Idris Elba and Beasts of No Nation is the cure for ho-hum storytelling.

I knew it was going to be a hot one today. 😅

Working on a television series that isn’t spec is so much better than working on a series that is spec. I highly recommend it for everyone. #WritingCommunity

When I was an animator at Dreamworks & I was starting to build what is now Narrative First/Subtxt I would always think to myself, how awesome would it be if I spent the first couple hours of every morning answering story questions for writers all across the world. 🤗

I LOVED Luca, but the phrase “bean shaped mouth in a pear shaped head” to describe every CalArts character design from Steven Universe to Luca makes me laugh 🤣

When your side hustle turned business nets you 3x more than a major studio with mouseears used to pay you to animate on their major motion pictures and theme parks…you know you made the right choice (hint: me – both who this is about, and who I chose).

Words cannot express how grateful I am for everyone of my subscribers to Subtext who helped analyze the entire first Season of HBO’s Succession from beginning to end. A monumental feat that I can wait to share with everyone!! Subtext #screenwriting #writing

I really miss my writing/animating buddy. 😢

James Horner Rocketeer Re-master

My first documentation success story. While I was sleeping somebody needed help abd they were able to get the answer just by reading The Manual.

This only encourages me to do more!

As annoying as Wish Dragon was as a complete copy of Aladdin…it actually turned out to be better in some respects. Top quality. (And the animation was top notch, Olivier!)

Forrest Gump finally up in Subtext. Always thought this one was a bit off (Jenny’s Resolve happens too late for the argument to work), but after going back and forth last year found a Storyform that was close. Need to work on that Premise though. #screenwriting

This one is starred and saved for periodic reading, Why we prioritize support over sales in our SaaS business. And while at times I feel Subtext is one that requires a 68-video course (and that video demos are key), I appreciate the focus on putting people over product.

I wonder how many storytellers know that the flow of the space-time continuum in their stories changes the order and substance of their scenes. 🤓

Subtext - Story Structure for Creative Geniuses #screenwriting

That subtextual analysis of Swingers, written back in 2019 and updated for the new story engine in Subtext. If you ever wanted to know why that phone call scene is so cringy (and a bit too real), this is why: narrativefirst.com/analysis/… #screenwriting

Easily the most important choice you’ll make when writing a story. Setting the Four Throughlines.

Bingo! Back in business on Monterey, looking dark and moody for the rest of the summer. 🌞🕶

Subtext is looking good in Monterey’s Safari (love the top theme bar 🤩)

Ending today with news that a musical I helped develop (in the story department) is being workshopped. 😃🎉🥳

Here’s the analysis of searching, which you haven’t seen I would highly recommend–both for the cleverness of the presentation AND the storyform…searching #screenwriting

And, of course, there’s my life story in Jon Favreau’s Swingers which I finally added to Subtext. (Pretty relevant message if you ask me ☺️) The Storyform for Swingers

With the narrative engine complete, I’m going back through and publishing my backlog of Storyforms sitting in the cloud (some dated 2019!) The first is searching - great thriller I had totally forgotten about. searching

Today’s class on Episodes 7 and 8 of the first season of Succession went GREAT! If predictions are right then Episodes 9 and 10 will be all about Becoming…☺️ #screenwriting

When a client writes to you to say they pitched the idea you helped them with and the production company LOVED it! ☺️ #alwayssuccessstories

Jupiter in Spatial Audio while reading Tchaikovsky’s Children of Ruin. 🥰

Don’t mind me. I’ll be re-installing everything after switching to Monterey a bit too soon 🙃 (I never learn).

My house is hilarious. 90’s West Coast rap downstairs. East Coast upstairs. (Obviously my studio is downstairs 😑🙂)

Want to know both the potential for conflict AND the cyclical progressions of growth for your story? There’s an app for that. 😃

Introducing Scene Resolution in Subtext. Convert a single sentence premise into structure for every Scene in your story–all with the click of a button.

Know what your characters are going to say before they say it.

Avoiding the False Victory–in which I draw an analogy between Save the Cat’s “structure” and flying a helicopter in extreme conditions–definitely not recommended.

A quick little something about Promising Young Woman for those confused by the praise it received.

Want to see how easy it is to build a meaningful story with the click of a button? I’m updating the manual for Subtext now that the app is feature complete.

Made subtle yet important changes to Tenet in Subtext after last night’s Dramatica community meeting.

Worth looking into if you want to become a better Protagonist for your stories! 🤣

What it is it called when you work with brilliant filmmakers from around the world? Oh yeah. Dream job!! 😃🎉

My kind of Saturday Night Live

All matters of conflict in a narrative come down to this: being chased by a bear is not a problem. It’s only a problem if you run away.

When a client returns with a draft of their story that’s so compelling you can’t wait to see it up on-screen!

New Rock Sugar album! ReInventinator - pure 80s heaven!

Episode Two of Season One of Succession is even better! Really interesting how the same narrative dynamics appear in both episodes, while the specific Problem driving each episode is slightly different…

Absolutely in love with the Premise Subtext came up with for the first episode of HBO’s Succession. Perfecto!

Turns out I was able to predict the Narrative Personality of Tenet just by watching the trailer. Authors tend to repeat themselves & are drawn to a certain area of the mind’s recognition of conflict.

Can’t stay up any longer. Guess I’ll be asleep when powered flight takes place on another planet!

Devastated. The Dome was my temple.

So excited. Just led what was easily one of the best classes ever. I now have recorded a clear explanation of what it means to replace a Problem with a Solution in a complete narrative! Can’t wait to get this one out…

New Endel Deeper Focus soundscapes are intense! Like living within a Hans Zimmer soundscape. I can’t stop typing!!

The Father brings the total number of unique narrative structures in Subtext to 483.

Definitely getting closer with this one…awareness distorting issues of destiny (the promise of a bright future).

Need to work on this one a bit. Not sure if Cassie ends up “staying present, and improving relationships” 😆

The narrative Premise for The Father as seen in Subtext. The “no sense of the present” was completely random and based on other choices I made as to what the story was focusing on.

The Father is adapted from a play and the reason it feels like a play is not simply setting and stage direction, but rather the SOURCE of conflict within the narrative. In plays, this source is almost always found in fixed mindsets–or in this case, a failing mindset.https://narrativefirst.com/articles/conflict-of-a-different-nature/

Wow two nights in a row. I thought 2021 was going to be a snooze fest at the Oscars but Nomadland was stellar, Promising Young Woman was fantastic, abs The Father tonight…heartbreakingly beautiful. So many great stories and great performances this year.

Promising Young Woman was great. Started plugging the narrative into Subtext and guess what turned out to be the central Plot element?? Destiny! Which, in Dramatica, is essentially an issue of promising young women being cut short of their potential 🤯

Just going through Shawshank and seeing how the narrative structure predicted by Subtext plays out…figured this one section would be about the “hope is a dangerous thing” argument at the lunch table. Clicked Breakdown and look at the first illustration it came up with

With Star Wars, there are 4 sources of conflict explored: searching for the plans (Doing), interrogations and educating Alderaan about the Death Star (Learning), escaping with the Princess (Obtaining), and underestimating chances of success (Understanding). narrativefirst.com/articles/…

Last week I unraveled a way to predict the order of thematic events in a story through a single premise. This week I start exploring what that looks like in completed works of art, Plot Points and the Inciting Incident

Last week I unraveled a way to predict the order of thematic events in a story through a single premise. This week I start exploring what that looks like in completed works of art, Plot Points and the Inciting Incident

Working on the new Storybeat Cards based on all the discoveries and new developments from last week. This is looking pretty good, especially when you consider this is pretty much how that opening with scene at the review board plays out.

When using your predictive narrative application to show exactly why The Shawshank Redemption is a story you can watch (or read) a thousand times, it helps to have Thomas Newman’s soundtrack on infinite repeat.

Because even something as ridiculous as Bad Trip can be written with a halfway-decent story. 😆 narrativefirst.com/storyform…

Judging by the responses in my inbox this morning, Subtext’s new Scene Resolution feature is going to be the most welcomed innovation in storytelling ever! 😃 youtu.be/RWyT605iO…

Well hello, Grammarly. It’s been a couple months. Now that I’ve got Subtext figured out…it’s back to writing 😊

A writer/editor/user of Subtext sent me versions of Memento and The Prestige re-ordered to show the sequence of events as they happened–the way a Storyform describes a narrative. To say I’m incredibly excited to go through them this way is an understatement! 😃

Pretty much Neo’s final speech on the phone.

Seriously?! And this is what Subtext predicts Ben should be talking about on the trip to Alderaan - you know, controlling your impulses by reaching out with your Senses! And changing your perception!!

Just going to leave this here…as this is what Subtext predicts George should be doing in the latter half of the second Act…when he finally musters up the courage to punch Biff…

When you solve a computational problem that has plagued your mind for over 22 years, there can be no better backing track than Demi Lovato and Sam Fischer’s What Other People Say.

When you have to use Bad Trip as an example of clear storyforming to a writer … 🤣

I was wrong, Nomadland was not best movie of the year.

Bad Trip was. 🤣

It’s crazy how much impact a single = sign can have on an entire application. ☹️

Second app is officially profitable. 🎉 😃

I could really get into this—what am I going to build next?!

Who would’ve thought that breadth-first order and depth-first order would have anything to do with telling a story? One floods the landscape to find the topology. The other is like a rat in a maze constantly backtracking. Wonder which is plot and which is character 🤔

My first son is 22 today. The cliche is totally real, it goes by way too fast. And for those struggling to work from home with kids around–I’d do anything to be locked in a house with that kid for a year (when he was 4 or 5 mind you, not now! 😄)

Sometimes it takes five years to sell an original idea and have it turned into a movie 😊

This week’s Building Subtext is out: Refinements to the Premise Builder. Small changes that make a significant impact on user interaction. Also, I’m getting more comfortable which means less time editing the transcript. 😄

The world is huge. I am small The universe is infinite. My time is short. 🧘🏻‍♂️

So cool building an app with someone else (my first after Subtext! 😃) Much easier the second time around once you figure out where everything goes. Rolling out this Tuesday to a select group of people (5,000!)

Seems like a lot of writers are eager to start new projects this week. No better place to start than this giant series of articles on Preparing to Write a Complete Story.

The view from your writing desk when you don’t use Subtext.

Just had my first support request where I could point them to my brand new feature that saves a ton of time and avoids convoluted workarounds. Hat a great unexpected side-effect 😃

Oh man! And looking over the Plot Progression, just making that switch from a Changed Resolve to a Steadfast Resolve, re-ordered Fern’s fictional arc from Doing to Understanding (working to finally appreciating) whereas before it was Understanding to Learning (wrong)🤯

When asked about why it was so good (from a narrative structure standpoint), the fact that she (Chloe Zhao) was able to illustrate the Influence Character Throughline with REAL people (except for Straitharn of course) is masterful.

Made a slight tweak to the Storyform for Nomadland in Subtext. I had originally encoded Fern with a Changed resolve, but that’s super clearly wrong (after sleeping on it). Her denial to stay is an indication of STEADFAST resolve (with Straithairn obs. Changing) narrativefirst.com/storyform…

Narrative First is now Narrative First, Inc. 😊

Nub nub. E chug yub nub. Ko nee kopechkee ganut ga fling hoo haaaaaa

For some reason, it’s a Return of the Jedi soundtrack night.

Not saying you could end up with the same result, but Nomadland’s narrative structure is as good a start as any.

Not saying you could end up with the same result, but a meaningful narrative structure is as good a start as any.

Even something as simple and as understated as Nomadland works through a complete narrative structure. Those longing for what has been lost address evidence that they’ll be able to see them somewhere down the road.

Wow, Nomadland.

I’ve received more emails of congratulations and appreciation after today’s release than anything I’ve done in a long time. Feels amazing to know so many appreciate the work and I’m so grateful that I can connect with so many!

Witness the power of this fully armed and operational battle station!

youtu.be/qomkz8fCK…

(Really, just an insanely cool way to find narrative structure through artistic intent!)

Best soundtrack for rolling out a major release or submitting a project you poured your soul into.

And just like that, it is done.

The Premise Builder in Subtext is now live.

Have at it everyone. 😊

Well, that sounds about right. 😊

Holy F. If you have failed jobs in the Queue, you fix it locally and push it up, Laravel will finish off the jobs with the new code 🤯🤯🤯 who the heck came up with this stuff?! @laravelphp

Meeting with someone 8:30 Sat morning is perfectly OK with me if you come with a beautiful work of art. Just wait until this time next year. 🤩

Totally random Premise generated from Subtext after choosing Temptation as the central Character Method and Obtaining (destroying the ring) as the main Plot Method. 🤯

“What if the characters don’t know the Story Goal until the 2nd Act?” The Goal of a Story isn’t for your characters, its for you the Author. Structure is something you lay down over events, not what imaginary characters see or dream up.

As we repeat the 80s and 40s, storytelling shifts back to your classic “Hero’s Journey” model, with achieving something as the focus of the Plot (winning) and either Avoidance or Freedom as the driving force. Lion King or Karate Kid. Your choice.

Netflix interested in a new series…it couldn’t possibly have anything to do with this bad boy, could it 😊

Planning on rolling out the Premise Builder for Subtext this weekend. Three years in the making. If you’re not familiar, here’s a primer on how The Effects of Premise on Narrative Structure.

This sounds like a good one, particularly given current events. And look at that–no examples found, which means this could be the first…

When I was teaching story at CalArts, one of my favorite things to do was to put together these video compilations explaining a certain concept. This was the first: Every Complete Story is an Argument (looking at you, Judas)

Getting closer to making the visions in my head a reality for all…

Why write complete stories? Without the friendship between Red and Andy (the Relationship Story Throughline) there is no final scene on the beach in The Shawshank Redemption. The original cut of the film did not have this scene, yet everyone felt there was something MISSING. That’s why it’s important 😊

Great stories never die! (Or should I say COMPLETE stories never die). Something I wrote seven years is running through the production mill once again 😊

This week’s episode of Building Subtext is all about An Objective Look at Story Structure. If you want to truly know what to write next, you need to get out of your character’s heads–and into your own.

It’s really clear: if you’re not going to write a complete story, and leave the Main Character Throughline vague and incomplete, your audience will not know who to give the Best Actor award to…

So Mean Girls and Whiplash have the same exact structure EXCEPT for one key element. The former is Holistic in nature and structured around Relationships, the latter is Linear in nature and structured around Reason! Other than that, they’re the same up and down 🤓

So Mean Girls and Whiplash have the same exact structure EXCEPT for one key element. The former is Holistic in nature and structured around Relationships, the latter is Linear in nature and structured around Reason! Other than that, they’re the same up and down 🤓

When writers ask you for detailed structural breakdown of a Diff’rent Strokes episode you know you’ve hit peak analysis 😆

So I guess today is Daylight Savings.

This indie Batman half-hour was great. Super angry Batman!

My favorite button in all of Subtext. 🤓

The list grows larger … 😊

Just finished the latest Writers Room - interesting to compare Do The Right Thing against Zootopia - the former finds conflict in Subconscious (learned experiences of racism) where the latter turned to Preconscious (animal instincts). GREAT way to see diff between two.

Having @tailwindcss notify of me new components feels like I’ve hired really great designers to help out on things I didn’t even know I needed 😃

John Dusenberry, Head of Story Development for a feature at Warner Bros. animation, will be continuing his long-running series on using Subtext to breakdown the individual sequences of a complete story. Class starts at 3pm Pacific - come join us!

Kids can’t stream Peter Pan.

You know I’ve got a problem when I stay up late to learn more about branchless programming!

The fastest I’ve been able to get a storyform up after a Dramatica Users Group meeting…in fact, it’s still going on 🤣

Alright Kaufman. I finally got you into Subtext. Even the craziest of intentions has some sort of order to it. 🤓

🤣 When even your complex algorithmic method for finding narrative structure can’t make heads or tails of this Premise (from “I’m Thinking of Ending Things”). Charlie Kaufman broke my server!

My latest “vlog” on Building Subtext, this one about Developing the Four Throughlines. If you do nothing else, concretizing this concept into your writer’s head will propel you into the stratosphere of creative storytelling. Makes all the difference!

More balance from The Princess Bride. The novel sits across from the Grandson. The heartfelt relationship between a grandfather reading a book to his grandson counters the big picture plot of convincing everyone that true love exists. ❤️

This makes me inordinately happy to see. The Princess Bride on Subtext - all nicely balanced and full of key insights on the structure behind intent.

When you plug in judgment as the Grandson’s Problem (Evaluation in Dramatica) the narrative engine predicts Reduction as the source of drive from the novel–which is literally, don’t judge a book by its cover. 🤯

Re-visited The Princess Bride this weekend as I double-check narratives with Be-er Main Characters. It’s super clear that the Grandson is in Mind (I hate that stuff) and that it’s the Universe of The Princess Bride novel that influences him to abandon the judgments.

I never realized this, but listening to the soundtrack for Ex Machina in the background - the last track is a spin on Close Encounters …

What you want to say->story structure. Intent sets order.

Subtext’s Premise Builder is pretty much feature complete now. 3+ years in the making. I feel pretty good about the balance between power & simplicity. Just need to iron out a few things and then you’ll be able to generate a complete outline from a thematic statement.

Looking back over old code, it almost breaks my heart to have remove the pieces I don’t need anymore. It’s either that, or the soundtrack from The Prestige on infinite repeat tonight…

When a single typo unravels the entire universe 🤣

When you’re using ‘mindset’ as a variable, do understand that ‘mindest’ is not the same thing (but totally looks the same the first 596 times you looked at it).

Actual quote from actual writer: “[The InstantScenes do] help, because they turn the cryptic Dramatica language into something more concrete, something that gives you a new view of the story and generates ideas.”

My work here is done 😊

Watching Tribes of Europa, this certainly isn’t your mother’s Hunger Games! 😂 On a side note — Clinton Shorter may be my new favorite composer.

Many conflate subject matter for structure (see previous tarot tweet). In a mind that sees the world through space and time, order carries a specific meaning.

In other words, your story won’t make sense if you don’t bring some order to it.

Someone once told me they thought Subtext/Dramatica sounded like tarot cards for writers. If by sparking an intuitive reaction to the “card”, then yes, I would agree. Difference? Tarot is random. Subtext is a specific order based on Authors intent. Huge difference.

Assuming Wandavision doesn’t take an immense left turn tonight, I’ll be publishing the Storyform for the entire season later tonight. It’s basically over, just need to tie off a few leftover threads in the narrative.

To be clear, when you choose “being irrational” for Character and “securing a future” for the Plot, Subtext tells you this is how Braveheart should end:

When you figure out something you’ve been working on for 22 years, Welcome to the Black Parade is essential celebration music.

Oh man, I just found out my very first client landed at the top of a very important industry list in Hollywood!!! WOW!! 🤩 🎉🥳

The writing/re-writing wheel still exists with Subtext. If you got the structure 100% right from the beginning you would lose the motivation to write. The “unknowing” is what drives you to finish it. Subtext just helps you gently organize your thoughts along the way. 

Subtext tip: Different characters carry out the same Storybeat or Storypoint in the same Concern. Ensemble pieces often take this approach. You just don’t want to do it too much in the same Act—the Audience will feel like you’re hitting them over the head with Thene. 

A virtual recital.

Watching my brother’s world premiere of his Seven Family Miniatures — original compositions being played in a live recital at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music! 🎸🎶

I may or may not have just unlocked the mysteries of the universe (or, at the very least, successfully converted space into time and back again).

Best part about building Subtext? User requests ability to copy InstantScenes to clipboard. Brilliant idea! Time from suggestion to live on server? Less than 50 minutes. 😃

Crazy watching old classes in Subtext where I talk about crowd-sourcing narratives (which it does now). It’s great seeing your dreams come to life 😃

Somewhere in story structure land someone once pointed out that scenes “turn”, and that there’s a “charge” that switches from positive to neg& back. It’s true, and the REASON for that are the entry and exit points of a Dramatic Unit. InstantScenes in Subtext show this

As much as I lamented Wandavision and its “nothing” episodes, the season as a whole works as a complete story. This only make sense if you know Dramatica but: SteadfastStopDo-erHolisticActionOptionlockSuccessGoodPhysicsUnderstandingSensesPerception is the Storyform.

For all those about to start writing something great in 2021, I offer the next installment in my fantastic video series Building Subtext.

Please know what you’re going to write about, so we can have more White Tigers this year! 😃

Watching VueJS Amsterdam conference during a late night session. Nitro for Nuxt looks incredible…and Chopin’s live-coding of a Nuxt “notes” app has me spinning with ideas for Subtext! What a great team behind this framework.

The American dream, or should I say—”the rise of the brown man”—as portrayed in White Tiger, with a classic Western-culture storyform of rags to riches brought about by abandoning Control for Freedom…

Last week I went over some pretty heady stuff when building a complete story from a Premise. You don’t need to know it all to write a great story, but why not be better?

The best part about White Tiger is that there was an actual relationship in addition to concerns within the major plot (living the “American” dream). So many recent offerings don’t even bother and it’s so important to maintain that balance–balance in EVERYTHING.

Writing a new story this year but not sure where to start? See if you can identify the type of Goal your characters are after, and the Consequence of failing. Note: “type” of Goal, rather than actual Goal. Types are thematic in nature and exist beneath storytelling.

Plugging in White Tiger’s story dynamics into Subtext, we get 1 match: Captain America: Civil War which makes sense if you think about it–the classic Western American story where forces of Control give way to Freedom of opportunity.

Yoga is deceptively difficult.

Also. Wish I had started twenty years ago.

Ok. White Tiger was Grrrreat!! It’s been so long since I’ve seen a complete story. So much goodness in it.

Just finished recording another video about Building Subtext. Ended up coming up with a funny idea for a cynical western called Apathy, Kansas. Descript is processing it now, and I’ll edit it this weekend. ✌️

Well, it’s settled. Subtext will be used to help design the narrative of a feature film to be streamed at a later date. 😃 Not that this hasn’t been done before, but this will be with the new improved algorithms. Nothing like having a real world example to test against.

Excited about this added feature to InstantScenes - a toggle to switch between structuring a scene, sequence or act by either reason (linear) or relationships (holistic). TOTALLY different feel to the individual beats of dramatic unit. Now a switch away.

First studio-consult of the year this afternoon. Looking forward to seeing what a big-time animation studio with a famous watertower has in store…😃

Spring has sprung 🌞🌺

As I begin to develop a “beginners” section for Subtext, one area continues to baffle writers. It’s the most important thing, yet left out of pretty much everything released recently (why everything feels like a glorified documentary).

The Relationship Throughline. 🤗

I’ve decided to pull Setting #3 from Subtext below it’s a high level concept that’s probably best served by a simple understanding of Genre. Getting closer to releasing this Premise Builder.

Although, it just occurred to me that this is just for Holistic-minded stories, not Linear. Logan & Little Women are latter. Better example would be Mean Girls or Roma. Detailed explanation here: The Holistic Approach to Conflict

In today’s Writers Room, I’ll be going over the intersection of Character and Plot. Sometimes the two are so intertwined you can’t tell the difference (Matrix, Thinking of Ending Things), other times they’re tangential (Little Women, Logan). Huge effect on structure.

After spending 20 years commuting up and down the 5 to Disney and Dreamworks, I much prefer my 2021 commute ☀️😊

Giving HelpScout a go after taking a break from the craziness that is Intercom (way too much for what I need). So far so good, and I certainly appreciate the streamlined interface.

There is nothing better than simply jumping on a 30-min. Zoom call to explain Subtext to writers—every single one I’ve met with KNOWS their story, they just don’t know how to pick and choose the most important parts to get a solid story structure, i.e. a way to organize all their thoughts.

First thing I see every morning is a list of user-generated Illustrations for Subtext—human-friendly ideas of conflict for storytelling. Once approved, they go into the collective store for everyone to use 😃

I Care A Lot on Netflix…fun thriller, but again am I just projecting my own disassociation or is this another film with NO Main Character perspective, no personal issues, and no subjectivity? I have no idea why she’s so crazy which means I don’t care at all!

Re-writing this weeks article for Narrative First, I’m reminded of how awesome this movie is. With everything available on Netflix, how come hardly anyone knows about Leave No Trace??!

Now that I figured out a magical way to turn a Premise into a complete outline, I need to go back and change a few things in this series of articles on The Holistic Premise.

Landing on Mars autonomously is one thing, but can JPL maintain the integrity of a narrative structure while allowing for variances in artistic expression?

I think not!

The first-ever video footage of a landing a rover (Perseverance) on Mars. Absolutely incredible sight.

In preparation for the Free portion of Subtext coming soon, I resubmit an article I wrote over a decade ago about a concept many writers still struggle to get into their stories. Viewers clicking away before 20 min. mark? You’re missing all Four Throughlines.

I’m working in a level of “non” perfectionism into Subtext as a means of supporting writers given to think more deeply about their work (I know quite a few 😊). The recent addition of Throughline Summaries to Subtext is one step towards mitigating that overwhelm. 

Recorded another video for Building Subtext. This ones all about how Subtext helps you focus on the key parts of your story depending on the Premise you choose. Different Premise, totally different set of concerns.

I have so much fun making and editing these Building Subtext videos that I decided to create a dedicated YouTube Channel for it (thanks Descript!) Building Subtext is your one-stop shop for the latest and greatest in story theory and predictive narrative 🤓

Doesn’t matter if it’s a half-hour episode, a giant epic novel, or your basic 2-hour movie: if you’re not saying something with your story, you’re not saying something (and wasting everybody’s time). A Story is ab Argument.

Wandavision did it! An ENTIRE episode where absolutely nothing happened. Amazing feat of engineering and storytelling. 😃

Currently running Lord of the Rings through Subtext. The following “arc” for Frodo was based on simply choosing Temptation for Character and Altruism for Plot. And this is what Subtext came back with…😊

My daughter sent this to me - crazy good animation of Richard Williams visiting Milt Kahl’s office…reminds me of working at Disney on Tarzan 😊

Cleaned up Subtext in anticipation of big changes coming. Love being able to show the Narrative Personality to users right within their stories. Going to be huge for those new to the system.

Touchdown!! 👽

A primer on Cryptoart and NFTs, if you’re like me and woke up this morning not having a clue either existed.

It should probably not come as much of a surprise to anyone who has been following my work that I’m a bit of a space nerd. That’s why you’ll often find me comparing the observable universe to how we write stories.

Pretty happy with the new Storypoint cards in Subtext. Had to do this now that creating a story could conceivably add well over 70 new Storypoints at once! Storypoints On-Demand are now live in all accounts.

Unbelievably crazy good news about Subtext and AI just happened about an hour ago 😃 I CANNOT WAIT to tell everyone about it!

Interested in thinking more deeply about your story? Conflict Corner, our weekly class on practical Dramatica theory, begins in Subtext at 1pm Pacific. Today, John will be writing around the Sources of Conflict we came up with last week, and we will cover two technique insights. See you there 😃

Never thought I’d ever be so happy to receive new glasses in the mail @WarbyParker I can see again!

Every time I drop into #screenwriting, I’m inevitably disappointed by the reaction. Writers, so caught up in what it takes to break-in and “screenwriting hacks” that they can’t be bothered to write a halfway decent story.

Successfully installed the new version of Laravel Spark into Subtext. Been waiting for this for awhile. I used the OG version when I started a couple yrs. ago but ran into issues once I went SPA and had to roll my own.

Feel more confident with this behind the scenes.

The Crucial Element to Telling a Great Story spells it all out. Without that higher purpose, writing just becomes a paycheck-a tool to get an actor to sign on for a few choice scenes.

The purpose of a Main Character is to give the Audience a sense of what the universal conflict feels like from the inside. A subjective view of what’s happening globally In the objective “plot.” The truck is they’re the same thing, just seen from two different POVs.

The acting in Judas and the Black Messiah was great, but the story? Ehh… there’s this weird disassociation thing going on where we’re watching someone with personal issues, rather than experiencing them ourselves (as Main Character). Same happened in the little things

My new video series on Building Subtext in Public is starting here on my YouTube channel. Follow along as I show off the latest and greatest in predictive narrative storytelling.

Last week’s Writers Room is now avail for replay. I go over a really quick way to find the unique narrative structure of your story using Subtext.

Just a periodic reminder that the greatest thing you can do for your mental health well-being is to meditate daily. Took me 3 months of consecutive days to notice a difference, but after 3 years it’s as non-negotiable as brushing my teeth–and 20x as important.

Just used this post from Raycast (cool app) to help co-ordinate some of my distributed work this week. Not used to being my own project manager when working with others (production always did that in animation). But I can see the value in spelling it out each cycle.

Part Four of John’s practical workshop in Dramatica theory is now available for replay. He’s come up with a great way to use complex narrative concepts in a fun and creative way.

Just watched the 30-min on-boarding for circle.so thinking I could build my own version–until they explained the integrations with current sites. Guess I don’t have to build anything 😃

On my application to OpenAI’s GPT-3 integration:

Subtext is an app that generates meaningful stories based on a complex psychological model of the mind. With an integration with OpenAI I can take my single sentence outlines and turn them into full-blown stories PERFECT for inspiring creativity in writers, novelists, filmmakers, and game designers. The combination of my model with yours would be absolutely insane.

Connecting AI to Meaningful Storytelling

And this is freaky scary…

I just plugged in Subtext’s random illustrations for a story based on the structure of Moulin Rouge! into GPT-3 abs this is the result:

In a futuristic society, a rebel fighter and his lover have just escaped after being held in prison for two years. While attempting to reach the safety of the Rebels, they discover that their relationship has changed–for the worse. They journey to the one place that can help them save their love: The Scarred Lands…where monsters rule.

The lovers intentionally misunderstand the other person. In the first place, they are lovers, and lovers by their nature do not understand what is said to them; they hear only what they wish. For instance lovers talk about “the beauty of nature”; but to lovers themselves the beauty of nature is simply an occasion for talking together. Again, if you call a lover bad-tempered he is not offended: he knows better than anyone that a lover ought to be in a rage at everything which hinders his setting forth or returning to his loved one; when he has no excuse for making a fuss (as in poetry) he

The Lover’s Swore : We make love with someone else, Yet they still are ours. The two lovers were asked to be honest about how they felt, but neither could bring themselves to say what was truly on their minds. In the end, they settled for silence.

Their life together was a long one, and they always said they were meant to be together. Now the man is alone, and doesn’t know how to go on without his beloved wife. He starts to wonder why he never told her how much he really loved her. He thinks about how he used to talk to her each day at lunch, but then got too busy with work and let their communication slip. One day while staring out the window of his office, he has an epiphany: he’ll wait for her under the clock at noon tomorrow. If she’s late, it means she didn’t get his message because…

🤯

This took all of five minutes. And most of that was copying and pasting.

Guess I know what I’m doing for the rest of 2021.

Spoke too soon. This is a bit depressing:

Whether you’re building your plot from scratch or fine-tuning an existing outline, Subtext helps you get the job done. Imagine a tool that could help you flesh out your story ideas into fully realised novels and films without having to employ a screenwriter,

Kind of the opposite of my intentions, but what are you going to do? 😄

Well, this pretty much sums up my whole product, and all I had to do was click a button:

The importance of Subtext in story structure cannot be overstated. It is the foundation upon which the rest of your story will be built. Subtext is what gives your characters depth, gives intrigue to your plot, and creates empathy for your audience. But most importantly, Subtext makes your story memorable.

Seeing all the great feedback from copy.ai I am FORCING myself not to start adding GPT-3 to Subtext. The idea of generated text matched with a meaningful Storyform? 🤯🤯🤯

Must fix what’s there now, must fix what’s there now, must fix what’s there now…

I really hope Wandavision doesn’t represent the future of television, where you have to wait 27 minutes for something to happen. Such a cool idea, but excruciating to sit through.

The great thing about coding your own narrative theory is it forces you to reconsider initial thoughts. With previous versions of Premise, I tried to force the Story Driver (type of plot point) in when really, it plays a very minor role in a Holistic Steadfast story.

After slaving over the intricacies of narrative theory for my re-write this week, it’s time to code my latest thoughts into Subtext’s Premise Controller. In short, the app looks at the dynamics of a story and then generates a meaningful Premise from them.

Narrative First will soon be Narrative First, Inc. 😃

Finally finished re-writing Steadfast Holistic Main Characters.Moulin Rouge!, Juno, and A Bronx Tale now account for staying in the present momen,a key metric for the Holistic

First thing I do every morning is approve user-submitted Illustrations of story structure in Subtext. Just checked, since launch (10/17) I’ve added over 2600 new & unique interpretations. Essentially “crowd-sourcing” story structure. 🤓

Even with so much content avail now, it’s challenging to find something good. The stories just aren’t there, or at the very least half-baked. The idea that somehow television is structured differently than movies or novels is false: Story is story, regardless of shape or size.

A film will never be a 100% perfect Storyform & there will never be a Storyform that matches a film 100%. There are degrees of accuracy, with some closer than others. The Storyforms in Subtext are the closest you’ll find to 100%

When choosing a Goal for your story, it’s never the goal of the characters, but rather the Goal of the Story. With a Goal of the Past in something like Chinatown, some past history is inequitable and the mind of the story is seeking some way to resolve it.

The new Laravel Spark looks great. Had to hand-roll my own last year and I’ve never been completely happy with it. I’m hoping it won’t be too difficult to rip out the current system and replace with this. We’ll see. 🤓

In today’s Writers Room, I’ll go over these improvements & what it means for your stories. If you want to catch up, The Holistic Approach to Working Through Conflict is version 1.0

“Ignoring the reality around you keeps you present, but distorts the way you commit to others.” would be the new Premise for Harvey.

Character: Disbelief (ignoring reality) Plot: Commitment

Distortion signals confusion between subjective & objective POVs.

“Being in harmony with curiosity keeps you in the present moment, allowing you to address the respect you receive from others.” would be the new Premise for A Bronx Tale.

Character: Unending (curiosity) Plot: Worth (respect)

Present signals an “upwards” trajectory.

Making a few changes today in the way Subtext presents a Premise for certain stories. Instead of “emotional vibration,” we’re factoring in whether or not one is present–a key source of power for someone working through a story holistically (through relationships).

Time to step away and hopefully find something great to watch.

If you’re interested in learning Dramatica but aren’t sure where to start, I put together a quick guide to complex narrative theory.

Conflict Corner went great today, and I think I might have even picked up a few pointers here and there 😊 If you’re the kind of person who doesn’t think great storytelling is magic reserved for a select few, come join in on the mind-expansion.

The geniuses at Narrative First are up to it again today in Conflict Corner–the weekly class on practically applying Dramatica to writing great stories.

The Storyform for The Vast of Night is now up in Subtext. Really liked how the Element of Speculation found its way into the essential meaning of the story.

Got huge Speculation vibes while watching Vast of Night, meaning all conflict centered around this Element. Turns out it was THE Character Elemenf for the Storyform.

Plugging that in sets an arc of Self-aware to Aware for Everett–which is exactly what happened.

Amazing.

Surprised to find out that The Vast of Night had a reasonably discernible Storyform. It’s not the easiest film to get through—but had some important things to say.

Ford v Ferrari splits the difference as well, but the tragic circumstances of the narrative make hanging out with that personality a less cheerful experience. Like that friend you know who always has something important to say, but is usually a bit of a downer.

Elf mixes it up with a more “joyous” personality by splitting external and internal between Character and Plot (Progress and Being) opening up space between the two and resulting in a “lighter”, less serious narrative.

Moulin Rouge! flips it, with MC & Plot now internal (Subconscious/Becoming) and IC & Rel.s now external (Future/Obtaining). Different Narrative Personality, completely different narrative outline. Structure becomes a function of intent rather than a thing itself.

Matrix is a typical personality with both Main Character and Plot dealing with external issues (Future/Obtaining) while Influence Character abs Relationships focus on internal issues (Subconscious/Becoming).

Finished cleaning up initial round of Holistic Storyforms. Key to it all is the visualization of Narrative Personality. This is the one for The Matrix, showing the balance between all Four Throughlines. Neo in blue, Morpheus in green, plot in gray & relationships purple.

Thinking of renaming Thematic Conversations to Thematic Movements. A lyrical ring to it 🎶 The former was meant to show how these Issues typically show up in dialogue (Openness “I’m ready to tell you my secret.”) but the latter inspires greater creativity.

The switch to Altruism over Morality makes so much more sense when it comes to films like The Matrix. it’s less about “what is right” and more about “doing based on what is best for others”

Look up the definition of Morality on Google and you get “principles concerning the distinction between right and wrong or good and bad behavior.” Dramatica’s definition of Morality is “doing or being based on what is best for others.”

In Subtext, we fix this with “Altruism”.

Here’s the same sequence found in The Sixth Sense, only now in Cole (the Influence Character)-a shift found in selection of Perception & Understanding (character/plot). “I’m ready to tell you my secret” is pretty much textbook Openness from an IC. All predicted with Subtext.

Choose Disbelief & Altruism (character & plot) in Subtext and the app predicts an eerily accurate seq. of events from The Matrix. This is Neo from the Oracle to literally making a Choice to ignore Morpheus’ belief in him as the One (a Preconception).

Going to be validating the idea of Thematic Conversations over the next couple of weeks. Initial results are encouraging…and almost magical. narrativefirst.com/blog/writ…

This is so crazy. If you plug into Subtext “being open-minded” for Character and “respect” for Plot, this is Bronx Tale’s 1st Act. C’s Attitude, the kid being in wrong place at wrong time with Sonny (Fate), and the “Truth” told lighting up father/son. Insane #screenwriting

Well, this is fun.

I’m beginning to think Travis Barker is the reason Blink-182 was so good. There isn’t one bad song on this new Machine Gun Kelly album.

Building an app for someone instead of building an app for my story dev biz is almost…relaxing. Totally reminds me of animating scenes for Disney or Dreamworks. Not as much pressure when you’re just making it work.

Also, after being asked if all this “gobbly-goop” was necessary when writing a story, I just decided to finally own it. Now whenever someone asks I just tell them, “Subtext is story structure for creative geniuses.”

You can either jump on-board or stay asleep. #screenwriting

Completed work yesterday on a 6-week project that I’m super excited about - Holistic justification for both Changed and Steadfast stories. The results are quite jaw-dropping in terms of what Subtext points out narrativefirst.com/storyform…

My watch now takes care of the bottom half of my face. Yay for staying warm in early morning walks. 😃

Invoker sure is mighty pretty. Much nicer than TablePlus, plus ZERO config. Would have saved me HOURS doing the same with Nova…will be interesting to see how it compares.