Earlier this week I listened to a podcast from 2017, where the host interviewed Robert Greene. Robert is a non-fiction writer famous for his books The 48 Laws of Power, Mastery, and now The Laws of Human Nature. As a person in his late fifties and an experienced writer, the host asked Robert what advice he would give to new writers, or rather — where did he think most new writers trip up? Naturally, my ears prick up and I turn up my car’s stereo.
Today's been a busy day in the storyverse. Marvel dropped the first official trailer for Avengers 4. They revealed the title. Things happened. I squealed like a child. I'm not even ashamed—I loved Infinity War and can't wait to see how the story ends. I won't spoil any of it, but you need to go and watch it before reading the rest.
If you did check it out already, what did you think? Hit that 'reply' button and let me know.
I actually wrote quite a lot about the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 24 Laws, particularly the chapter on story series, which I titled "Series Are a Right, Not a Privilege". I praised the creators behind the MCU for so successfully building a franchise full of brilliant characters.
The question we beg the answer to is: How did they do this? What did they do right, that the DCEU has apparently failed to do in such a spectacular manner?
In my book The 24 Laws of Storytelling I listed thanks and acknowledgements for those who helped to make the book possible. Following the literary tradition, I also cited the primary sources I used in the book's Selected Bibliography section.
In this blog post, I would like to extend special thanks and acknowledgements to those who deserve credit for their part in helping me write the book. Let's begin!
The 24 Laws of Storytelling is the culmination of a lifelong love of books, movies, and stories in every medium. Are you suffering from writer's block? Do you want to own a practical handbook with accessible storytelling advice? My book dives into historical examples of stories, both real and fictional, extracting the timeless lessons you can apply to your stories today.
Here’s something I’ve kept secret for a long time that I’m finally ready to announce.
For the last year, I’ve been writing a non-fiction book, and today I’m proud to reveal the cover of The 24 Laws of Storytelling.
In its 485 pages, you’ll learn why some movies and books work and others fail, and how you can apply those same principles in your own writing projects.
It’s going to be released on the 15th of November, and you can pre-order the Kindle edition now on Amazon using this link: http://geni.us/D5S8
Only five people have ever known about this personal project of mine since I started researching it in 2017, so it’s nice to finally let this loose on the world!
That’s it for now, short and sweet. I feel so relieved that I can now share this with you all. Now to write the next one.
I'm really excited about this interview. I hyped it up a lot on my email newsletter because I have been excited to speak to Mauricio (@Browntable_Ent) of the YouTube channel Browntable (link). If you're not familiar with Mauricio or Browntable, he is the creator of the amazing Zootopia fan-fiction series Return to Zootopia (episode 1 link).
This discussion is most useful if you’re planning to write fan-fiction for NaNoWriMo next week or just in general. This conversation will be perfect you to study, and I highly recommend checking out the Browntable channel.
I was one of the original “Patreons” of Mauricio’s Browntable channel, and I am proud to continue this. He is a great storyteller who I am sure will continue to tell great stories. In the future.
Without further ado, let me hand the mic over to Mauricio!
Hi guys! This post is from a past email from my storytelling newsletter. If you'd like to receive these as soon as they're written, sign up to my email list here.
I wanted to start this week's storytelling newsletter with some writing advice from an amazing writer. John McPhee is/was a legendary writer for The New Yorker and I just got done re-reading Draft No. 4: On the Writing Process which is a book of his essays on non-fiction writing.
Louis XIV of France (1638–1715) earmarked his place in history as “The Sun King,” and certainly stands unique in the endless succession of world leaders. Few other kings or queens have enjoyed such a long reign (he became king at age 4 and sat on the throne for 72 years), and even fewer have left such an indelible mark on history.
Let's be frank: Louis was a notoriously egotistical asshole, and we have many examples of his often cruel indifference to back that up. But regardless of his personality, all of us can learn something from his 72 year reign — you don’t need to like the guy to learn from his achievements and mistakes.
Without further ado, let’s strip down the legend and look objectively at this remarkable king’s legacy.
We won guys! They appear to have 'fixed' the security issue. I checked myself and the 'reset password' facility actually does what it says, and sends you a link in an email that sends you to a reset password page.
I only found out because I received a very angry/dishonest email from their support asking me to take down the PlainTextOffenders.com post, and heavily implied there never was an issue, which made me chuckle.
After this email, they proceeded to copy and paste their message as a response to all the places I posted about this. Only the very last one they made, on Reddit, acknowledged that there was an issue to be fixed.
