Once upon a time, a long time ago, I was considering the possibility that there might be more to screen drama than external conflict-driven plotting when, as if hit by a thunderbolt, a new paradigm of ...

This is an excerpt of a piece written by former NPR editor Jonathan Kern. It has been lightly edited. One of the under-appreciated challenges in putting a radio report together is ensuring that the ...

I think I was 7 or 8-years-old when I first read Harris & Me by Gary Paulson. Well, in truth, my mom likely read it to me but strangely enough, that’s not what I remember. It is the first time that I ...

“Despite huge changes in the technology of news, the structure of a story today doesn’t look hugely different from one in, say, 1932.” At the risk of sounding self-serving (you’ll see why below), ...

AI fiction detection reaches 93% accuracy using only narrative structure — how plots unfold, themes are stated, and endings ...

One of the big challenges for a writer is to take a compelling idea and then turn that into a coherent story that keeps your readers engaged. One strategy for keeping on track while writing is to use ...

When you watch a lot of film and television, you begin to sense a pattern. In the beginning, you meet characters. In the middle, you see them struggle. At the end, you watch as they succeed or fail.

November 14, 2017 Add as a preferred source on Google Add as a preferred source on Google Stories have shapes. Any story you tell works best if you recognize its shape, then strengthen that shape.

This blog post originally appeared on Film Independent‘s blog and appears here with the permission of the author. The following is a true story. I did a script coaching session for someone I’ll call ...

If you hear the words “once upon a time,” you might guess that you’re hearing the beginning of a child’s fairy tale. And if you hear the words “and they all lived happily ever after,” you know you’ve ...

The five-act structure is a plot formula that divides a story into five sections: the exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution. From these classical explorations comes our ...