Pixar tells perfect stories. Teams of writers spend years writing, rewriting, and then writing each story again. And since Toy Story was released in 1995, they've developed a ton of storytelling wisdom.

That's why I was so excited when my friend Brandon Clements sent me this amazing list of storytelling rules from the writers at Pixar. I picked out this one that provides a simple, interesting story structure:

#4: Once upon a time there was ___. Every day, ___. One day ___. Because of that, ___. Because of that, ___. Until finally ___.

Sounds like a good place to start!

Pixar

Photo by Яah33l.

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PRACTICE

Here's today's practice:

  1. Fill in the blanks using Pixar's story structure above.
  2. After you fill in the blanksm rewrite and expand your story.
  3. Last, if you have time, rewrite and expand it again.

Write for fifteen minutes. When you're finished post, steps 1-3 in the comments section.

Have fun!

Joe Bunting is an author and the leader of The Write Practice community. He is also the author of the new book Crowdsourcing Paris, a real life adventure story set in France. It was a #1 New Release on Amazon. Follow him on Instagram (@jhbunting).

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