Building blocks of storytelling:

1: Anecdote. Sequence of actions- what is a story in its purest form? The plot. It has a momentum in of itself, however boring the facts are. Sequence of events. You can feel inherently that you’re on a train that has a destination, and you’re going to find something.

2: Bait. Raising a question from the beginning. Why is the house very quiet? Always raise questions, and answer them.

Moment of reflection. Here’s why the hell you’re listening to this story. Here’s the bigger something we’re driving at, here’s what we’re wasting your time for.

Huge problem: Anecdotes that lead nowhere. (Celebrity gossip?)

Your job to be ruthless. You don’t have a story, or a moment of reflection. Action and reflection.Good story needs you to move back and forth. (Mass Effect does this well. So does The Lord of The Rings.)

It’s harder to find a good story than to produce it (having found it). Look for stories, then try stuff out.

Kill it and enjoy the killing- because by killing, you make something better live. Not enough is said about the importance of abandoning crap. All creative production tries to be crap. (Laws of entropy?)

Things are good because people are ruthless. If you’re not failing all the time, you’re never going to get super lucky. You need enough material.

We get into it because we have good taste. We do it because we love it. But there’s a gap between what you’re making and what you love.  “What’s the story?” “The story is that there’s no school tomorrow.”

Everything is more compelling the more you talk like a human being (instead of a radio robot).  Don’t talk about yourself- interaction with others is what creates the drama. Be interested in others, and the world. We want to see other people through your eyes. Hear your story.