As part of my EngD project, I am creating ways for story authors to easily write narratives with multiple branches, along the lines of the Choose Your Own Adventure stories from the 1990s. Typically, this kind of story authoring is hard, as the number of material that needs to be written increases exponentially with the number of decision points.
The Anatomy of Story
”The Anatomy Of Story is concrete and practical without resorting to simplistic ‘Three Act Structure’ screenwriting clichés. It will be an indispensable guide to writing your first great script.” —Larry Wilson, co-writer /co-producer of Beetljuice and co-writer of The Addams Family THE ANATOMY OF STORY 22 STEPS TO BECOMING A MASTER STORYTELLER Faber & Faber launches John Truby’s The Anatomy of Story: 22 Steps to Becoming a Master Storyteller—a new Bible not just for screenwriters, but for any writer crafting the perfect story. Taking as his examples Jaws, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Tootsie, The Great Gatsby, The Godfather, Chinatown, and A Christmas Carol, among many others, Truby illustrates in The Anatomy of Story (Faber & Faber/Farrar, Straus and Giroux) what makes a great story and how to create that story, focusing on plot and premise, theme, characters, moral development, and crafting the kind of ending that brings readers and audiences back again and again. Additionally, Truby offers seven key story structure steps, which are the major stages of a story’s development and of the dramatic code under its surface. The Anatomy of Story is a step-by-step guide to constructing the best story possible—be it a screenplay, short story, or novel. Truby, who has taught his twenty-two-step Great Screenwriting and Genre classes to more than 20,000 students worldwide, is available to discuss: Top 10 mistakes writers make about story. Five best and worst questions about screenwriting. How the 22-step-approach is different from the 3-act structure. Five unique story elements of blockbuster films. Five best techniques of character and plot. John Truby is Hollywood’s premier story consultant and founder of Truby’s Writers Studio. He has worked as a story consultant and script doctor for Disney Studios, Sony Pictures, FOX, and HBO, among others. Booklist “ Hollywood story consultant Truby commits his vast knowledge of screenwriting and storytelling to the page in this handy guide for aspiring writers of all types. Truby delves into the setup, from basic structure to the premise and the depth behind it. From there, he moves into character, emphasizing the importance of not only the hero but also the characters in the story who aid and oppose him. Truby illustrates the importance of setting to the story and how careful plotting is needed to weave the elements of the story together. He cautions that plot is not incidental and requires careful management and timely revelations. Although most of his examples are from movies, such as Tootsie, The Godfather, and Star Wars, Truby also draws from novels and plays, and his advice is applicable not only to the hopeful screenwriter but to the aspiring novelist as well. A comprehensive guide to writing stories of all kinds, Truby’s tome is invaluable to any writer looking to put an idea to paper.” —Kristine Huntley Tweet
How I draft stories
I discovered that trying to write one big blob does not work for me. I can get as far as 2000 words before the volume overwhelms. As with many things in life, breaking it down into pieces helps a lot! This is where most outlining writers suggest a big bulleted
Branchline — stories grow in branches
A place to grow stories together, one bloom at a time. Read a path. Pick up where the last writer left off. Watch stories branch.
Weaving Narratives into Procedural Worlds
Examining the value, characteristics, and methods of integrating static narratives into otherwise procedurally generated environments.
7 Proven Techniques for Splitting User Stories (with Real Examples) - Next Generation Analysts
The ability to effectively split user stories can make or break your agile implementation. When faced with a massive user story that spans multiple sprints, teams often struggle to deliver incremental value and maintain momentum. The good news? There are proven techniques to break down even the most complex requirements into manageable, valuable chunks of
Page 4: POW+TREE Writing Strategy
As Ms. Lin reflects on the trouble her students are having with writing, she realizes that many of her students need help incorporating the four elements of the writing process (i.e., planning, organizing, writing, and editing and revising) into their essays. She concludes that they need a guide or strategy to follow as they write.[.....]
Fundamentals of Interactivity | Interactive Storytelling Tools for Writers | Chris Crawford
4-Layers, A Narrative Design Approach
Introduction This blog post will be about a new way to approach narrative design in games - the 4 Layers Approach. It is based on a GDC ...
SPIDR: Five Simple but Powerful Ways to Split User Stories - Mountain Goat Software
Online and in-person training to help you succeed with agile
Master 4 Layers of Storytelling to Make Your Art Unforgettable
You think storytelling is just for writers? Wrong. The story you craft—not just on canvas, but in your journey, your impact, and in your own mind—could make your art impossible to ignore.
StoryScope: Investigating idiosyncrasies in AI fiction
As AI-generated fiction becomes increasingly prevalent, questions of authorship and originality are becoming central to how written work is evaluated. While most existing work in this space...
Toward a durable writing stack – Writings and rehearsals by Nathan Schneider
I have benefited over the years from others who have documented their writing setups, and so I feel some obligation to pay the favor forward by doing so with my own. The stack I’ll describe here is one I’ve been iterating on for about twenty years, starting from when I began discovering the pleasures of plain-text writing. Every aspect of it has changed over that period, but the some basic goals and flows have been with me through the writing of my college thesis, five books, and hundreds of articles. I am quite happy with where I am, and others might benefit from what I’ve come up with.
Embark: Dynamic documents for making plans
Gradually enriching a text outline with travel planning tools.
Upstart & Crow
Upstart & Crow exists to share stories and to support the literary arts in Vancouver and beyond. We develop transformative programs, host conversations and launch projects that enable storytellers to create and share exciting new work. We partially fund these initiatives through bookstores that champion independent presses and underdiscovered works. Find event rental and launch information.
So @atproto.com I probably should be doing a bunch of other atproto things including building my entry to @rpg.actor's game jam, but instead I built a cool collaborative authoring tool - @branchline.ink / branchline.ink It turns stories into a tree with different authors contributing pieces.
Branchline
branchline.inkDifferent models of story structure in creative writing: - Three-act Structure (most common in Western works) - Four-act Structure (me: best for live-action) - Five Elements Plot (me: best for novels) - KiShōTenKetsu (most common in CJK works) #writing
