Story Telling Tips: 22 Rules of Story Telling By Pixar Movie Studio

Being a  blogger is being a story teller. Whether you write a sports, mommy blog, personal finance blog e.t.c......your business is telling a good story. To be a good story teller  you need to learn from the best. One of the best story tellers is Pixar, the animation movie studio founded by the late Steve Jobs.

Story Tellings Tips By Pixar Movie Studio

Pbjpublishing have shared an infographic, 22 Rules to phenomenal story telling. Personally I call them story telling tips from Pixar movie studio. I love Pixar, their stories are original, funny, and appeal to all audiences. They’re masters.

For easier reading I post the text from Pixar Touch blog who were first to write the story telling tips.

#1: You admire a character for trying more than for their successes.
#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 v. different.
#3: Trying for theme is important, but you won’t see what the story is actually about til you’re at the end of it. Now rewrite.
#4: Once upon a time there was ___. Every day, ___. One day ___. Because of that, ___. Because of that, ___. Until finally ___.
#5: Simplify. Focus. Combine characters. Hop over detours. You’ll feel like you’re losing valuable stuff but it sets you free.
#6: What is your character good at, comfortable with? Throw the polar opposite at them. Challenge them. How do they deal?
#7: Come up with your ending before you figure out your middle. Seriously. Endings are hard, get yours working up front.
#8: Finish your story, let go even if it’s not perfect. In an ideal world you have both, but move on. Do better next time.
#9: When you’re stuck, make a list of what WOULDN’T happen next. Lots of times the material to get you unstuck will show up.
#10: Pull apart the stories you like. What you like in them is a part of you; you’ve got to recognize it before you can use it.
#11: Putting it on paper lets you start fixing it. If it stays in your head, a perfect idea, you’ll never share it with anyone.
#12: Discount the 1st thing that comes to mind. And the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th – get the obvious out of the way. Surprise yourself.
#13: Give your characters opinions. Passive/malleable might seem likable to you as you write, but it’s poison to the audience.
#14: Why must you tell THIS story? What’s the belief burning within you that your story feeds off of? That’s the heart of it.
#15: If you were your character, in this situation, how would you feel? Honesty lends credibility to unbelievable situations.
#16: What are the stakes? Give us reason to root for the character. What happens if they don’t succeed? Stack the odds against.
#17: No work is ever wasted. If it’s not working, let go and move on – it’ll come back around to be useful later.
#18: You have to know yourself: the difference between doing your best & fussing. Story is testing, not refining.
#19: Coincidences to get characters into trouble are great; coincidences to get them out of it are cheating.
#20: Exercise: take the building blocks of a movie you dislike. How d’you rearrange them into what you DO like?
#21: You gotta identify with your situation/characters, can’t just write ‘cool’. What would make YOU act that way?
#22: What’s the essence of your story? Most economical telling of it? If you know that, you can build out from there.

Here is to Successful story telling!!!!

How To Get a Book Deal From a Blog

Mashable is reporting Tumblr blog Text From Dog, which publishes fictitious SMS conversations between a dog and its owner, is the latest blog to land a book deal. 

U.K. publisher Headline Publishing announced it would release the book Oct. 25.

The blog launched in April with a brief description: “My dog sends me texts. I post them here. Yeah, it’s weird.” 

After I read the news report I wondered How To Get a Book Deal From a Blog

According to Mashable : Images are Better Than Text.

Other blogs have found success entering the book market. Dear Photograph, a popular blog showcasing photos within photos, released a book earlier this year. And the Feminist Ryan Gosling blog unleashes a book in August. The books inspired by blogs are image heavy and contain very little text.

Another thing you need for a publisher to give you a book deal is : An Online Brand.  You need your blog to be popular. You don't need to be a celebrity but you need an online persona. People need to know you, love what you offer and love you big time. Even if they don't buy the book for what is inside, they will buy it because it has your name on the cover.

Expand Your Footprint beyond your blog

Publishers are risk averse people, rarely do they give a book deal to unknown writer but if you have internet clout they may come knocking. You have to expand your footprint online. And that means being on Twitter or Facebook.  You’ll know you’re ready when a publisher will put your face on the book jacket. People need to be able to go, ‘Oh yeah, I know that guy.’ I’ve got the ‘I know that guy’"

Be Unique & Be Different

For a publisher to turn your blog to book your blog will need to be a breath of fresh air. To know you have a winner, read the feedback from your readers. If they describe your post with the following words Brilliant, Creative, Unique, Awesome...etc. Know you are on to something.

Killer Tips On How To Blog On Huffington Post

This post will show you how to blog on Huffington Post. 

Huffington post offers talented and semi talented writers an opportunity to blog on their platform. They have two classes of bloggers, paid bloggers and free bloggers. To get a paid blogging gig you will need to apply for the job just like you would apply anywhere else. If you just want to blog for Huffington Post without being paid continue reading the rest of my post. 

How To Get a Blog On Huffington Post

Apply Directly From Huffington Post Website

On the HuffingtonPost.com site, on the right towards the bottom, it has a button which says "If you have something to say" say it on Huffington Post. Click it, fill in the info they request, and they get back to you. They will require you to provide writing samples. Develop a basic portfolio of your best articles and be ready to submit it.

Target Huffington Post Editors

Find the name of the editor for the vertical [section] where you would like to submit your blog. Their emails are always their name followed by @huffingtonpost.com. 

Send them the first 400-500 words of your blog post in the body of the email, not as an attachment. You should get a response fairly soon.

Be A Prolific Commenter For Huffington Post

I have heard prolific commenters have been rewarded with writing gig. Although am not sure how true it is. If you take this route make sure your comments are lengthy, factual, insightful and unique. If you do that somebody may spot you and invite you to write for them.

  

Advantage of free blogging for Huffington Post. 

Readers for your blog 

Huffington Post has over 35 million monthly visitors. Those visitors view over 1 billion pages on the site. What this means is your blogs have a very high chance of being seen and read inside Huffington Post than when you blog for your own independent blog. 

Support For Huffington Post Bloggers.

Huffington Post has an internal system to teach you the best ways on how to write for internet. They will teach you, how to write killer headlines, how to write sticky posts, and most crucial, how to write articles that attract visitors from search engines such as Google and Bing. 

A free blog can be a stepping stone to a paid blogging gig. If your writing is world class expect their talent spotters to invite you to paid bloggers club.

Whatever route you take, Good Luck!