Notes tagged “Story map”

2025

• Aug 5
  Stories are composed of moments and spans Story structure leverages how human memory works. The key, memorable moments are turning points. But the spans that connect them are no less important.

  5 min
• 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
• 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