Storytelling: 22 Rules from Pixar

[Devor]

Since people have been posting rules of late, I think this list is the best I've seen.

Take a look. What do you think? Is there anything you would add?

Pixar's 22 Rules of Storytelling - Tubefilter

[Benjamin Clayborne]

I don't know that I'm qualified to add anything to it, but I really love this one:

Coincidences to get characters into trouble are great; coincidences to get them out of it are cheating.

[Penpilot]

I agree with all of them. They fall in line pretty much with how I think. And I agree Benjamin, that one about coincidences is pretty good. I actually never thought about it that way.

[Jess A]

This is true of most writing. Essays, stories, articles...

What’s the essence of your story? Most economical telling of it? If you know that, you can build out from there.

[Chilari]

This is a great list of tips. I like these in particular:

What is your character good at, comfortable with? Throw the polar opposite at them. Challenge them. How do they deal?

When you’re stuck, make a list of what WOULDN’T happen next. Lots of times the material to get you unstuck will show up.

[Jabrosky]

What is your character good at, comfortable with? Throw the polar opposite at them. Challenge them. How do they deal?

This is pure gold. Character development is fundamentally about how characters handle certain challenges. If every writer followed this advice, Mary Sues would go extinct.

[ShortHair]

Well, those are great tips if you're making an animated film for children.

[Chilari]

Well, those are great tips if you're making an animated film for children.

Quite a lot of them are good if you're writing anything at all.

[SeverinR]

"Come up with your ending before you figure out your middle. Seriously. Endings are hard, get yours working up front."

I have a problem with this one, I have read too many stories where the ending was disjointed from the story, or had such a drastic twist it was unbelievable.
The beginning, middle and end must flow. Have a general idea where you want to end, but make sure the final piece fits smoothly in place, not just jammed in place to be the ending you wanted.

[Ireth]

^ This. Stories change in the telling, and sometimes the ending you came up with first doesn't fit the beginning and middle that you get as you go along.