Pixar’s 22 rules of storytelling

Kristen Stieffel, a writing coach, spoke on “Satisfying Endings” at the Florida Writers Association‘s 13th Annual Florida Writer’s Conference last month. As a mystery writer, naturally I’m interested in crafting the right endings to my stories, so her topic was of great interest to me. One piece of advice Kristen gave was this: Coincidences to get characters into trouble are great; coincidences to get them out of it are cheating.

Kristen said this came from “Pixar’s 22 rules of storytelling.”

Monsters, Inc. was one of my favorites movies of all time. Of course, I could also say that about Toy Story 1 through 3 and Wall-E. In fact, Pixar makes great movies that tell great stories. So I clicked on the link and read the 22 rules. If you are a writer–or want to be–I suggest you read them too. Great pointers.

Here’s just one more of Pixar’s rules as a teaser: Rule #1: You admire a character for trying more than for their successes.

My second novel, Double Fake, Double Murder, is now available in both electronic and paperback print versions at Amazon.com and BarnesAndNoble.com.