The Magic of Storytelling

I love animated movies.  The colors, the music, just the genius of today’s animation is mind-boggling.  I’m completely amazed at how animators can create pencil characters on a blank piece of paper and then bring them to life in stories that make us love them, fear for them, root for them and relate to them just as we would human actors.  These artists, with their mighty pens and a little computer generated technical wizardry, combine with a terrific tale to capture our attention and hold it for an entire full-length feature movie.



I came across this article on Businessinsider.com, “22 Storytelling Tips for Writers From a Pixar Storyboard Artist”, and found it fascinating.  I, as a writer, would love to know how they create this magic.  These are a few of the storytelling tips that will no doubt help any writer either begin writing or better critique their own storytelling.
 
1. “You admire a character for trying more than for their successes." - How many animated movies have us caring about and rooting for the underdog?  We empathize with and feel just as much for the character for their efforts and determination, even when they don’t come out on top.

2.  “You gotta keep in mind what’s interesting to you as an audience, not what’s fun to do as a writer. They can be very different.” - It isn’t always going to be about what we the writer wants, but more what’s going to attract and hold your reader’s attention from beginning to end.

3.  “What is your character good at, comfortable with?  Throw the polar opposite at them. Challenge them. how do they deal?” - We all eventually want to see the “happily ever after”, don’t we?  But if in the process, our characters have to face something outside their comfort zone and better yet, they overcome it in the end, we’ve told a story with both heart and substance.

4. “Come up with your ending before you figure out your middle. Seriously. Endings are hard, get yours working up front.” – I get this one.  Inspiration strikes in mysterious ways.  I have sometimes had the ending to a story all figured out from the get-go and then written my way backwards.  It’s fun!
  
For more storytelling tips, link to the complete article here.  

Toy Story, Finding Nemo, Ratatouille, The Incredibles.  All creative characters telling touching, teaching, entertaining stories.

“To infinity and beyond!”  Maybe that’s a testament to Pixar’s storytelling philosopy.  What’s yours?

Thanks for visiting!

Brenda  :)