me that each ending exist as an emotional foil for the others, rather than just being defined by the presence of different plot points. It’s very fun to get to have your cake and eat it too, in that you get to explore the same story becoming tragic or heroic, based on how the protagonist approaches their own growth.
Anyway, what you said about act one being an emotional status quo rather than just a world one is helping me to figure out how to handle the start of my story: even as plot events are progressing right off the bat, if my structure is based around EMOTIONAL development, the important foundations can be laid in how the protag is engaging with events, rather than the events themselves.
Thank you for another insightful video!
When I was younger I had this story I loved. recently I've revisitied, and I have had so much fun, and have felt so good with what I've done, and i can tell a large part of it is stuff i have learned from this video, mainnly theme. the first story had tons and tons of plots and characters, and it was messy, but now I have a central theme and it has done a lot of good in making it all tell something I think is pretty frickin cool.
So, thanks. Thanks for helping me love writing again 👍
10:18 There are other options.
One option is that the character is undergoing multiple charater 'arcs' simultaneously and they go forward in some, but not others. They might even be influencing one another or be mutually exclusive.
Another is that we don't get to see the resolution, the story builds up to a point and then cuts away before we can see it.
Another is that it's left ambigious and audience members are divided/uncertain about how the character ended up.
Another is that the 'main character' doesn't get an arc at all, but causes the 'supporting characters' to have one. This one is weird because now the 'main character' is the 'supporting character' so our vernacular breaks down, but in practice it works quite well (see paddington bear).
And in fantasy and scifi there are even more options. Maybe the character is split into two, with two versions going in different directions. Maybe there is a time travel element, where to achieve their arc they must undo their arc etc etc.
I feel that when trying to use the concept of a narrative arc as a tool to help you write, these are all just the same types of arcs that he described, but with the narrative structure cropped differently around them.
@@jackfrenchpresents Maybe with e.g. the time travel one, but not with e.g. the cut-away or ambiguity ones, those are narratively different.
All interesting ideas and points, but if you are trying to disprove something he said, you dropped the ball HARD.
Undergoing multiple arcs is irrelevant to what constitutes an arc itself. Everyone will learn more than one thing in their life, and having multiple chances to change in different ways doesn't change the fact that there's just two types of arcs themselves. As he said, either there is change by the end or there isn't, and if one arc ends with regression, no amount of interaction with the other arc changes that.
Not seeing the resolution doesn't mean there isn't one, and since the author knows what that resolution is, it's still the same story. The same goes for ambiguous endings, though if the writer him/herself doesn't have a clear cut idea for how the story ends, then it's not a real ending.
If the main character doesn't have an arc at all, then it's a static character, something he acknowledged.
If a character is split in two, it is now *two* separate characters, and if they have different arcs then they are separate. If they fuse back at the end, they become one character again. If there is a change in a different direction then it's the first example he gave, and if there isn't change then it's either a regression or static.
Just a thought. Bringing a character who had an arc into a story where they don't have one for the purpose of being a static supporting character. Maybe that someone is now a mentor character who shows the new hero what they can be at the end of their arc. Just a thought.
Really love these videos
They're really useful for thinking about how character arcs work in a more practical way than some books I've read because you use some good clear examples
You also have some incredibly funny charts lol
Keep up the good work
Bro seriously wtf. I just used this shit and suddenly my whole story escalated so fast I had to write faster than ever before the ideas escaped from my adhd brain (I think I have it... maybe?). I suddenly had an actual reason why the fuck Im even write this shit, all around the main characters. Thanks a lot
The Frappuccino spiral absolutely sent me. Good show.
3:07 thats just the plot of gravity
Hey Local, please read to the end. I am aware that you want a consistent brand when it comes to your channel. You want to surpass hollow media criticism, and instead ascend beyond that to analysing media with a purpose. I respect that, and I agree with that, and I do fully understand and agree with the idea that your other videos like the Avatar ones for instance do clutter up your channel, and muddy the purpose of it. However, they are still relics of the early days off the channel, and as someone who's been here since 12k, I don't want your other videos to be lost media. What other channels in similar situations have done is that they have simply unlisted the videos. Not made them private, but unlisted them. That way the videos can only be found via link, search won't work, nor will entering your channel page give you the ability to view them. You could create a playlist that you put on your channel with all the videos on it in the playlist tab and title it "old videos" or something similar. The avatar videos are intensely fascinating to me, and I absolutely loved your perspective on them. It would be excellent if I could view them again.
Definitely agree I’ve been here awhile and I’ve watched through all his videos but I was insanely confused when I couldn’t find some vids. Reminds me of Mamamax when he removed a ton of his vids however they’re in an unlisted playlist now.
"I hope you found a nugget of inspiration" no sir, I found a whole meal /pos
The Sopranos is an excellent example of "vignette" storytelling in the second Act if you could call it. The entire show is episodic and unlike Breaking bad, it doesn't feel planned from the beginning. The episodes are almost always are built up just to represent an obscure aspect of Tony's personality, a different perspective of a mafioso, small character development with one of the side characters, many of which are not central to the story as a whole yet provide an expansive perspective on the entire world they live in.
Often times it feels like they think "what's an aspect of this world" and make it an episode.
God fucking damnit I'm going to have to rewrite the whole first half of my story, aren't I?
Sir John Act-Structure may not have invented the act structure, but he did borrow heavily from the earlier writing of J. Earl Plot-Devise in his 1684 treatises on literature, and Duke S Machina's work in 1632 on how to save your hero from the corner you may have pointed them into.
Hi! Love your content! A refreshing take on the whole writing-advice channel genre! I love it so much. Small suggestion, during your MS-paint drawing scenes, make the background black, that way those scenes are in "dark mode", if you get what I mean. Or, you can do a funny and upload the same video twice in "dark" and "light" mode idk. It was just easier on my eyes when the background was black.
I appreciate your perspective... Hopefully these tips help me write my visual novel
Thank you Local Script Man. Your videos always manage to give me inspiration and ideas, even when the ideas aren't related to the video I think it comes from the energy you bring
ive always thought of the midpoint as the moment the protagonist goes from reactive to active
Marty McFly remains reactive throughout the entire first back to the future movie as far as i'm aware. After the midpoint, Lorraine asks him out to the dance, and he reacts by coming up with the plan for George to rescue her. Marvin breaks his hand, and he reacts by playing guitar on stage. Doc rips up the letter, and he reacts by going back 10 minutes early to warn him about the terrorists. The truth is action and reaction are such useless distinctions, everyone act is a reaction from a certain perspective. Why should that be a crux of how you write your story?
11:04 jjk fans really need to hear this
Bro your doodles and linework are deceptively appealing. All the spacings and the square brush. Don't think we don't see your art background seeping through
Funny, I just did a script using some of your channel advice and ended up figuring out and using a lot of this arc stuff before the video. Shows this stuff is something like a mathematical frame work I guess.
After watching this video, I now have 3 pages of A5 with a bunch of writing I feel confident with, and I thank you for the theories lining up my long planted ideas and personal theorising about story stuff.
The problem whenever I line stuff up though is that once it’s done, I gotta do it all over again… man…
Dude, your videos are incredible man. Better than film school. I found your channel as I’m writing this ensemble feature and without you I’d be drowning. Sending some good vibes from Texas 👊
Your advice is fantastic. It's practically aligned with my perspective on writing (we must have similar sources), but your understandings allow me to draw new connections I hadn't before. Thank you.
this is the spiritual successor to the 'draw your shapes' rule from that old video, and like that old video this new one is just what i needed to get out of the block
As a completely unpublished amatuer, ty for the outline of what is necessary to produce for the end product.
“you can do any Shakespeare play in space”
*looks at “Gundam: the Witch from Mercury”, which is pretty much “The Tempest” in space with giant robots*
MY GOD SOMEONE ELSE SAID IT!
You had me at "Frappaccino Spiral". You're a deity among men, and my new hero.
Everytime I'm struggling with a new issue with my story, you upload a video which perfectly addresses that, you are a prophet.
"they can playfully tickle each others feet in the bath" but itll be censored on this channel, ill tell you that
every single video has had advice i needed. the whole fuckin catalog. ive rewatched almost all of your vids at least once. you are genuinely the best resource for writing on all of youtube
Th-the Krabby Patty secret formula..! Thanks for the breakdown, you really helped me understand a major struggle I have in my writing process. Feels like I can see the items I can aim for now when writing
upload outside the optimal posting hours?
THAS WHY HES THE GOAT. THE GOOOOAAT
So many people define a negative arc like “they embrace the lie they’ve been believing” and a positive arc like “they identify the lie and change”. What if it’s not a lie, what if it’s just another philosophy? I don’t like how so many authors feel they have to take sides by the end of their book. I try to present both sides as fairly as possible and make it clear that delineating the truth may not even be possible.
I have my antagonists being 100% nihilists, wanting to tear down the lie that they believe meaning is, so everyone can see and embrace their truth. This may sound harsh but, they’re in an age where nihilism might be the most rational position and the people they kill mostly wanted death anyways. We’ve discovered everything there is to discover about the universe and physics, we’re trapped below light speed, petering out as a species. In this case, the optimist heroes trying to create change might very well be so forceful that they border on terrorism, cramming down hope on a people that hate hope.
Maybe I will pick a side eventually, but I don’t feel I have to. The reader could pick their own sides. Technically, neither are demonstrably better in the real world so why must it be in fantasy?
Was rewatching this video, and I wondered, have you ever considered making a template similar to your character map sheet for story arcs and acts???
Thanks for this video, dude, really appreciate it. Your ideas here are spot-on. Thinking more about core character beliefs as what drives a character is definitely brilliant. And, as you say, combining this with the central theme and creating characters as "branches" from the central theme, it really starts jelling as an awesome plot generating device.
I run roleplaying games and this stuff is absolute gold for writing adventure and character-driven stuff.
Thanks so much for your contribution. This has sparked so so many ideas for my games. :)