Session 1.8 - Introducing Story Spine

THE GOAL: Take a first pass at fitting your story into the handy improv tool STORY SPINE.
Time commitment: 20 minutes

Take a look at Story Spine, an incredibly simple improv concept that you'll use over the coming sessions to make sure your story feels like a story (and not just a bunch of things happening one after another). If structure and outlining don't light you on fire—if you think of yourself as more of a writing-by-the-seat-of-your-pants person—I promise this process of Improvising Your Crappy First Draft is going to leave you plenty of room for flexibility and discovery. Making a few hard, strong choices early on will give you the freedom to write your way into inspiration later.

Bonus challenge: Try to preserve that WORD-AT-A-TIME looseness and carelessness in your writing today. You don't have to hit Enter after each couple of words, but try to split your brain in two and use that to power through where you might otherwise stop to think or edit or wordsmith.
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Improv Game: Story Spine
Take a look at the following prompts.

Once upon a time…
And every day…
Until one day…
Fortunately…
Unfortunately…
Fortunately…
Unfortunately…
Until Finally…
And ever since that day…
The moral of the story is…

If you go through completing each sentence in order, you end up with something that looks and feels like the backbone of a legit story.
Example: "Moana" in Story Spine

ONCE UPON A TIME on an island in the Pacific Ocean lived the daughter of chief.
AND EVERY DAY she tried to do her duty but secretly longed to break the rules and sail out past the reef to explore the ocean.
UNTIL ONE DAY a blight descended on her island and she ran away on a quest to restore the heart of the goddess Te Fiti and heal her world.
FORTUNATELY she found the demigod Maui and convinced him to help her.
UNFORTUNATELY they were attacked by fearsome (and adorable) little coconut pirates.
FORTUNATELY they were able to recover Maui's magical hook.
UNFORTUNATELY Te Fiti's island was guarded by a giant fire monster.
UNTIL FINALLY our hero realized that the fire monster was actually Te Fiti who had become confused and angry. She returned the goddess's heart.
AND EVER SINCE THAT DAY the blight disappeared and her people have become explorers and wayfinders once again.
THE MORAL OF THE STORY IS sometimes you have to listen to your heart and choose what you know is right for yourself instead of trying to conform to what others think is right for you.
Improv Drill: Pick a movie or book that you love (maybe one of the comp titles you picked in Session 1.6) and see if you can write it out using the following STORY SPINE prompts. First is "Once upon a time..."
Who is the main character (or characters) and where do they live?
(cont.) "And every day..."
What is their normal everyday life like? What do they do? What do they want?
(cont.) "Until one day..."
What forces them to do something different? What changes about their normal life?
(cont.) "Fortunately..."
They get a win!
(cont.) "Unfortunately..."
They suffer a setback!
(cont.) "Fortunately..."
They overcome something!
(cont.) "Unfortunately..."
There's a huge, overwhelming obstacle!
(cont.) "Until finally..."
What's the big climax near the end? Do they win or lose?
(cont.) "And ever since that day..."
What is their new normal? What is life like now? Did they get what they wanted?
(cont.) "The moral of the story is...
What's the message? What is the takeaway?
Writing Goal: Fill Out Story Spine with Your Story
You probably don't know everything about your story yet, but try to answer each stage of Story Spine with something that makes sense for your story.
Writing Exercise 1: Try to fit your story idea into the STORY SPINE. (Keep each line short and sweet like the description of Moana above). First up is "Once upon a time..."
(cont.) And every day...
(cont.) Until one day...
(cont.) Fortunately...
(cont.) Unfortunately...
(cont.) Fortunately...
(cont.) Unfortunately...
(cont.) Until finally...
(cont.) And every since that day...
You're done! We're saving The Moral of the Story for the next session.
Beta Tester feedback (optional)
If you have any thoughts or feedback at all about this process, please drop them here! Enthusiasm, complaints, criticisms and suggestions are all encouraged!
A copy of your responses will be emailed to the address you provided.
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