Hi Tyler just wanted to say your video was amazing and it would be really Cool if you could make Us more story-circle videos like as a visual-aid. I'd love to see you making more of these videos! 😁
This video was very helpful to me. Instead of being perfectionist, I'm wanting to move towards more of a flow in my writing and understanding that as I work on each element and part of my story, other parts will begin to come together. It's very easy for me to get stuck on one part and not move forward until I've solved it, as if it's in a vacuum. Thanks!
I have come across this wheel many times. I understood roughly how to apply it to my story before, but drawing the lines and walking us through how each of them connect to one another really helped it click in my brain. It is no longer, "look at the chart if I get stuck," but rather a flow I just naturally end up with when writing. I wanted to come back to this video and thank you for helping the concept click in my brain. It has been a big help!
This is one of your best vids yet, T. I have been in the never-ending, "outline forever" phase. I have been in the phase where you Google and TH-cam every structure template and Sorkin pro-tip before actually starting something. I have tracked down every book that claims that all the other books are garbage. I have analyzed and over-analyzed myself until I am more worried about not being ready or perfect yet and never actually getting to the blank page. Your advice about ignoring the outliers and just PRACTICING basic storytelling again and again is absolutely PROFOUND. Creating a body of work is insanely overrated. Every writer thinks their first script needs to be their A Few Good Men. IT. WON'T. BE...And that is totally ok~
A Few Good Men was also not even remotely Aaron Sorkin's first script. He wrote several plays and screenplays before that. That's how you get to that level.
well, you were probably too scared to start. so you kept looking for someone to tell you what to do. i think most people could relate to that. my question would be: if you didn't have all these tips... what would you want to say? and a story, i think, is just a platform for people to give a voice to... what's on their mind and what they have to say about it. i think we are also scared on being judged. it is a matter of self esteem. our identity is potentially challenged or threatened as we may fail, be ridiculed, rejected, etc. especially when we are trying to be vulnerable and bringing our social guards down to tell a story. an enormous amount of effort can be crushed under the weight of it. i think we all realize that, even if we can't quite put our finger on what the reasons might be. but i also like to look at storytelling like cooking. it doesn't have to be michelin. it doesn't have to be novel. it doesn't have to be perfect. it doesn't have to be something that everyone likes. and it doesn't have to be something that you have to even offer to anybody. it can just be for yourself. for the love of the craft. and, maybe, one day, others will try your cooking and think it could use a few tweaks or it isn't to their taste... but i bet you can cook a lot better than most people by that point. and you can start chasing sorkin or whoever once you have are stronger and more confident. i saw a comment recently on shaelinwrites... they were quoting something along the lines of: a writer doesn't learn to write novels. they learned to write the last novel. and now they are learning how to write their newest novel... it is a seemingly never ending process of discovery.
I think i get ur point but you said 'every writer thinks their first scripts needs to be their A Few Good Men' but then also say 'creating a body of work overrated'. Isn't that the point of what you're saying? That you need to build up a body of work, bad or good, then you can get your A Few Good Men?
young man.... i discovered your channel recently and im amazed on how well you navigate through the chaos and how decent all your content is as well as you as a person.. grate channel great content, great stuff.. thank you ..
This really came at the right time for me because and help me finally sit down and outline my short film. It'll be my first short in 10 years & I want it to encapsulate the lessons I've learned. So up till now I've been very in my head thinking about the Crew, Equipment, location but now that I've started it's intoxicating (I love making Short films) 🇿🇦
You explain this better than a lot of my teachers at my film college. My short film screenwriting teacher hasn't even gone over story structure like this XD. You are a godsend, thank you for the amazing free recourses!
I always thought point two was the inciting incident (that would make them want something), and point three was when they decided to cross the threshold into the unfamiliar situation.
I was half way through writing the same thing when I thought I'd better check the comments. I agree. Walter White's want to get money via meth doesn't exist without the inciting incident of the cancer diagnosis. Same with Matt Damon's character getting stuck on Mars, which creates his want to return home. Maybe the "want" on this diagram would be better labelled as the inciting incident?
@@S3aChange I think that is an irrelevant question and I hope that doesn't sound condescending. From my understanding I would say the Want is whatever the character wants given the context. It can be born from the inciting incident, and the inciting incident can be born from the want. Or not. If a character wants to go on a road trip for "new experiences" and then they find a monster, the want causes the inciting incident but the inciting incident is also the Get and the Pay. They have to come to terms with the fact that monsters exist and that they are in danger. That's the Adapt but it came after the Get and the Pay. Most of the story they now just want to survive and they get that because they don't die but they have to suffer through monster attacks. Maybe their friends die. And then in the second half their Want becomes to kill the monster instead of just survive and escape. That's kind of an Adapt and the Return. Then they Get the monster to fall for their traps but it doesn't work how they expected (Pay), they then Adapt to the failing plan, finally kill the monster (Get) having then suffered in the process (Pay) and once the monster is dead they Return home but traumatized (Changed). You don't need to follow the circle around, just understand to incorporate them at every step. That's why he wants you to go write because then you can see where your stories fall flat. That's when you look at the wheel and ask "what element am I not using?" So my advice is to go write something bad and then figure out where you need to incorporate one of the circle elements. Does that make sense?
So, as in your example using the Martian, he goes from 3, "Unfamiliar Situation", then to 4, "Adapt", then he proceeds to 5, the "Get", but then, because of another "Unfamiliar Situation" (the habitat explodes), he has to go back through number 4 again. Then, using this, you can "jump around" to a certain extent, and go through various steps along the way? And, you can then add nuances to the story, and the Character(s) within the story, to make it have more depth, convolutions, and Character.
Awesome video- very nicely explained- would be nice to have a video where you talk about how you present flashbacks in a script- to relate to what happened in the past etc.to move the story forward- Pros and cons of flashbacks. thanks
New subscriber, sticking toe into the idea of a mockumentary, low production, self-shot TH-cam sitcom about guys [deleted]. Need to make eight part story structure work in parallel on an episode, season, and overall series level. Thank you for your ideas in this video and many others.
Thank you for this clarification! 👍Nice to call it a 'check' or 'tool' for story momentum. That makes it easier to use. I always struggled with the story circle because my brain tries to read it as an even timeline. But if point 7 is all of act 3...? Wow, big relief. The word 'take' was distracting for me. If that would be the climax, the timeline would be very off. And the wrapping up part would take forever. 🤣 So, I'll just stop seeing it as a timeline. And just use it to check for a logical cause-effect flow.
"you ask about exceptions when you haven't done a lick of work" 😂🤣 love that line. Is true. Go make bad art and then we can talk. Would it be helpful to study a film-maker who hates structure to show how he still uses structural elements in their movies? I was doing this with kill Bill the other day. Was pretty fun
Ok. So don't focus on one of the ideas if you didn't get it right. Go back to the start and find the flow through the ideas, so you don't get confused. If you feel like the adapt part or "rising action" didn't feel right, go back to the previous one which is want and you can how the rising action part isn't just oOoOO obstacles, it's obstacles in pursuit of the want and then you can go to the next story beat which is... Oh they finally got it (or at least have a clear plan with really no obstacles) then boom twist or a unexpected big problem, then they make a choice... And blahdeblahdeblah, hope you get the point of these parts are not their own individual part.
So does this mean, that every aspect of the story circle does not need to be utilized when it comes to applying it to a scene? What is the minimum number of those eight points that could be used, and still provide structure for a faster/snappier scene?
I am sorry to bug you with this question and I am sure many people have probably paid for the answer. But can the structure wheel be applied to novels? An do the rules for scenes( dialogue as well) apply in novels? Are novels needing to be perpetually driven forward like scripts? Thank you for your time! And thank you for your videos!
Should this be approached any different for slice-of-life, coming-of-age, or character study genres? I guess these are genres heavy on the philosophical conflict. They are generally small stories and are genres not often spoken about. How do you write a small story which is still entertaining and engaging. I've read "You Can Count On Me" by Kenneth Lonergan and when looking up these genres found the screenplay for "Manchester By The Sea" by the same writer (will probably read that this weekend). What is too much or too little conflict/obstacles in this genre when intending to write a simple story but not an non-entertaining or engaging one?
I just wrote my first script and I freestyle it. I have producers interested…. Just write what you want to see on the screen but be real and honest w yourself. I’ll start a teaching courses soon…..
I just wrote my first script and I freestyle it. I have producers interested…. Just write what you want to see on the screen but be real and honest w yourself. I’ll start a teaching courses soon…..
Get Practical Tools to Write Your Great Screenplay: www.practicalscreenwriting.com
Hi Tyler just wanted to say your video was amazing and it would be really Cool if you could make Us more story-circle videos like as a visual-aid. I'd love to see you making more of these videos! 😁
This video was very helpful to me. Instead of being perfectionist, I'm wanting to move towards more of a flow in my writing and understanding that as I work on each element and part of my story, other parts will begin to come together. It's very easy for me to get stuck on one part and not move forward until I've solved it, as if it's in a vacuum. Thanks!
I have come across this wheel many times. I understood roughly how to apply it to my story before, but drawing the lines and walking us through how each of them connect to one another really helped it click in my brain. It is no longer, "look at the chart if I get stuck," but rather a flow I just naturally end up with when writing. I wanted to come back to this video and thank you for helping the concept click in my brain. It has been a big help!
This is one of your best vids yet, T. I have been in the never-ending, "outline forever" phase. I have been in the phase where you Google and TH-cam every structure template and Sorkin pro-tip before actually starting something. I have tracked down every book that claims that all the other books are garbage. I have analyzed and over-analyzed myself until I am more worried about not being ready or perfect yet and never actually getting to the blank page.
Your advice about ignoring the outliers and just PRACTICING basic storytelling again and again is absolutely PROFOUND. Creating a body of work is insanely overrated. Every writer thinks their first script needs to be their A Few Good Men. IT. WON'T. BE...And that is totally ok~
A Few Good Men was also not even remotely Aaron Sorkin's first script. He wrote several plays and screenplays before that. That's how you get to that level.
Thanks man. Appreciate the communication. Real great.
well, you were probably too scared to start. so you kept looking for someone to tell you what to do. i think most people could relate to that. my question would be: if you didn't have all these tips... what would you want to say? and a story, i think, is just a platform for people to give a voice to... what's on their mind and what they have to say about it.
i think we are also scared on being judged. it is a matter of self esteem. our identity is potentially challenged or threatened as we may fail, be ridiculed, rejected, etc. especially when we are trying to be vulnerable and bringing our social guards down to tell a story. an enormous amount of effort can be crushed under the weight of it. i think we all realize that, even if we can't quite put our finger on what the reasons might be.
but i also like to look at storytelling like cooking. it doesn't have to be michelin. it doesn't have to be novel. it doesn't have to be perfect. it doesn't have to be something that everyone likes. and it doesn't have to be something that you have to even offer to anybody.
it can just be for yourself. for the love of the craft. and, maybe, one day, others will try your cooking and think it could use a few tweaks or it isn't to their taste... but i bet you can cook a lot better than most people by that point.
and you can start chasing sorkin or whoever once you have are stronger and more confident.
i saw a comment recently on shaelinwrites... they were quoting something along the lines of: a writer doesn't learn to write novels. they learned to write the last novel. and now they are learning how to write their newest novel... it is a seemingly never ending process of discovery.
I think i get ur point but you said 'every writer thinks their first scripts needs to be their A Few Good Men' but then also say 'creating a body of work overrated'. Isn't that the point of what you're saying? That you need to build up a body of work, bad or good, then you can get your A Few Good Men?
same
young man.... i discovered your channel recently and im amazed on how well you navigate through the chaos and how decent all your content is as well as you as a person.. grate channel great content, great stuff.. thank you ..
This really came at the right time for me because and help me finally sit down and outline my short film. It'll be my first short in 10 years & I want it to encapsulate the lessons I've learned. So up till now I've been very in my head thinking about the Crew, Equipment, location but now that I've started it's intoxicating (I love making Short films) 🇿🇦
You explain this better than a lot of my teachers at my film college. My short film screenwriting teacher hasn't even gone over story structure like this XD. You are a godsend, thank you for the amazing free recourses!
Hey Tyler, just wanted to let you know that you're an incredible human being creating and releasing these videos, it's such an invaluable resource.
You, sir, are a wise and giving man. Thank you for your breakdowns!!!
I know his channel is about shoes and movies but his videos have been so helpful with the book I'm writing thank you!
I always thought point two was the inciting incident (that would make them want something), and point three was when they decided to cross the threshold into the unfamiliar situation.
Hey again, dude!
@@sonnov0 hey.
I was half way through writing the same thing when I thought I'd better check the comments. I agree. Walter White's want to get money via meth doesn't exist without the inciting incident of the cancer diagnosis. Same with Matt Damon's character getting stuck on Mars, which creates his want to return home. Maybe the "want" on this diagram would be better labelled as the inciting incident?
@@S3aChange I think that is an irrelevant question and I hope that doesn't sound condescending. From my understanding I would say the Want is whatever the character wants given the context. It can be born from the inciting incident, and the inciting incident can be born from the want. Or not. If a character wants to go on a road trip for "new experiences" and then they find a monster, the want causes the inciting incident but the inciting incident is also the Get and the Pay. They have to come to terms with the fact that monsters exist and that they are in danger. That's the Adapt but it came after the Get and the Pay. Most of the story they now just want to survive and they get that because they don't die but they have to suffer through monster attacks. Maybe their friends die. And then in the second half their Want becomes to kill the monster instead of just survive and escape. That's kind of an Adapt and the Return. Then they Get the monster to fall for their traps but it doesn't work how they expected (Pay), they then Adapt to the failing plan, finally kill the monster (Get) having then suffered in the process (Pay) and once the monster is dead they Return home but traumatized (Changed). You don't need to follow the circle around, just understand to incorporate them at every step. That's why he wants you to go write because then you can see where your stories fall flat. That's when you look at the wheel and ask "what element am I not using?" So my advice is to go write something bad and then figure out where you need to incorporate one of the circle elements. Does that make sense?
The Inciting Incident FORCES the Protagonist in an Unfamiliar Situation
As I was just about to start writing, this comes at a great time :) thanks.
So, as in your example using the Martian, he goes from 3, "Unfamiliar Situation", then to 4, "Adapt", then he proceeds to 5, the "Get", but then, because of another "Unfamiliar Situation" (the habitat explodes), he has to go back through number 4 again. Then, using this, you can "jump around" to a certain extent, and go through various steps along the way? And, you can then add nuances to the story, and the Character(s) within the story, to make it have more depth, convolutions, and Character.
This is better than film school or screenplay class. Vet good video.
This is better than film school or screenplay class. Very good video.
Your video is one of the best for understanding the basic Idea and this helps me greatly! Much appreciated! Thank you!
Awesome video- very nicely explained- would be nice to have a video where you talk about how you present flashbacks in a script- to relate to what happened in the past etc.to move the story forward- Pros and cons of flashbacks. thanks
Thank you for your videos, they help me to see my mistakes. Your are always the BEST!!!
great.. resolution to what was confusing for so long....thanks😊
Awesome video. This helped me as I begin to put emphasis on story telling. Thanks!
I love that term - Story Momentum.
7:30 Sooo true!
New subscriber, sticking toe into the idea of a mockumentary, low production, self-shot TH-cam sitcom about guys [deleted]. Need to make eight part story structure work in parallel on an episode, season, and overall series level. Thank you for your ideas in this video and many others.
Thank you for this clarification! 👍Nice to call it a 'check' or 'tool' for story momentum. That makes it easier to use. I always struggled with the story circle because my brain tries to read it as an even timeline. But if point 7 is all of act 3...? Wow, big relief. The word 'take' was distracting for me. If that would be the climax, the timeline would be very off. And the wrapping up part would take forever. 🤣 So, I'll just stop seeing it as a timeline. And just use it to check for a logical cause-effect flow.
You're a great, learn a lot from your knowledge, thank you very much
"you ask about exceptions when you haven't done a lick of work" 😂🤣 love that line. Is true. Go make bad art and then we can talk. Would it be helpful to study a film-maker who hates structure to show how he still uses structural elements in their movies? I was doing this with kill Bill the other day. Was pretty fun
Ok. So don't focus on one of the ideas if you didn't get it right. Go back to the start and find the flow through the ideas, so you don't get confused. If you feel like the adapt part or "rising action" didn't feel right, go back to the previous one which is want and you can how the rising action part isn't just oOoOO obstacles, it's obstacles in pursuit of the want and then you can go to the next story beat which is... Oh they finally got it (or at least have a clear plan with really no obstacles) then boom twist or a unexpected big problem, then they make a choice... And blahdeblahdeblah, hope you get the point of these parts are not their own individual part.
Appreciated Tyler..much love 💕💕
Thanks a lot for your channel, it's very helpful to me. Greetings from Uruguay.
Thanks a lot! This video was of great help!
What software / hardware are you using to write and draw the story circle here ?!?!
So helpful! Thank you!
This was so helpful thank you ❤
awesome video!
thanks so much this really really helped!!
So does this mean, that every aspect of the story circle does not need to be utilized when it comes to applying it to a scene? What is the minimum number of those eight points that could be used, and still provide structure for a faster/snappier scene?
I am sorry to bug you with this question and I am sure many people have probably paid for the answer. But can the structure wheel be applied to novels? An do the rules for scenes( dialogue as well) apply in novels? Are novels needing to be perpetually driven forward like scripts? Thank you for your time! And thank you for your videos!
Very useful
thank you
Thanks man
is the same structure about a tv show? In each episode has to do this circle?
Should this be approached any different for slice-of-life, coming-of-age, or character study genres? I guess these are genres heavy on the philosophical conflict. They are generally small stories and are genres not often spoken about. How do you write a small story which is still entertaining and engaging. I've read "You Can Count On Me" by Kenneth Lonergan and when looking up these genres found the screenplay for "Manchester By The Sea" by the same writer (will probably read that this weekend). What is too much or too little conflict/obstacles in this genre when intending to write a simple story but not an non-entertaining or engaging one?
In this structure, where does the NEED of the character come in?
It's mildy harsh, but he's right. I haven't done anything right yet
I just wrote my first script and I freestyle it. I have producers interested…. Just write what you want to see on the screen but be real and honest w yourself. I’ll start a teaching courses soon…..
What are your credits?
Watch rrr🔥
Explain today tool ....
I just wrote my first script and I freestyle it. I have producers interested…. Just write what you want to see on the screen but be real and honest w yourself. I’ll start a teaching courses soon…..