6 Ways I Learned How Stories Work

by Naomi Write + Co. in entertainment industry, screenwriting, story analysis

I get questions around this a lot and I’ve been pondering it a bit more deeply as I’m writing the introduction to a book I’m releasing in about a month.

Often it’s posed like, “How did you learn to do what you do?” But what I think is the underlying question is, “How can I learn more about how stories work?”

So here are the 6 things that accelerated my learning:

1/ I learned the basics.

Not any one “system” or paradigm, just the fundamental stuff that 90% of everyone (and 99.9% of industry people) agree on and use in their conversations about story. Three act structure as beginning-middle-end or setup-escalation-resolution. Conflict. Stakes.

2/ I made a deliberate practice out of watching movies.

I didn’t think of this myself – it was working with Blake on his second Save the Cat! book that prompted me to take on the task – but it brought on a big leap forward in my understanding of how stories work and are put together.

Here’s the gist of the process:

1. Choose a few movies to study.

   We covered 50 for the STC book but I’m going to suggest you start with a lineup of two or three. When you choose a couple to study in depth it gives you a chance to really learn how they work inside and out.

2. Watch the first movie all the way through.

   Pay attention, but don’t take notes. Absorb the story. When it’s done, think about the foundation pieces (protagonist, goal, antagonist / main conflict, stakes) and see if you can identify how that story’s foundation was built.

3. Second viewing:

   Write down what happens scene by scene. With that plot x-ray in front of you, analyze the structure. Can you see the turn or break from Act 1 to Act 2, and from Act 2 to Act 3? Can you see the event that kicks the story into motion (the Inciting Incident) and causes the protagonist to embark on the Act 2 Adventure? Can you identify the main conflict (protagonist vs. antagonist, and what each is trying to achieve, e.g. their opposing goals)? Can you identify the Climax, where the main conflict is finally resolved?

4. Third viewing:

   Appreciate how this story was put together. Because you’ve seen it before and know what’s coming, you’ll notice things this time around that you didn’t before. Review your thoughts on its structure – do you agree with your original analysis? Also, pay attention to character arc and theme. What’s the transformation? What’s the message at the heart of it?

5. Repeat for the next movie.

3/ I read books to help me understand what I was noticing in my analyses.

Part of learning how stories work is being able to articulate what you’re seeing. As you’re studying stories in depth, it can be helpful to read some screenwriting how-to books (or articles) and see if what they’re saying matches up with what you’re noticing. If it does, it might help you more fully grasp what it is you’re seeing.

If it doesn’t, think about why. (Always think about why.) Ask yourself if the story you’re studying works, and if it does – why doesn’t it work the way the “how to” says it should? Is it because the “how to” is wrong? Is it because the story had to navigate a specific or unique challenge?

Thinking it through will help you build out your own screenwriting framework.

(Here are a few of my recommended screenwriting books.)

4/ I practiced.

I tested what I was learning – both my understanding of what others were saying on the subject, and also my own developing ideas and theories – by building stories from the ground up. Some were my own story ideas. Some were others’ projects. You learn a lot from the experience of trying to put the puzzle together, especially when you have the variety of doing some puzzles alone and others in collaboration.

The practice piece is easy to underestimate, and I’ll be honest – there’s no shortcut here. I have put in hundreds if not thousands of hours building stories by myself and with others, in-person and online. But you don’t need hundreds of hours to get started, you accumulate those hours along the way. Start building stories, your own and with others. You’ll get better and better (and faster) as you go.

5/ I analyzed a lot of screenplays.

I read a ton of screenplays, but more importantly – I made deliberate practice of this too. I didn’t just read and then toss it aside to go onto the next one. I thought about the story using many of the same questions from Step 2, above. Always trying to understand how this particular story works, and if it doesn’t – then what isn’t working? Which pieces are out of place?

6/ I analyzed a few select screenplays in depth.

As with Step 2, I think it can be really enlightening to choose a couple of screenplays to study very, very closely and in great detail. With these I’d ask all of the usual questions but in addition to that, I’d study each act, each turning point, each sequence, each scene, each relationship, each character arc… and more. Looking to understand. Always asking, what makes this work?

How about you – how did you learn how stories work?