{"id":1058,"date":"2012-08-02T19:58:13","date_gmt":"2012-08-02T18:58:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/?p=1058"},"modified":"2012-08-02T20:27:38","modified_gmt":"2012-08-02T19:27:38","slug":"the-shapes-of-stories-and-how-to-write-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/?p=1058","title":{"rendered":"The Shapes of Stories and How to Write Them"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A good friend and regular reader, Anthony, sent me the link to a great anonymous blog a few weeks ago &#8211; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.farnamstreetblog.com\">Farnam Street<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Yesterday, they pointed to a brilliant set of rules on how to write a short story by Kurt Vonnegut:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/nmVcIhnvSx8\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">1. Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">2. Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">3. Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">4. Every sentence must do one of two things-reveal character or advance the action.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">5. Start as close to the end as possible.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">6. Be a Sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them-in order that the reader may see what they are made of.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">7. Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">8. Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To hell with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>There is another video which is even more worth watching on the Shape of Stories:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/oP3c1h8v2ZQ\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>It got me thinking about how we all love stories, the ups and downs of life, the drama unfolding, the game(s), the chase, the great ending!<\/p>\n<p>Please share any insights or thoughts you have on this great subject below!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A good friend and regular reader, Anthony, sent me the link to a great anonymous blog a few weeks ago &#8211; Farnam Street. Yesterday, they pointed to a brilliant set of rules on how to write a short story by Kurt Vonnegut: 1. Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/?p=1058\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;The Shapes of Stories and How to Write Them&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[42,39,80,5,40,62,66,50,58,68,52,84,65,60,1,57,46],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6DQGK-h4","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1195,"url":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/?p=1195","url_meta":{"origin":1058,"position":0},"title":"The Story of the Broken Pot (of Honey)","author":"Lorne Mitchell","date":"14\/02\/2013","format":false,"excerpt":"The older I get, the more I believe in coincidences. \u00a0And one of the strange coincidences that I have recently discovered is that there are a set of stories that are told in slightly different forms all around the world - as if they all had their roots in one\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Attention&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Attention","link":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/?cat=78"},"img":{"alt_text":"iStock_000009374542XSmall","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lornemitchell.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/iStock_000009374542XSmall-300x199.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":825,"url":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/?p=825","url_meta":{"origin":1058,"position":1},"title":"Creating Purpose and Meaning","author":"Lorne Mitchell","date":"12\/01\/2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Following on from the popular\u00a0RSAnimate video of Dan Pink's great lecture describing the three attributes that really motivate people: Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose, I came across an equally impressive piece of work by\u00a0Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer in this month's McKinsey Quarterly. \u00a0If you don't already subscribe, it is well\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Attention&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Attention","link":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/?cat=78"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":436,"url":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/?p=436","url_meta":{"origin":1058,"position":2},"title":"Writer&#8217;s Block, Blooks and Going with the Flow","author":"Lorne Mitchell","date":"19\/02\/2011","format":false,"excerpt":"We have all had it. That frustrating blankness that hits you when you want to write something. Those who know me, know that I have been trying to write a book on bees since 1986. I am not sure if this is worthy of an entry in the Guinness Book\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Big Ideas&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Big Ideas","link":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/?cat=42"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":203,"url":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/?p=203","url_meta":{"origin":1058,"position":3},"title":"The Power of Envisioning Your Ideal Outcome","author":"Lorne Mitchell","date":"23\/09\/2010","format":false,"excerpt":"I was reminded this week of a very useful technique that a friend taught me about five years ago.\u00a0 She called it the \"blueprint method\".\u00a0 She used it with her partner many times - and it was extraordinarily successful for her. At the time she taught us the method, my\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Blueprint&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Blueprint","link":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/?cat=39"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lornemitchell.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/envision.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":917,"url":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/?p=917","url_meta":{"origin":1058,"position":4},"title":"The Rainbow, Rug and Key","author":"Lorne Mitchell","date":"13\/04\/2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I have spent the past twelve days in the Alps on a spring retreat doing a bit of skiing.\u00a0 Yesterday we had a enormous thunderstorm and the most beautiful rainbow - like the one above.\u00a0 Somehow, it got me reflecting on a conversation I had with\u00a0 John Varney, a reader\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Education&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Education","link":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/?cat=64"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lornemitchell.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Ghoochan_Rugs_Quchan_Kurd_Long_Rug.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1080,"url":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/?p=1080","url_meta":{"origin":1058,"position":5},"title":"The Answer Lies in the Space Between","author":"Lorne Mitchell","date":"16\/08\/2012","format":false,"excerpt":"We are in recess.\u00a0 In the gap between: The wet weather and what's to come July and September The Olympics and the Paralympics The Euro Crisis and its eventual resolution Taking off the honey and extracting it Writing an action on the \"to-do\" list and doing the things you need\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Attention&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Attention","link":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/?cat=78"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1058"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1058"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1058\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1067,"href":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1058\/revisions\/1067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}