All notes

2025

• Jul 1
  Turning points are disasters and decisions A look at the 1998 romcom ‘You’ve Got Mail’ shows us that Dwight Swain’s scenes and sequels are an ideal tool for crafting compelling turning points.

  6 min
• Jun 3
  Four observations in response to Nathan Baugh on story twists To write good twists, bury details in a ‘sandwich,’ deliver the payoff just in time, surprise your audience with the method or degree of your payoff, and don’t ‘explain the joke.’

  6 min
• May 6
  Use one scene-sequel cycle each act In a Western Character-event story, the scene-sequel cycle repeats three times on the act level. Using ‘Star Wars: A New Hope’ as an example, we examine how that works and how you can use it for your stories.

  10 min
• Apr 3
  The map and the mountain: Fifteen core beats of story structure Story structure frameworks are like maps. They need interpretation. In this note, I briefly cover the framework I use and introduce a series on how it works.

  7 min
• Mar 4
  Naming is hard: The making of ‘The Mirror of Tantalus’ (part five) The story of how I iterated through different working titles for my novelette, ‘The Mirror of Tantalus’

  4 min
• Feb 4
  Working with an editor: The making of ‘The Mirror of Tantalus’ (part four) The story of me sending the fourth draft of my novelette, ‘The Mirror of Tantalus’ to an editor, working through changes based on her feedback, and further revising with other modalities

  5 min
• Jan 7
  Revisions: The making of ‘The Mirror of Tantalus’ (part three) The story of working through the third and fourth drafts of my novelette, ‘The Mirror of Tantalus’

  3 min

2024

• Dec 3
  Drafting: The making of ‘The Mirror of Tantalus’ (part two) The tools and process I used to write the second draft of my novelette, ‘The Mirror of Tantalus’ and some examples of the revisions I made at that stage of the story’s development

  4 min
• Nov 5
  Beginnings: The making of ‘The Mirror of Tantalus’ (part one) The story of how I conceived of the premise for my novelette, ‘The Mirror of Tantalus’ and how connecting with a coworker encouraged me to write the story

  6 min
• Oct 1
  A five-bucket theory of story Stories that ‘work’ are clear, believable, engaging, affecting, and meaningful.

  7 min
• Sep 3
  Castles, concreteness, and human communication Stories help us share our ideas more clearly by embodying them in transferable forms.

  6 min
• Aug 6
  The skills to analyze and synthesize are different things There’s a popular saying that ‘those who can’t do, teach,’ but the truth is more nuanced.

  6 min
• Jul 2
  Beginning, middle, and end part 7: Event stories The key change in an event story about the protagonist’s situation and circumstances. The beginning introduces an outward goal, the middle shows the struggle to obtain it, and the ending shows success or failure.

  12 min
• Jun 4
  Beginning, middle, and end part 6: Character stories part 2 The key change in a character story is about worldview and beliefs. The dilemma and decision show how the protagonist grapples with change, and the ending demonstrates that her change was genuine.

  11 min
• May 7
  Beginning, middle, and end part 5: Character stories part 1 The key change in a character story is about worldview and beliefs. The beginning establishes the protagonist’s ‘lie,’ and the progress and disaster phases show how that lie is challenged.

  9 min
• Apr 2
  Beginning, middle, and end part 4: Idea stories The key change in an idea story is about understanding. The beginning introduces a question, the middle shows the pursuit of an answer, and the ending reveals it.

  10 min
• Mar 5
  Beginning, middle, and end part 3: Story types The three key types of change in stories are revelation, character decision, and external action. These map to idea, character, and event stories in Orson Scott Card’s MICE quotient.

  4 min
• Mar 2
  The right 15% To be world-class requires focused effort and persistence in the right direction.

  2 min
• Feb 6
  Beginning, middle, and end part 2: In search of a useful framework Beginning, middle, and end can be framed as the cause of change, the process of change, and the consequence of change. Scene-sequel format helps illustrate the process of change.

  8 min
• Jan 2
  Beginning, middle, and end part 1: Aristotle misinterpreted Aristotle’s claim that a story should have a ‘beginning, middle, and end’ seems to be more about wholeness than structure.

  2 min

2023

• Dec 5
  Storytelling + UX design: tips from 7 years at Microsoft UX designers can use storytelling to share knowledge and influence decisions using spoken stories, storyboards and prototypes, and in-product illustrations.

  15 min
• Sep 21
  Thesis, antithesis, and synthesis Storytellers can use a thesis-antithesis-synthesis story structure to illustrate change and convey a story’s thematic argument.

  11 min
• Sep 4
  Symbolism and irony in Mary Poppins The bank run sequence in Disney’s Mary Poppins does a delighful job of illustrating how storytellers can use symbolism and irony to powerfully underscore theme.

  4 min
• Aug 27
  Red herring plotlines and satisfying plot twists Storytellers can build satisfying payoffs by using beats from a visible plotline to lay the foundation for a second, hidden plotline

  4 min
• Aug 26
  The spiral of refinement Like a spiral, drawing closer but never reaching the center, creative work involves iteration and refinement.

  2 min
• Aug 26
  The realm of appropriate payoffs The best story payoffs match the setup while being better than expected.

  5 min
• Aug 24
  Optimal difference maximizes story payoffs The best story payoffs are neither too similar nor too different from audience expectation.

  3 min
• Aug 12
  Deus ex machina and the soul of a satisfying story ending To be most satisfying, payoffs in stories should be set up physically, morally, and thematically.

  10 min
• Jul 23
  Storytelling, neuroscience, and the rule of three: prediction and reward The most satisfying execution of the rule of three hooks into your audience’s brains’ reward systems by perfectly fulfilling the promise of the setup, but doing it in a way that subverts their expectations.

  9 min
• Jul 4
  Storytelling and the rule of three: trajectory and payoff The rule of three is a powerful storytelling mechanic that leverages human psychology to set up and pay off audience expectation in a satisfying way.

  11 min
• Jan 20
  Storytelling with large-scale, complex bracketing structures Story structures like the Hero’s Journey and seven-point plot structure can use bracketing to enhance their emotional and thematic resonance.

  7 min
• Jan 12
  Creating story arcs with three-unit brackets Bracketing is a three-unit story structure following an A - B - A form. It’s often used to illustrate transformation by returning to a familiar image, motif, setting, or situation where something has changed because of the intervening story.

  5 min

2022

• Dec 23
  AI art and the loss of practice With the advent of AI art generation, one of the things that may be at risk is the ineffable nuance in skill that comes from repeated practice.

  4 min
• Dec 19
  Creating meaning with two consecutive story units Human brains can’t help but look for patterns, even when nothing’s there. Storytellers can leverage this tendency, juxtaposing images in order to create rich and layered meaning.

  10 min
• Dec 7
  Story structure and theme in Ira Glass’ anecdote and reflection One of the most basic story structures is two parts: anecdote and reflection. A series of meaningfully related events, and a thematic argument explaining what it was all about.

  8 min
• Dec 1
  Design your story to fit humans The best tools are designed to be ergonomic, fitted to people, rather than requiring people to fit them. Similarly, as a storyteller, you should design your stories to fit the way people’s minds work.

  5 min
• Nov 25
  Lazy engineers and hard-working tour guides Good storytellers are like tour guides, using technique and craft to make their stories as easy as possible for their audiences to engage with. It’s hard work, but it pays off.

  3 min
• Nov 13
  How Orson Scott Card’s MICE quotient maps to internal and external genres of narrative drive Story theorists commonly apply the MICE quotient to story structure, but elements from the framework apply to the core conflicts behind action-, revelation-, and character-based plots.

  5 min
• Nov 7
  Virtual reality comes in three flavors Virtual reality and augmented reality can be achieved through multiple approaches, including wearables, implants, and environments.

  7 min
• Oct 24
  Applying scene sequel format to story structure Author Dwight V. Swain’s scene-sequel format applies on a broader level to entire act structures.

  6 min
• Aug 11
  The interest-effort formula for engaging story audiences When engaging with stories, audiences experience a push and pull between effort and interest. Storytellers can tune this balance to control the types of experiences they create.

  8 min
• Jul 3
  The subjective awareness of peak experience When audiences have peak aesthetic experiences, they move from tension to release, often experiencing interaction of both happiness and sadness and having a sense of profundity and connectedness.

  11 min
• Jun 27
  Peak experiences and reward In peak aesthetic experience, activation of reward circuitry manifest in increased pleasure, attention, and memory.

  7 min
• Jun 17
  The physiology of peak experiences When something elicits peak aesthetic experience, our bodies are put into a unique physiological state that mingles elements of both tension and release.

  6 min
• Jun 10
  Peak experience and the breakthrough moment At climactic moments, story audiences should experience the greatest magnitude in shifts from tension and disequilibrium to balance and release.

  11 min
• Jun 5
  Intensity and peak experience Tension must reach a certain minimum level of intensity before peak aesthetic experience is possible.

  8 min
• May 25
  Priming, callbacks, and peak experience Storytellers can use both tonal and thematic setups to create peak aesthetic experiences.

  8 min
• May 22
  Incongruity and peak experience Storytellers can create peak aesthetic experiences by setting up imbalances for which our brains naturally seek resolution.

  8 min
• May 9
  Optimal difference and peak experience To make story moments maximally engaging, storytellers must find a balance between expectation and suprise. Too familiar is boring. Too different is unbelievable.

  4 min
• Apr 15
  Expectation, the knowledge instinct, and peak experience Stories hook into our reward systems, leveraging our brains’ built-in mechanisms for learning in order to create anticipation and narrative drive.

  12 min
• Apr 8
  What types of content create peak experience? Moving stories often feature a common set of characteristics, among them resonance with values, relationship change, prosocial actions, and moments of mixed valence.

  7 min
• Apr 5
  Investment and peak experience The deeper we are invested in the characters and themes in a story, the more likely we will find the story moving.

  5 min
• Mar 29
  Definitions: what are peak aesthetic experiences? A peak aesthetic experience is one in which a person is exposed to a particularly meaningful work of art, music, nature, or story and experiences tears, chills, a sense of being moved, or some combination of these.

  1 min
• Mar 21
  Sharing my research for a book on story In the interests of ‘working with the garage door open,’ I’m sharing my research notes.

  1 min

2021

• Oct 15
  Sky lanterns and irony: How Disney’s ‘Tangled’ amplifies impact Like the writers of Disney’s ‘Tangled,’ storytellers can use dramatic irony to increase the emotional impact of key scenes in their stories.

  2 min
• Jul 23
  The three underlying functions of inciting incidents When story theorists talk about inciting incidents, they’re often referring to one or more of three distinct story functions: the tipping of the apple cart, the call to adventure, or the decision to cross the threshold.

  10 min

2020

• Jun 26
  From technicians to talent: three phases in creative markets As technologies become more approachable, there’s a shift in the types of people who can best differentiate on their use.

  3 min

2015

• Aug 15
  Distinguishing between structure and style in design Style is what people immediately think about (and remember), but structure is what communicates.

  6 min
• Apr 10
  Hey Amazon, let’s make navigating digital books even better Gesture adds new ways to interact with navigation in digital spaces.

  10 min
• Jan 23
  Shinichi Suzuki and the three domains of mastery An exploration of the interaction between talent, education, and skill.

  5 min