As someone who knows nothing of actual writing techniques, this type of content has been extremely useful and interesting. Even though I engage more in interactive storytelling through role playing 😊
I have learned so much from you Jason. I'm so glad you came out with your membership! I finally know what a "pantser" is --- 🤣🤣🤣 I now have the ball rolling again with my writing AND a more refined plan than I had before. Thanks Jason!
Wonderful video, I would certainly like to see more of these general writing craft videos. Might I humbly suggest one on handling scene and summary in AI-assisted writing? I think the use of non-realtime 'summary' in fiction is much overlooked, especially with the workflow aimed at creating action beats and turning these into dramatic scenes. Fiction writers tend to use summary to segue into scenes and e.g. relay developments the reader needs to know, but which don't warrant a real-time scene. No summary makes the prose very cardboard imo and read like a lazily novelised screen play, not fiction proper. I've been writing in summary sections in post up until now, mainly out of dissatisfaction with the output as it was, but would be interested in ways of getting the AI prose generation already to consider mixing scene and summary. I've also been experimenting with prompting the AI to blend direct and indirect speech a bit, as this is also something good human writers do, but AI not so much. Keep it up man, very inspiring content!
I really enjoyed this video and how you broke down each aspect of the writing process. I have the problem of having an idea and various plots built up, starting the writing process and getting stuck in my direction/how I want everything to progress, even with my outline next to me. I'm actually kinda excited to tackle my stories again!
I agree, the biggest challenge for AI is creating authentic characters. Brandilyn Collins 'Getting into Character' is very good at using the ideas of Stanislavsky to creating believable characters - with the focus on their inner values - their motivations, their feelings. Hemingway is great on this. For him, in his letters in 'On Writing' good writing is true writing - in other words, the writing captures the feeling in a situation. The danger with narrative models and AI is that you force characters to say things to fit a narrative setup. And that is not character. That is AI design - and it will create flat characters - to use E.M Forster's description. AI and the prompts used will have to be worded very precisely and skillfully to create believable characters.
Thanks so much Jason for all your teachings, I'll really love it if you can flesh out more about each concept and how we can set each up for effective storytelling. THANKS
I'm a HUGE believer that a quality story with compelling characters is far more important than 'chasing a trend' or trying to write in a popular genre or mimic the current style. The conventional wisdom in Hollywood was that westerns were dead and not coming back. Then Clint Eastwood made “The Outlaw Josey Wales.” Suddenly, westerns were relevant again. Then, they were once again declared 'dead,' and Eastwood made “Unforgiven.” Same thing. The COUNTER argument to “Josey Wales” and “Unforgiven,” as well as Jim Butcher's “Codex Alera”, is the name recognition factor. If Clint Eastwood's name and image hadn't been associated with those movies, or Butcher's name on the covers of his books, would they still have been as popular, or even gotten noticed, based on their stories and characters alone? A common argument I have with other more literarily-inclined friends regards quality vs. popularity. Sure, we talk about “50 Shades of Gray” with contempt, but the series has sold well over 150 MILLION copies world-wide, not to mention the movies. A friend of mine HATES both Frank Herbert's “Dune” and Patrick Rothfuss' “Name of the Wind,” but the former is considered one of the foundational works of science fiction, and the latter sold over a million copies alone and has (had) an army of very loyal fans (most of which Rothfuss has alienated by now, but that's a different story). I'm a firm believer that quality wins out in the end, but it's hard to ignore the impact of marketing as well, especially in an information-saturated era like the one we're living in now.
I don't know where the quote is from, but I heard that one big name in fiction writing once said: Theme is not what authors put in the books, but what readers find in them.
As a discovery, writer, I often don't have anything resembling a log line until my second or third draft. I agree that it's important to narrow in on the concept and hone the story accordingly, but not having a fully articulated concept doesn't necessarily mean that you need to start over. It can just mean that you like to work bottom up instead of top down.
This is very much appreciated, and I certainly hope you will do more like this. This is one of the reasons I joined Story Hacker Gold, I had hope you would cover these topics.
My fantasy novella is taking place in one inn during one night, but the mood shifts scene by scene. It's a helluva work but I love that story and my publisher is pecking me to finish it faster :D
I'm sure I've listened to this more than five times since I started. This is the most important video I've ever watched since trying my hands at Ai writing.
00:01 🤖 In this video, the speaker covers storytelling fundamentals useful for any storyteller, including AI writers. 01:16 🛡 There are eight essential pillars of storytelling: concept, plot, character, setting, conflict, theme, individual scenes, and voice. 02:02 💼 A story's concept is crucial; it's best summarized by Blake Snider's log line, emphasizing simplicity and conflict. 03:22 📚 Plot, the sequence of events in a story, often follows the three-act structure, involving an inciting incident, rising action, climax, and resolution. 06:48 💡 Characters undergo arcs that change them throughout the story, including positive, negative, or flat arcs. 10:00 🌎 Setting encompasses the story's environment, affecting characters and plot, and should be varied to avoid monotony. 11:44 🎭 Theme communicates the message or takeaway of the story, requiring nuanced exploration without being preachy. 13:03 ⚔ Conflict is essential in driving the story forward, with various types of conflict driving plot progression. 14:07 🎬 Each scene must serve a purpose, featuring conflict and resulting in change, contributing to the overall narrative. 15:51 🗣 Voice refers to the distinctive style of characters' dialogue and thoughts, crucial for character differentiation and engagement. 18:41 📝 "Show, don't tell" is a key principle for effective storytelling, allowing readers to experience events rather than being told about them.
Voice is not important: And there you have it. The reason why most modern fiction these days read like the same person wrote them. The dumbing down of fiction.
You completely misunderstand my point. It’s not about the voice of the author. It’s the voice of the characters that matter. Most of the time. With the exception of certain genres. Like literary or comedy.
@@TheNerdyNovelist Not trying to be too contentious here, but I don't think I have misunderstood the point. Yes, you did talk about the importance of character voice. Okay... But you started that portion off by discussing writer's voice, which you clearly dismiss as unimportant, at least juxtaposed against the character voice is; which in itself is confusing given that any character's voice is but an extension of the writer's voice in different modes. For one thing, when talking about "voice", this was originally exclusively a reference to the writer's unique voice, a concept that goes as far back as Aristotle in the west, and carried further by the Romans. Whereas character voice is a far more modern concept, mostly arriving to us through the study of 17th century plays, before which they were hardly a thing. Prose fiction isn't the same as playcraft or later movie scripts. And in modern fiction, that discussion didn't really start to pick up steam until the 1980s because, quite frankly, writers weren't particular interested in developing a character's voice above their own. In fact, check out any writing manuals or text books before the '10s, and there is hardly any mention of the topic when looking up "voice". So, the most important voice is always writer's voice. And after spending close to three decades working with writers of all genres, I have to say that as far as the most recent iteration of modern fiction goes (late '90s to present), most writers don't have one and never attempted to develop one. When I was in school (my "back in the day" speech), the creative writing teachers would really hammer into us the importance of having a voice. The teacher would say (I paraphrase): If I can't start reading your story by the end of the school year and instantly tell who wrote it, distinguishing it from others without even seeing a name, you haven't done enough with your voice. It's the same thing I told my students back when I was teaching. It's the same thing I tell many of my clients as a freelance digital publishing consultant, even through most of them are poets and nonfiction writers. Who's gonna remember your books if you sound just like everyone else in your genre. The reason why the greatest writers are so easily remembered long after they are dead comes down to two things: Idea and voice. Another thing I used to tell my students is that you need six things to create a story: [1] A beginning. [2] A middle. [3] An event in time. [4] An ending. [5] An idea to write about. And [6] Your own voice. - Not characters, not settings, not conflicts, not themes, not even plots. You can tell a story with just these six things. Yeah, it's hard as hell to do, and most of the time you won't get a great story. But it can still be done. But the hardest thing that you are going to struggle with is your voice. It's important BECAUSE it's hard. Though, it seems these days, many people are trying to find ways to avoid such hardship while writing. I mean, that's why AI assisted writing is so popular right now, right? I'm not knocking it, by the way. This year, I started working towards publishing my own books, and I've been using AI to write all of my treatments, outlines, timelines, and synopses. Saved me so much time. My books typically have as many as 250 scenes. I write in a particular style and voice that most would call "mid-modern classic". Think the love-child of Poe and Ayn Rand. [Fortunately, I'm writing to exorcise demons, not pay bills]. This is the reason why I only read new fiction these days if I'm forced to for work. It hurts too much, the mediocrity does. And I don't blame the writers for this as much as I do the publishers. The books they publish are a direct reflection of what they think of the readers' general intelligence. The sentences have gotten shorter, the words have gotten more basic, the language has gotten less elaborate, the stories have gotten more generic, and the voices have gotten more monotone - because they believe this is what the readers can handle these days. Writing fiction used to be an exercise in emoting, and I'm certain no fan of emoting. I have no emotional depth to speak of myself. But it sure does make for good reading. And I'm not saying this is all current fiction. Though, the last good book I read was The Book Of Disquiet, a fictional autobiography by Fernando Pessoa who died in 1935. Other than that, I'm a fan of Anne Carson. And that is pretty much all I can say about current fiction. Though, while I may not be a fan of much modern fiction, I am a scholar of fiction in general. So, instead of just telling you that I strongly disagree with the idea that a writer's voice is not that important, I thought I would at least explain myself. And as you can see, I also love to write. All in all, by analogy, not putting time into developing your voice is like a gourmet chef not putting time in the quality of their food's ingredients. There is a difference between throwing meat, cheese, and noodles together into a dish - and the thing we call lasagna.
I'll try to answer your last question in as logic a way as I possibly can. You should make more of these videos Ai WILL ONLY GET YOU SO FAR ON IT'S OWN. it would be cruel to tell us about Ai none stop knowing we would get stuck with it not being very helpful in making what you write sound compelling. So yes more videos like this please.
Jason, I have attempted seven times to get the link for the membership site and have not received it yet after giving you my email address. Please cancel my account.
