How to Commit Murder Inside a Locked Room
Few genres are more preposterous than the locked room mystery. The premises are absurd and plot solutions ridiculous—but still I keep on reading.
storytelling
Breaking Bad became one of the best TV shows ever by borrowing a trick from Shakespeare
The show balanced improvisation and careful planning thanks to its overarching structure.
What might Amazon’s six-page narrative structure look like?
If you want to move to a Jeff Bezos–style executive meeting without PowerPoint, with a six-page narrative memo, you mustn't forget the narrative. Here's why
Filmmaking Process
From sequence to shot to frame, explore our studio pipeline.
A Game Designer’s Analysis Of QAnon
Playing with reality
Divine Comedy - Wikipedia
The Divine Comedy is an Italian narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun c. 1308 and completed around 1321, shortly before the author's death. It is widely considered the pre-eminent work in Italian literature and one of the greatest works of Western literature. The poem's…
Mel Brooks on the Making of Spaceballs
My son Max loved the Star Wars movies. I would take him to various showings of them. And for his tenth birthday, he had a Star Wars–themed birthday party. And boy, did those kids love it! So I thou…
The History of O. Henry's 'The Gift of the Magi'
The beloved Christmas short story may have been dashed off on deadline but its core message has endured
The Power of Audience-Centered Storytelling | Bill Carmody | TEDxFergusonLibrary
Bill Carmody is a twenty-five year global keynote speaker. He’s had the incredible privilege to present in Brazil with Sir Richard Branson and in India with executives from Fortune 100 companies. Recently he had the distinct privilege to teach several of the UK Brexit government…
See the Real Live Man Who Grew Up in a Carnival
For our reporter, “Nightmare Alley” recalls a childhood spent working the circuit with his parents. Carnies like the World’s Smallest Woman welcomed him when cruel classmates didn’t.
Taking Humor Seriously on “The Simpsons”
David Owen’s 2000 Profile of George Meyer: Humor has to reframe reality, Meyer says. “It’s like seeing in two dimensions and then opening the other eye or looking through a View-Master and suddenly seeing in three.”
David Simon and the Creation of “The Wire”
Margaret Talbot’s 2007 Profile of the show’s creator, with a behind-the-scenes look at the filming of “The Wire” ’s fifth season.
The Old Country Meets Prozac Nation on “The Sopranos”
From 1999: “There has certainly never been anything like it on TV, and on network TV there never could be anything like it.”
Why ‘Slap Shot’ Captures the 1970s Better Than Any Other Sports Movie
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Celebrating the greatest hockey movie of all time—and one the best “malaise days” Seventies films ever.
Writing well
Learn how to write well. Topics include figuring out what to write about, how to write an introduction, the writing process, writing style, and copyediting.
How to Read “Gilgamesh” | The New Yorker
The heart of the world’s oldest long poem is found in its gaps and mysteries.
Is Becky Chambers the Ultimate Hope for Science Fiction?
Her gentle, heartwarming stories seek to soothe our troubled souls. They also aim to blow up the entire genre.
The 30 best mobster movies – ranked!
Ahead of the Sopranos prequel The Many Saints of Newark hitting cinemas, here are 30 organised crime flicks you must see before you sleep with the fishes
Chekhov's gun
Chekhov's gun is a narrative principle that states that every element in a story must be necessary and irrelevant elements should be removed. For example, if a writer features a gun in a story, there must be a reason for it, such as it being fired some time later in the plot…
An Introduction to AI Story Generation
A primer on automated story generation and how it it strikes at some fundamental research questions in artificial intelligence.
21 Rhetorical Devices Explained - Mental Floss - Pocket
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From the ones you know to a few new tricks. Pleonasm, anyone?
Report Card Writer: What I’ve Learned from One Year of User Interviews and Customer Feedback
Almost exactly a year ago, I started a little boutique software company called Report Card Writer. As the name suggests, my flagship software product does pretty much one thing: it helps teachers write report card comments faster. Its core technical functionality is part survey…
Why Horror Films Are More Popular Than Ever
It feels good to control what will terrify you.
“The Lottery,” by Shirley Jackson
Fiction, from 1948: “The people had done it so many times that they only half listened to the directions; most of them were quiet, wetting their lips, not looking around.”
Raymond Chandler’s guide to street, hoodlum, and prison lingo
Writers keep notebooks because ideas come in the most unexpected of places. Notebooks contain a junkyard of treasures waiting to be discovered. They provide ports of entry to the imagination. And as Joan Didion once wrote, a place to keep “on nodding terms with the people we…
Toy Story - Story Structure Analysis
Learn the major plot points and story structure of Toy Story directed by John Lasseter.
How to Create the Plot of a Story: The Ultimate Guide for Writers
Having trouble developing the plot of a story? You aren't alone—this is no small task. But that doesn't mean it's impossible. This guide is here to help.
The Remaking of Comedy Central
Behind Chris McCarthy’s plan to transform the ViacomCBS network from a linear cable channel to a multi-platform content machine.
The Six Main Arcs in Storytelling, as Identified by an A.I.
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A machine mapped the most frequently used emotional trajectories in fiction, and compared them with the ones readers like best.
fairseq/examples/stories at main · facebookresearch/fairseq
Facebook AI Research Sequence-to-Sequence Toolkit written in Python. - facebookresearch/fairseq
Fairy Tales Could Be Older Than You Ever Imagined
Jack may have been climbing that beanstalk for more than 5,000 years
How 'One Hundred and One Dalmatians' Saved Disney
Sixty years ago, the company modernized animation when it used Xerox technology on the classic film
From teen wizards to Harry Styles romances: How Wattpad created a user-gene
Wattpad is turning these user-generated stories into books, TV shows, and movies.
Two Assholes Lost in the Woods: An Oral History of ‘Pine Barrens’
Twenty years after it aired, David Chase and Co. look back on one of the wildest, boldest, funniest episodes of ‘The Sopranos’ ever made
John Swartzwelder, Sage of “The Simpsons” | The New Yorker
The first major interview with one of the most revered comedy writers of all time.
The 101 Greatest Endings in Movies History
Good finales offer catharsis. The best deny us closure altogether.
Ode: How to tell a great story | Seth's Blog
Chris Fralic reminded me of this piece I wrote for Ode. Great stories succeed because they are able to capture the imagination of large or important audiences. A great story is true. Not necessaril…
The Low-Key Carter-Era Pleasures of “The Muppet Show”
On the original show, which is now streaming for the first time on Disney+, bits of fabric and glue and yarn become complexly real.
The Tim Ferriss Show Transcripts: Jerry Seinfeld — A Comedy Legend’s Systems, Routines, and Methods for Success (#485) - The Blog of Author…
Please enjoy this transcript of my interview with entertainment icon Jerry Seinfeld (@jerryseinfeld). Jerry’s comedy career took off after his first appearance on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson in 1981. Eight years later, he teamed up with fellow comedian Larry David to…
How to turn small talk into smart conversation
Tips from a comedian and a journalist on the art of going from small talk to big ideas. Try these out at the next summer wedding reception.
‘Nomadland’ | Anatomy of a Scene
The director Chloé Zhao narrates a scene from her movie featuring Frances McDormand and David Strathairn.
How to Write a Novel, According to 10 Really Good Novelists
Take notes everywhere, embrace Wikipedia wormholes and other handy tips
How to create compelling characters | Psyche Guides
It’s not only writer’s intuition. Use personality psychology to create just the right blend of surprise and believability
The 50 Best Cult Movies
From ‘The Room’ to ‘Eraserhead’ to ‘Rocky Horror,’ these are the best movies to ever inspire deep obsession
Perspective | My two weeks with John le Carré: What I learned about writing, fame and grace when I showed him around Miami in 1991.
He wanted to learn about the Miami drug world and had been told I could help.
Kurt Vonnegut on the 8 "shapes" of stories
Before fame, Kurt Vonnegut wrote a master's thesis on the shapes of stories for the anthropology department at the University of Chicago.
What Your Audience Wants From Presentations - Leadership Story Lab
When it comes to public speaking, the one thing your audience needs most is a good hook. Hooking attention takes creativity.
Build a Story Generator | Pranav Vadrevu
Fine-tuning GPT-2 to generate stories based on genres
storytelling arxiv paperswithcode at DuckDuckGo
DuckDuckGo. Privacy, Simplified.
Emotion classification - Wikipedia
Emotion classification, the means by which one may distinguish or contrast one emotion from another, is a contested issue in emotion research and in affective science. Researchers have approached the classification of emotions from one of two fundamental viewpoints:that emotions…