Developing Story Ideas: The Power and Purpose of Storytelling

The vast majority of screenplay and writing books that focus on story development have little to say about the initial concept that inspired the piece. Developing Story Ideas: The Power and Purpose of Storytelling, Third Edition provides writers with ideational tools and resources to generate a wide variety of stories in a broad range of forms. Celebrated filmmaker and author Michael Rabiger demonstrates how to observe situations and themes in the writer’s own life experience, and use these as the basis for original storytelling. This new edition has been updated with chapters on adaptation, improvisation, and cast collaboration’s roles in story construction, as well as a companion website featuring further projects, class assignments, instructor resources, and more. Gain the practical tools and resources you need to spark your creativity and generate a wide variety of stories in a broad range of forms, including screenplays, documentaries, novels, short stories, and plays Through hands-on, step-by-step exercises and group and individual assignments, learn to use situations and themes from your own life experience, dreams, myth, and the news as the basis for character-driven storytelling; harness methods of screenplay format, dialogue, plot structure, and character development that will allow your stories to reach their fullest potential

Table of Contents:
Part I OVERVIEW Chapter 1: This Book, Its Goals, and Getting Started You and Your Resources Why We Work in Outline Form Ideation and Originality Identifying with the Main Character Jump-Starting the Imagination The Assignments Concerning the Writing Samples Having Fun This Book’s Layout and Goals Getting Started The game called CLOSAT Chapter 2: You and the Creative Process The Journey of the Self Wanting to Tell Stories Self-Exposure and Giving Support What is Therapy and What Is Art? What Stories Mean Theme and Variation Just Do It Outline and Expansion Collaboration Part II SELF-EXAMINATION, OBSERVATION, AND IMPROVISATION ASSIGNMENTS Chapter 3: Artistic Identity Displacement Assignment 3-1: Survey of Yourself and Your Authorial Goals Assignment 3-2: Presenting Yourself and Your Storytelling Goals Assignment 3-3 Listening and Reacting Going Farther Chapter 4: Introductions and Playing "CLOSAT" Improvising Maintaining Focus Pitching If You are Working Alone Assignment 4-1: Five-Minute Self-Introduction. Assignment 4-2: Play the CLOSAT game. Assignment 4-3: Develop your Own Pitching Guidelines. General discussion Chapter 5: Autobiography and Influences Assignment 5-1: Autobiographical Survey Assignment 5-2: Presenting your influences. Chapter 6: Observing from Life Assignment 6-1: CLOSAT preparatory work and the writer’s journal Assignment 6-2: CLOSAT with 2 characters, 1 location and 1 Object Assignment 6-3: CLOSAT with 3 Characters, 2 objects, an act and a theme Going Farther Assignment 6-4: CLOSAT Variations for a Group/Class The Power of Imagery. Going Farther Part III USING THE TOOLS OF DRAMA Chapter 7: Developing Your Characters and the Dramatist’s Toolkit Checklist for Developing Your Characters The Tools of the Dramatist Tools #1–4, Four Hats Tool #5, the Questionnaire Tool #6, the Diving Mask Tool #7, the Key (the Dramatic Premise) Tool #8, the Pressure Meter (Detects and Measures Conflict) Tool #9, the Stopwatch (Represents Time Progressing) Tool #10, the Cake Slice (Separates Drama into its Components) Tool #11, the Set of Boxes (Representing the Three-Act Structure.) Tool #12, the Telescope (Finding Point of View) Chapter 8: Analyzing a Scene Using tool #5, the Questionnaire Using tool #6, the Diving Mask. Using tool #7, the Key (finding a dramatic premise) Using tool #8, the Pressure Meter (Detects and Measures Conflict) Using tool #9, the Stopwatch (Represents Time Progressing) An Analogy for Drama Using tool # 10, the Cake-Slice (Separating Drama into its Components) Assignment 8-1: Character and Destiny Assignment 8-2: Volition and Point of View Assignment 8-3: Acting on volition. Assignment 8-4: Scene Divisions for "The Fisherman’s Wife." The Fisherman’s Wife Chapter 9: Assessing a Complete Work Using tool #11, the Set of Boxes The Three-Act Structure. Character Driven versus Plot Driven Drama Using tool #8, the Pressure Meter Again (Sources of Pressure, Identifying Genre) Drawing a Dramatic Arc for a Whole Work Drama and Point of View Assignment 9-1: Dividing "Little Red Riding Hood" into Scenes and Acts. Assignment 9-2 Character Types and Story Meanings. Going Farther Chapter 10: Testing a Story Idea and Deciding Point of View Exploring a Story’s Effectiveness Story Effectiveness Questionnaire Exploring a Story’s Meaning and Purpose Story Editing Tools in Summary Assignment 10-1: Impressions and Feedback. Assignment 10-2: Critical Communication. Part IV: CREATIVE WRITING ASSIGNMENTS Chapter 11: A Tale from Childhood On Discussion Assignment 11-1: An Event from Childhood Assignment 11-1: An Event from Childhood Assignment 11-3 Developing a childhood film or photo scene. Example 1 (Vilka Tzouras) Example 2 (Alex Meillier) Example 3 (Chris Darner) Example 4 (Amanda McCormick) Discussion On memory Going Farther Chapter 12: Family Story Assignment 12-1: A Story Told in Your Family Assignment 12-2 Family Story as Comic Strip Assignment 12-3 The Untold Story Discussion Example 1 (Margaret Harris) Example 2 (Amanda McCormick) Example 3 (Peter Riley) Going Farther Chapter 13: A Myth, Legend, or Folktale Retold Interpreting Oral Tales Adaptation Problems Assignment 13-1 Free Choice of Tale. Assignment 13-2 Myth Assignment 13-3 Legend Assignment 13-4 Folktale Discussion Example #1: The Legend of Pretty Boy Floyd Retold (Michael Hanttula) Example #2 (Tatsuya Guillermo Ohno) Example #3: Sisyphus Cries Dixie: A Modern Story (Michelle Arnove) Discussion Going Farther Chapter 14: Dream Story Assignment 14-1: Writing up a Dream Assignment 14-2: Surreal Narrative Assignment 14-3: Linking Dreams into One Narrative Assignment 14-4 Dream and Myth Discussion Dream Sequence #1 (Chris Darner) Dream Sequence #2 (Michael Hanttula) Dream Sequence #3 (Cynthia Merwarth) Going Farther Chapter 15: Adapting a Short Story Evaluating a Story for Adaptation to the Screen Assignment 15-1: Short Story Analysis Assignment 15-2: Adaptation Issues Assignment 15-3: Dramatic Breakdown Discussion Example 1: "An Encounter," from Dubliners, by James Joyce (Peter Riley) Example 2, "Le Diner de Cons," by Francis Veber (Louis Leterrier) Overview Going Farther Chapter 16: Ten-Minute, News Inspired Story Making a Working Hypothesis Assignment 16-1: A picture and its consequences. Assignment 16-2: Reality TV show. Assignment 16-3: Docudrama. Assignment 16-4: Based on a Real Story... Assignment 16-5: Behind the Façade Assignment 16-6: This Far, and No Farther Assignment 16-7: Analyze Four News Items. Assignment 16-8: Develop Interpersonal Difference Discussion Going Farther Chapter 17: A Documentary Subject Assignment 17-1: A Documentary Subject Assignment 17-2: Simple Voice-Over Personal Film Assignment 17-3: Simple Voice-Over Historical Film Documentary Subject (Angela Galyean) Going Farther Chapter 18: Thirty-Minute Original Fiction Assignment 18-1: Treatment for an Original Thirty-Minute Fiction Piece. Assignment 18-2: An Original 30-minute Fiction Piece Inspired by an Image. Assignment 18-3: An Original 30-minute Fiction Piece Inspired by CLOSAT Cards. Assignment 18-3: An Original 30-minute Fiction Piece Inspired by CLOSAT Cards. Example #1: Thirty-Minute Original Fiction Idea (Michael Hanttula) Example #2: "Eggs Benedict" (Michelle Arnove) On Comedy Going Farther Chapter 19: Feature Film Assignment 19-1: Idea for a Feature Film (Featuring Two Points of View) Example: Feature Film Idea (Paul Flanagan) On The Writing Process and Receiving Criticism Going Farther Part V COLLABORATIVE STORY DEVELOPMENT Chapter 20: Wholly Improvised (Scenes and story construction in the vein of Cassavetes, Fassbinder, Linklater) Chapter 21: Screenplay generated from Improvisation (Screenplay generated from a core of ideas, cast collaboration and improvisations, then best material transcribed and shaped into a screenplay, in the vein of Bergman, Leigh) Part V THE EMERGING WRITER Chapter 22: Revisiting Your Artistic Identity Your Creative Direction Assignment 20-1: Revisiting your Artistic Identity. Assignment 20-2: Say Where You’d Like to Go. Assignment 20-3: Ideas and Ambitions. Assignment 20-4 Setting a Personal Agenda. Discussion and Retrospective Part VI: EXPANDING YOUR WORK INTO ITS FINAL FORM Chapter 23: Story-Editing Your Outline Structural Options Transitions Stream of Consciousness Troubleshooting Yielding to the Dramatic Conventions Chapter 24: Expanding Your Outline Writing for the Screen Standard Screenplay Format Camera and Editing Directions Sound and Music Directions Documentary Film Proposal Plays Standard Playwriting Format Novel or Short Story Format

About the Author :
Michael Rabiger　began in the cutting rooms of England’s Pinewood and Shepperton Studios, became an editor and BBC director of documentaries, and then specialized for many years in the US as a production and aesthetics educator. At Columbia College Chicago he was co-founder, then chair of the Film/Video Department, and established the Michael Rabiger Center for Documentary. He has directed or edited more than 35 films, given workshops in many countries, and led a multinational European workshop for CILECT. Additionally, he won the International Documentary Association's Scholarship and Preservation Award, served as a Fulbright Specialist in South Africa, and is an honorary professor at the University of Buenos Aires. He is the author of Directing the Documentary, and the co-author of Directing: Film Techniques and Aesthetics, both published by Focal Press and available in multiple languages.

Review :
"Whenever a book’s lifespan makes it through several editions, you know that it must be doing something right...Now in it’s third edition, Michael Rabiger’s Developing Story Ideas serves an area of creative development which is normally not addressed in most storytelling/screenwriting manuals; how to come up with an idea for a story in the first place." --Jonny Elwyn, freelance film editor and creator of jonnyelwyn.co.uk