Stories – what makes a book a book and a movie a movie!

Classic Story Structure No matter what form a story takes, it adheres to a formula that has been around since storytelling began. This formula calls for every story to have a beginning, a middle, and an end. In theory this sounds simple. In practice, however, it’s not always that easy.

Visualizing a story BeginningMiddleEnd Introduction of main characters Set up the crisis/crises Catalyst that sets the story in motion Central problem gets bigger Conflict and complications lead to crisis Characters face their toughest obstacles Resolution – characters will either succeed or fail

Story vs. Plot The words “story” and “plot” are often used interchangeably, but it isn’t that same thing. They are nonetheless dependent on each other’s presence when it comes to writing a good script. Let’s say that your friends ask you what your film is going to be about or what the recent book/movie you saw is about. How would you answer the question?

Story “It’s about…” – a one-liner summary of the type of tale it is without giving away any of the specifics on where the characters came from or where they’re going next. When you can explain the gist of your film in one sentence, you’re talking about the story.

Plot Let’s say your friend is still curious about the book/film. The next questions they will probably ask will be about how certain instances of the story came about. Any question that queries how a situation happened to come about or how it is going to unfold in the future is answered in terms of the plot.

Story vs. Plot So basically… A story is a one-line synopsis of the book/film. A plot gives the beginning, middle, and end of the film with how the situations have or will unfold in a short description.

Story For each of the following films, identify what the story is about in one sentence. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone Jurassic Park Toy Story Finding Nemo

Journal For one of these films, describe in 100 words or less what the plot is about. (Hint: You don’t have enough words to describe every scene so focus your answer on the elements of each movie’s beginning, middle, and end.) Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone Jurassic Park Toy Story Finding Nemo

Homework Choose a TV show that you have never seen before and watch one episode of it. Who are the characters? What was the central problem in the particular episode you watched? Could this episode be completely understood on its own or do you feel you needed to have seen prior installments to know what was going on? What was the story? What was the plot?

Journal What kind of story would you want to write? Jot down three ideas using only one sentence each. What – in one sentence – is the plot of each of these?