3 Lessons for Online Writers From Pixar’s 22 Rules of Storytelling

In this issue of the newsletter, I’m going to give you three insights from Pixar’s 22 Rules of Storytelling and teach 3 actionable ways you can practice them in your online writing.

Pixar are some of the greatest at telling stories. And if there’s any certain way of capturing people’s attention online, it’s through storytelling. So, expect from this issue to learn 3 exercises that will help you write better stories for your audience.

Now, I’m going to give you the three insights.

3 insights from Pixar’s 22 Rules of Storytelling

Here are 3 of the insights that I find most applicable for online writers:

• You admire a character for trying more than for their successes.

• You gotta keep in mind what's interesting to you as an audience, not what's fun to do as a writer.

• Take the building blocks of a movie you dislike. How d'you rearrange them into what you DO like?

Next up, I’m going to teach you how to exercise these principles to improve the storytelling in your online writing.

Here’s how step by step:

Step 1: Tell a story of a time when you struggled

Sharing your struggles makes you relatable to your audience.

You could share a moment in time when you fought for something and failed. You could tell a story of a time when you struggled to reach a goal and you got there. You can even tell a story about how you did something that on the outside seemed like a success, but felt differently on the inside.

A personal example is this post below where I describe some of the self-doubting thoughts I have experienced starting a newsletter.

Step 2: Tell a story you would like to read

Many writers, myself included, often tell stories they aren’t interested in themselves.

If you’re not interested in what you’re writing about, how can you expect the reader to be? The simplest solution to this is to tell stories you would like to read. You can either retell someone else’s story or think about what personal stories interest you the most.

An example of this is the post below where I talk about writer’s block. I know, self-doubt is a big theme in my posts, but that’s okay. Writing from true experience is what’s interesting. And I can see in the reaction of my audience that personal stories are what works best.

Step 3: Retell someone else’s story

If you’re not comfortable sharing your own stories yet, share someone else’s.

All of the steps above are about telling stories your audience connects to. But that doesn’t work unless you’re able to tell your story. So, if doing that other stuff scares you, start with this step. See what makes someone else’s story work, pick it apart and see how it’s structured.

If you’re really brave, borrow the structure and use it to tell your own story.

If you’re interested in diving deeper into Pixar’s 22 Rules of Storytelling, then check out my thread here: