Storytelling :
Quick & effective ways to plan a story

Choose any of the story structures which you think will support your learners to develop a quality storyline.

Glenn Gers' (Screenwriter) 6 Essential Questions for a story:

1. Who is it about?

2. What did they want?

3. Why can't they get it?

4. What did they do about it?

5. Why doesn't that work?

6. How does it end?

Story Spine (used for Pixar, Disney, Lucasfilm movies):

Once upon a time...

Set the scene. Introduce the main character and the circumstances they are in.

Who is the main character? Where do they live? What time is the story set in?

You don't have to use 'Once upon a time'

Once up a time there was a worker ant.

Every day....

Show your character in an everyday situation. This makes it easier for the audience to relate to the character.

Every day he worked on finding new methods for collecting food for his colony.

But one day...

Something happens to interrupt your main character's normal routine.

But one day an invention broke and the colony was left with no food.

Because of that...

What happens next to the main character to help them to get out of the situation?

You can repeat this stage 2-3 times until you're ready for a resolution.

Because of that the grasshoppers bullied the ants for extra food.

Because of that the worker ant left the colony to find insects who could fight the grasshoppers and save the colony.

Because of that the ant found a gang of circus bugs and took them to the colony.

Because of that the colony decided to prepare and attack against the grasshoppers.

Until finally...

This is the climax - what happens as a consequence of everything up until now.

Until finally the grasshoppers were defeated by the colony of ants.

And ever since then...

What is the new way of being because of the previous actions? It could be a sad or happy ending. It resolves everything that has happened.

Source

And ever since then, the ants lived happily. The moral of the story is that when you stick together anything is possible.

Example from the movie 'Up'

Source

Storytelling Structure_ The Pixar Story Spine (2).mp4

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Storytelling :Quick & effective ways to plan a story