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Writing Notes: The Shape of Story

by Christina Wodtke 

Start with Conflicted Characters

The character needs a goal, a motivation and a conflict.

The goal can be alien to your audience,

but the motivation must be shared by them, and

the conflict creates struggles that increase engagement.

Paint a Picture

Details transport you into the story.

The world disappears and you have a story play in your head.

Even though there are no literal pictures.

But be careful—Too many details and the story gets bogged down.

Make the Protagonist Suffer

“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.” (Kurt Vonnegut, How to Write a Great Story)

And when it can’t get any worse, make it worse before it gets better

The two key moments that create the peak of excitement in a story is the darkness before the dawn, and the dawn. 

The climax is the moment when the protagonist is either rescued or rescues themself.

In older tales, we saw a lot of Deux ex Machina (the hand of god) rescuing the hero. A hero could be rescued by luck, a partner, another hero…but modern audiences strongly prefer stories where the protagonist helps themself.

Resolution is Boring, Keep it Short

Interest grows with every additional conflict, but once the hero figures out the solution, our fascination collapses.

Don’t natter on while the audience’s mind is drifting.

Also Consider:

You need a good inciting incident to move your protagonist to action.

A setting is more than a place, it’s a situation and a moment in time. A vivid place has details.

Modern audiences prefer “return home changed” to “return home the same.”

EXAMPLES: ARCHETYPAL PLOTS ALONG THE ARC

Boy Meets Girl

Internal conflict is always satisfactory (e.g., she believes love interferes with his career, he believes love interferes with his beer.)

The crises usually revolves around betrayal — lying, cheating — and the climax shows it was a misunderstanding or we get atonement.

The struggle is always about them being separated.

The resolution is about binding them more tightly together than ever.

The Quest

You seek a things, and find yourself.

Return home changed and don’t pass go.

Common elements include companions, a mentor, great losses and extreme character arcs.

The Underdog

Even though they do not have a shot in hell, the underdog wants something. They want it so bad.

Common elements include an enemy who blocks their path, and a coach who helps them forward.

In this case, they do not return home changed but rather move into a new life that fits their changed self.

Coming of Age

Naive person has the world teaches them a hard lesson, and they become a better person for it.

Struggle revolve around life sucking and then sucking more.

The hero grows and becomes better because of it, and via new understandings becomes competent.

In some tragedies, the world breaks them.

They can return home changed, but more often they move to a new life they have earned.

More Examples. Justice & Pursuit:

Weaving Multiple Plots:

Weaving multiple plots together to make subplots can further increase tension.

Multiple plots woven together makes the whole story not only unique but very compelling.

[studyyystruggles]

Is there an un-aesthetic version of studyblr? I don't want to look at your notes and feel inferior, or see you set up your study table in a way that suggests you never experienced a lick of stress. I want real study tips, that teach me how to study. With the ugly notes where they explain a good way to process the information and write it down that isn't just copying the whole book. I want organisation tips, and how to prepare for tests and reread materials in a way that doesn't take a week per chapter.

[studyyystruggles]

More studying from yesterday! History once again...

[studyyystruggles]

IT GIRLS SET GOALS

🎀 Analysis

Goals are an important part of our lives. They help us achieve our purpose, fulfill our dreams and at the very basic level, they help us to take control of our lives.

I want you to analyse your day. How did you spend it? Did you have any tasks set for today? Is what you are doing right now going to help you become your highest self? Is it improving your life in any manner?

If the answer to the above questions is no, then I want you to reflect on it. Here, by goals I don’t just mean your academic/career goals but also your side hustles, hobbies etc.

🎀 Intentions

It is time to be intentional. Don’t just let life pass you by. Be an active participant in life. Make decisions about what you want to do and how you are going to do it. Ask yourself what matters to you. Focus on the things that are important to you whether it is a hobby, a person you like spending time with, skills you wish to learn.

Be intentional with how you spend time. Do not spend time only consuming content, but create something as well. Connect to the creative side of yourself. It doesn't matter what you create but generate ideas and challenge yourself.

🎀 Be curious

Revive the curiosity within yourself. What do you want to learn? What are you passionate about?

It girls are interesting people, and people who are interesting have different skills and passions.

This is not to say that you have to force yourself to do something if you don't enjoy it, but it is to make you question what it is that you do enjoy.

🎀 Don't be afraid to dream big

Dream big. Manifest it. Do not let people project their limiting beliefs onto you.

There are no limits. If you want it, you can have it.

All in all, you want to be purposeful in your life and with your time.

[studyyystruggles]

Your guide to REAL selfcare

If you go on any social media and type "selfcare", all you recieve is pretty girls doing extravegant skincare, dior makeup and all. But the problem is everyone does the same thing and things just cant work same for everyone. Also, It doesnt feels authentic rather it feels like consumerism. So, I am gonna tell what to do so you feel the best.

Knowing yourself:-

You can only do yourself a favour if you know yourself and the best way to do that is JOURNAL.

If you are new to it, then you can search journal prompt ideas on pinterest and make that a part of your routine. It helps so much.

Do shadow work. Go on pinterest and do the same thing.

Dont be ashamed of yourself, rather accept yourself and change for the better. When you'll journal then you will get to know tons of good and bad things about you but our brain loves to focus on negative things so u might get stuck on that.

Record your likes and dislikes. Which books you loved, which dramas you adore, which food makes you comfy and which movies you wasted your time on. Record these things, this is just so fun and helpful when you feel "bored" or sad.

Being Mindful:-

Most of the time, the problem is not that big but our thoughts just traps us and we feel that problem is bigger than it might so take a step back and try to not overthink about past or future.

I know this is easier said than done but meditating helps a lot with mindfulness.

When you watch a movie or drama or even ytube video then just do that. Dont scroll reddit reading the "discussion" thread of the episode or try to find instrumentals on spotify for reading books. Just do one thing at once.

Dont multitask. Just take a task and then focus on that. (This might not work for neurodivergent people.)

Do 5,4,3,2,1 grounding technique. Identify

5 things you can see 4 things you can feel 3 things you can hear 2 things you can smell 1 thing you can taste.

Cut negative people off

This is so hard because you feel mean for doing this but once you cutoff toxic people who just drags other people down and all they talk is negativity then your life become so much better.

Cut off all the negative content you watch and limit the time you spend on social media.

Do your future self a favour

This is truly the best selfcare.

Study hard cause' your future self will thank you for letting her be the top student

Learn some skills. Read those books. Watch that documentry. Do things that will make your future self proud.

Some selfcare ideas

Organizing and planning

excercise or take a walk.

Reading books.

Cleaning your room

Watching fun movies

Studying about yourself. Knowing what products suits your skin and your hair. What color brighten you and what makes you look dull. What haircut looks good on your face and what clothes flatters on your body.

Get your nails done.

Listen to your fav album while painting, baking, or gardening.

Do your hobby without feeling presurrized. No you dont need to read 50 books a year, chill out and enjoy while doing it.

Dairy writing. Its so fun to read what your day looked like on a random tuesday after 2-3 years.

Explore new things in your hometown. Maybe there is a new cafe that opened 2 weeks ago or there is a hiking trail you are not aware of? its always fun to do that.

[studyyystruggles]

Stu(dying) in history

One of the subjects I really love, I'm glad I took it though it can be really content heavy- my notes finally look colorful again!

Notebooks: from Muji

Pens: Conklin All-American, Platinum preppy, Jinhao 86, Jinhao 911

Inks: Pilot Iroshizuku Kon Peki, Momiji, Ku-Jaku, Tsukushi (you can probably tell I'm a major Pilot fan, lol)