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THE STORY SPINE: PIXAR’S 4TH RULE OF STORYTELLING https://www.aerogrammestudio.com/2013/03/22/the-story-spine-pixars-4th-rule-of-storytelling/

Reports were that this tip did not originate with Pixar but instead with writer/director/teacher Brian McDonald. Intrigued, we contacted Brian to find out more. He replied as follows:

I should clear up that the story spine (Once upon a time…) is not mine. I think many people first learned it from me because of my books, classes and lectures I have given over the past dozen years or so. It did not originate with Pixar either. I looked for the origin of these steps when I was writing my book, but never found it and I say so in the book. It has been used in impov as an exercise where is where I first learned it. I know a guy looking for the origin, but he’s not having any luck either.**

Brian added that in the original story spine tweet a step was actually left out. The final step should be And ever since that day… As Brian says, the list ‘keeps getting copied with this missing step and it’s an important step.’

Once upon a time there was ___. Every day, ___. One day ___. Because of that, ___. Because of that, ___. Until finally ___. And ever since that day ___.

• Once upon a time there was ___.
• Every day, ___.
• One day ___.
• Because of that, ___.
• Because of that, ___.
• Until finally ___.
• And ever since that day ___.

Regardless of the original source, the seven sentences that follow can help you start writing a story and build it, scene by scene, to its climax and resolution. And it all begins with those familiar four words:

Once upon a time… Whether you use these exact words or not, this opening reminds us that our first responsibility as storytellers is to introduce our characters and setting – i.e., to fix the story in time and space. Instinctively, your audience wants to know: Who is the story about? Where are they, and when is all this taking place? You don’t have to provide every detail, but you must supply enough information, says McDonald, “so the audience has everything it needs to know to understand the story that is to follow.”

And every day… With characters and setting established, you can begin to tell the audience what life is like in this world every day. In The Wizard of Oz, for example, the opening scenes establish that Dorothy feels ignored, unloved, and dreams of a better place “over the rainbow.” This is Dorothy’s “world in balance,” and don’t be confused by the term “balance.” It does not imply that all is well – only that this is how things are.

Until one day… Something happens that throws the main character’s world out of balance, forcing them to do something, change something, attain something that will either restore the old balance or establish a new equilibrium. In story structure, this moment is referred to as the inciting incident, and it’s the pivotal event that launches the story. In The Wizard of Oz, the tornado provides the inciting incident by apparently transporting Dorothy far, far away from home.

And because of this… Your main character (or “protagonist”) begins the pursuit of his or her goal. In structural terms, this is the beginning of Act II, the main body of the story. After being literally dropped into the Land of Oz, Dorothy desperately wants to return home, but she is told that the only person who can help her lives far away. So she must journey by foot to the Emerald City to meet a mysterious wizard. Along the way she will encounter several obstacles (apple-throwing trees, flying monkeys, etc.) but these only make the narrative more interesting.

And because of this… Dorothy achieves her first objective – meeting the Wizard of Oz – but this is not the end of her story. Because of this meeting, she now has another objective: kill the Wicked Witch of the West and deliver her broomstick to the Wizard. “In shorter stories,” says McDonald, “you may have only one ‘because of this,’ but you need at least one.”

Until finally… We enter Act III and approach the story’s moment of truth. Dorothy succeeds in her task and presents the Wizard with the deceased witch’s broom, so now he must make good on his promise to help her return to Kansas. And this he does, but not quite in the way we initially expect.

And ever since that day… Once we know what happened, the closing scenes tell us what the story means for the protagonist, for others in the narrative, and (not least of all) for those of us in the audience. When Dorothy awakens in her own bed and realizes she never actually left Kansas, she learns the lesson of the story: what we’re looking for is often inside us all along.

The next time you get stuck while writing a story, try walking your narrative through these steps. Even if your characters aren’t following a yellow brick road, the seven sentences above can probably help you get where you’re going. And your little dog, too.

https://www.aerogrammestudio.com/2013/06/05/back-to-the-story-spine/

A guest post by Kenn Adams. Kenn is a teacher, author and the Artistic Director of Synergy Theater. I created the Story Spine in 1991 and, over the years, I’ve been thrilled to watch more and more people use it, teach it, discuss it, and even modify it in order to make it their own. One of my favorite modifications is the addition of “And, the moral of the story is…” at the very end. Over time, however, some of its permutations have become less powerful, I think, than the original due to a missing link here or a different word there. So, I’m happy to present it here in its original 8-line format along with a brief analysis, a couple of interesting examples, and some tips on how to best make use of it.

Table

Examples =

To see how it works, let’s find the Story Spine in two famous movies:

THE INCREDIBLES

Once upon a time there was a superhero named Mr. Incredible who was forced to live as an ordinary man in a society where superheroes were outlawed.

Every day, he grew more and more frustrated with his stifling, boring life.

But one day, he accepted a secret superhero job from a mysterious stranger.

Because of that, he fell into the diabolical trap of this mysterious stranger who turned out to be Syndrome, a super villain with a long-time grudge against Mr. Incredible.

Because of that, Syndrome was able to capture and imprison Mr. Incredible.

Because of that, Syndrome could now put his master plan into motion by setting a giant, killer-robot loose on civilization.

Until finally, Mr. Incredible escaped from his prison and foiled the villain by destroying the giant, killer-robot.

And ever since then, he was loved by all and able to be a Superhero again.

THE WIZARD OF OZ

Once upon a time there was a little girl named Dorothy who was carried by tornado to the magical land of Oz.

Every day, she journeyed toward the Emerald City in order to ask the Great and Powerful Wizard of Oz to help her get home.

But one day, she got to Oz and she met the Wizard.

Because of that, the Wizard told Dorothy that he would only help her get home if she killed the Wicked Witch of the West.

Because of that, Dorothy encountered many dangers and was finally successful in destroying the witch.

Because of that, the Wizard agreed to take Dorothy home in his hot-air balloon.

Until finally, on the day of their departure, Dorothy ran after her dog, Toto, and missed the balloon.

And ever since then, Dorothy learned that she always had the power to get home on her own, which she did.

How to Use the Story Spine

The Story Spine is both a practice technique for learning how to tell a well-constructed story as well as an outlining tool to help construct a story. Practice with it by simply making up a bunch of different Story Spines as quickly as possible. It’s fun! It’s easy! You can rattle off a dozen as you’re waiting for the bus. Pretty soon, the well-constructed story structure will become instinctual. As an outlining tool, it is very helpful when you have a bunch of great ideas for a story but are not quite sure how they all fit together. By fitting them onto a Story Spine you’ll be able to see what you’ve already got in terms of your structure and, from there, you’ll be able to start filling in the missing pieces.

A Final Thought

Notice, in my examples above, that when stripped down to the Story Spine, the movies in question lose many of their characters and much of what makes them so brilliant and memorable. That’s because the Story Spine is not the story, it’s the spine. It’s nothing but the bare-boned structure upon which the story is built. And, that’s what makes it such a powerful tool. It allows you, as a writer, to look at your story at its structural core and to ensure that the basic building blocks are all in the right place. Now, of course, turning your Story Spine into a story is a whole different topic and it’s one that I dig into rather thoroughly in my book How to Improvise a Full-Length Play, the Art of Spontaneous Theater. I hope you’ll read it. And, please don’t let the title scare you! While it’s written for improvisers, it offers a thorough understanding of dramatic structure that is equally applicable to authors, playwrights and screenwriters.

About Kenn Adams

Kenn Adams has over twenty years of experience teaching, directing, and performing improvisational theater. He is the Artistic Director of Synergy Theater and the author of the book How to Improvise a Full-Length Play, the Art of Spontaneous Theater. Kenn is also a playwright, ghostwriter, and story-doctor.

Hi, this is Kenn Adams responding. I did, in fact, come up with The Story Spine back in 1991 or so. I was working with Freestyle Repertory Theater, the New York home for TheatreSports and created it as a tool both for working on Play by Play, the full-length improvised-play structure that I write about in my book and for teaching storytelling and creative writing to kids in school. In fact, when I created it, I did not name it The Story Spine, I simply called it “Once upon a time…” It was my friend and fellow improviser Kat Koppett who dubbed it The Story Spine several years later when she began using it as a training tool in her story-based corporate training workshops. Kat Koppett who now performs with The Mop and Bucket Company (www.mopco.org) can speak to all of this as well as Laura Livingston, the Artistic Director of Freestyle Repertory Theater.

Of course, it’s possible that there have been other similar models out there before mine, but this original 8-line exercise that I developed and that has come to be known as the Story Spine is my own. It’s been much adapted over the years, sometime for the better and sometimes to its detriment, so – for the record – here’s the original:

Once upon a time…
Every day…
But, one day…
Because, of that…
Because of that,..
Because of that…
Until finally…
And, ever since then…

I write about it in much more detail in my book How to Improvise a Full-Length Play; The Art of Spontaneous Theater.