Pixar's Rules Of Storytelling

Rule #1: You admire a character more for trying than for their successes.

Rule #2: You’ve got to keep in mind what’s interesting to you as an audience. Not what’s fun to do as a writer. The two can be very different.

Rule #3: Trying for theme is important. However you won’t see what the story is about until you’re at the end of the story. Got it? Now rewrite.

Rule #4: Once upon a time there was______. Every day _______. One day________. Because of that,______. Until finally______.

Rule #5: Simplify. Focus. Hop over detours. You’ll feel like you’re losing valuable stuff but it sets you free.

Rule #6: What’s your character good at/most comfortable with? Throw the polar opposite at them. Challenge them. How do they deal?

Rule #7: Come up with your ending before you figure out your middle. Seriously, endings are hard. Get yours working up front.

Rule #8: Finish your story. Let go if it isn’t perfect. In an ideal world you have both, but move on. Do better next time.

Rule #9: When you’re stuck, make a list of what would and wouldn’t happen next. Material to get you unstuck will show up.

Rule #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.

Rule #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.

Rule #12: Discount the first idea that comes to mind. And the 2nd, and the 3rd and 4th and 5th. Get the obvious ones out of the way. Surprise yourself.

Rule #13: Give your characters opinions. Passive/malleable might seem likeable as you write, but it’s poison to the audience.

Rule #14: Why must you tell this story? What’s the belief burning within you that this story feeds off of? That’s the heart of it.

Rule #15: If you were your character in this situation, how would you feel? Honesty lends credibility to unbelievable situations.

Rule #16: What are the stakes? Give us a reason to root for the character. What happens if they don’t succeed? Stack the odds against them.

Rule #17: No work is ever wasted. If it doesn’t work, let go and move on. It’ll come back around and be useful later.

Rule #18: You have to know yourself: the difference between being yourself and fussing. Story is testing, not refining.

Rule #19: Coincidences to get characters into trouble are great, coincidences to get them out of it are cheating.

Rule #20: Exercise: Take the building blocks out of a movie you dislike. How’d you arrange them into what you do like?

Rule #21: You gotta identify with your characters/situations. You can’t just write “cool.” What would make you act that way?

Rule #22: What’s the essence of your story? The most economical telling of it? If you know that, you can build out from there.