I liked a little detail in Tangled, whenever Rapunzel felt her fears, she subtly reverted back to her life in the tower. Example: she hides in a secluded cave and she goes up in a tree, I could be overthinking but to me it felt as though she was subconsciously recreating her "Comfort bubble" which also happened to be the very thing suffocating her. Just my opinion, cheers!
Sort of related; in school, I really hated how I couldn't get personal narratives to feel the way I could get fictional to feel and this video finally made me understand why. My memory is really crap, so I usually struggle enough with trying to remember enough about what happened at xyz event, much less the thoughts running through my head, and I hate _hate_ *hate* pulling that sort of thing out my butt, so many of my personal narratives were probably completely missing the internal conflict since I was recounting events rather than talking about how I felt in the moment.
Naturally. If something is meaningless to the protagonist, it's meaningless to the reader. A character's relative might die, but if your protagonist doesn't care about it, your reader won't care about it either.
That's very confusing with all the talk about how protagonists need to be active characters, though (it's even stressed in this video here, too). Because it makes some people think they constantly need to keep their characters in action, with no time for emotional reaction. And 90% reactive scenes would indeed mean the character is only "active" 10% of the time.
@@cosmicprison9819 I think active here means refers to actual plot elements introduced by the author. The plot and character always engage, but if the character is the plot, it kinda gets boring ig
The first 5 minutes of Up don't even use words, but they're still sufficient to show us that Carl wants a life of adventure with his wife, before his wife dies. I couldn't actually tell you off the top of my head what his fear is, because I haven't seen that movie in ages, but you don't even need words to get your audience hooked in the first 5 minutes. (Of course if it's a book, words are kind of important, but dialogue isn't always necessary.)
I guess his fear crippled in after her death, as he becomes bitter. So I suppose it's the fear of opening up to happiness and getting his heart broken/losing the happiness afterwards. Which damn...Isn't that most people's fear? Up is amazing.
@@camichandri Yeah, after Elle's death, it caused Carl to fearfully believe that life is nothing without Elle because she got him a bit out of his shell when they were kids. Hence why he took the house they worked on together on the balloons to go to that paradise he promised he'd take her to.
Carl’s fear was that Ellie never had any adventure. That he didn’t give her everything she wanted in life, so he decided to give it to her after she had passed.
This is also why Disney movies are family movies: these are the same hopes, fears, dreams, and conflicts of real people, not just the younger generation who are portrayed as the protagonists, but also of the adults who have yet to identify that they still hang onto the infernal conflict they had as children. I still want to make my family proud, but after "discovering" that my dad, who's passed on, can no longer say 'no' to my writing, I'm spend hours a day following my dream, even when I do have "a real job." -------- Thank you, Abbie for this post, also because I am slowly figuring out my MC's internal conflict from these many examples, never mind that I'm editing Act 3 right now, and hope to need beta readers soon. :D
What instantly made me fall in love with Marlin's character in Finding Nemo is that he named his only surviving child Nemo in honor of his wife, since he previously wanted to name his children after himself while he decided for Coral to name her side Coral, he even said "Well you can name one Nemo but I prefer Marlin Jr." Him naming his only surviving son Nemo was a selfless act and he instantly transformed as a result of his wife's sudden death
Abbie has instilled the "characters matter" point in my mind so strong that I'm starting to see a major difference in my stories over the years! The quality of my recent works are truly better, thanks to the storytelling queen!
I’m not an author nor do I desire to be, but her insights on the things she discussed has uses beyond writings/storytelling. It provides insight on things such as human nature, emotions, motivations, personal growth, and beyond. To hear it thoroughly explained brings a smile to my face.
My desire: to be a "big time" author, to write my "great American novel"; My fear: disappointing my parents/family/dad; Misbelief: In order to have security and please others (which is/was my fear-based goal) I would have to conform, to "do something that makes money."
Octavia E. Butler had that struggle. But she was so determined that even at her factory job, she would write during her lunchbreaks. That is almost as impressive as her writing. I wish you the best in your desire and I offer this anecdote as a suggestion to *look everywhere* for the things that work for you.
@@auldthymer thank you, yes. I've written on receipt paper between customers, then filled out scenes during breaks and at night. It works well. Ideas like simmering on the back burner.
OK, this is probably my personality showing through, and I realize everyone has their own ways and processes of writing. BUT - The more I dive into the details of plotting, the more I see it as the only way to really shape an amazing story. Again, that's what *I'm* seeing in my writing, but it's just becoming more and more clear to me. Thanks, Abbie.
Thats alright, I mean we all have different writing processes as Abbie herself said :). We all have different priorities, and most importantly, been through different experiences. So do what works for you and gl 😳
Tbh I do the same thing except I do it with my characters. My characters have surface level traits at first and then j dive deeper and deeper into their psyche
@@Emancy3 that reminds me of the process of getting to know friends. You see their personality for the first time, and you wonder how'd they get to that point. "Oh, Jessica’s so flirtatious with old men 😳 maaaybe she lost her dad or something" /j
Discovery writers build characters first and then build the plot around them. Good discovery writers generally still plot their stories, they just do it by rewriting scenes or even rewriting the entire story after they get to the end. Whereas outliners method looks like 1. Outline (plot) 2. Write 3. Edit Discovery writers tend to be more 1. Character creation 2. Write (what would my character do in this sitiation) 3. Revise (what situations need to change?) 4. Rewrite (how do my characters respond to the new situation?) 5. Repeat step 3 and 4 as needed 6. Edit.
@15:24: Actually you are still right Abbie, Nemo doesn't trigger the events of the plot, it's Marlin who's unconscious fear drives Nemo to rebel. After-all, he wasn't going to touch the butt. But yes, there are two stories within one, which is the brilliance of this film!
I completely agree. However, when we say there is a science to guarantee a successful story, it sounds like you will have a great story if you do this. That is not true. This takes the writer's skill out of the equation. Someone can do everything you said and still have a bad story if they don't have the skill to pull what they are trying to do. I know this sounds bad, but it really isn't. Because skill can improve over time.
Sure, but the opposite can be said and I think that's the point. This isn't implying that this is the only element of writing - that's a strawman argument you're tearing down. But, without a good plot your story will flop, even if you're a great technical writer.
@@bookishb3818 Not true. I said I agree, and Abby mentioned having a good plot. Nowhere is skill mentioned in the video. Something that is lacking in most AuthorTube videos. Even my own. Many new writers take writing advice literally and may see this as if I do this I'll have a good story, but not the skills to execute it. You can have internal conflict an amazing plot and be a great technical writer, and still have a flop.
I find plot to be over-rated. Let's take a story where a lower-class young woman hears that her life can be improved by learning to enunciate differently. So, speech lessons. George Bernard Shaw used this to create "Pygmalion," then Lerner and Lowe changed it into "My Fair Lady." Speech lessons!
@@auldthymer That is a plot. It is what is happening on the outside of a character. To me, that is not an interesting plot, but to some it is. That is why characters matter because one character could make the story uninteresting to one person and a completely different character could make it exciting for another person. You gotta have a plot.
@@TimRG My point was "My Fair Lady" has an absurdly dull plot. BUT, we have the arrogance of Henry Higgins meeting the determination of Eliza Doolitle and THAT's what gives us a story. Speech lessons are hardly the plot we dream of.
That’s why I’ve been having a hard time writing my stories! It’s because I haven’t connected to the characters and not made it important to them. Thank you so much for the video; it helped me out so much!
There's this one youtuber that wrote a screenlay about what could have been the story for Brave 😂 he was utterly disappointed with how it turned out especially since the intro was super compelling but the rest was so forgetable.
All these examples made me realise my character's fear has been staring me in the face for ages! Hopefully I can plot a little more easily now that I know what my character must overcome to move forward.
It's actually incredible how you can symbolize the internal conflict of the character by using the setting and plot. In the movie Gravity, for example, a female astronaut flees to space because she doesn't want to feel the 'weight' of her grief for losing her daughter. In all of these Disney movies, they do the same, symbolizing the character's desire for freedom and fear of the world by placing them in a scary confined space. I always think i's more powerful when writers can show the internal conflict through other elements of the story without even using dialogue or exposition. Definitely, something I strive to accomplish. Thank you for this amazing analyzation Abbie!
When I saw this video I was going in "I will waste my time again, my deadline is coming in and now I am just going to run out of time." But actually, it was worth it. I learned a lot. Even helped me see a fear that was holding myself back: Fear that I have lost my touch and I will never be as good as I was. I have just kept telking myself that. I also noticed even snall episodes of tv shows follow these patterns you showed. Mia in LEGO: Friends enjoys snow boarding. We see that as she does her tricks. She wants to enter a competition to help animals. Build a new shelter. As she is practicing a series of unfortunate event unroll and she injures herself. Even when her physical injury is cured the trauma, the fear from that incidents keep her back. The writers show this by days going by and her saying "maybe next day" and by showing a moment of her waking up and being terrified of seeing her board which has face drawn on it. Maybe symbolism of the terror. She even desparately makes excuses to stay of her board. Her friends know how much the animals mean to her and find this behavior strange. Then one of their friends who goes on about how Mia once saved her dog recklessly enters the competition in Mia's place. On the day of the competition an avalanche hits. Her friend who entered the competition is unable to run away and this forces her to save the day as she is the only one capable. She gets on that board with her friend and saves her. She wins tge competition and overcomes her fear that held her back. We akso had chocokate socks and funny characters as comic relief. Then a myth about a white deer working in the background. The question of its existence is answered before Mia gets on the board as she spots a white deer. Overall, it is quite well written episode. The internal conflict makes it interesting as itbis not her leg holding her back, but her fear of the incident repeating itself. But before we discover that we hope her leg heals on time so she can get the shelter. It was after that we discovered that the leg was not the issue. And to keep the story realistic they do look thriugh other options of funding the shelter, but kniw they cannot do it withiut. Tge shekter issue is brought up in the first place by her finding two animals in need of shelter. As she brings them in it opens the discussion on the issues tge shelter is having with funding and soace and all. They also tell what will happen if they do not get the funding. We do not want that. That creates the sense of urgency. We as readers get curious on what the outcome will be, will they be able to get the shelter. At one point it even felt unrealistic for her to win the competition as there were professionals. The snowboarding looked like a fun thing to base the story. Made me want to snowboard too. A lot went into that small episode. Came back wanted to keep ranting about that episode: They even managed to make it relatabld to audience who have experienced the fear of getting onto a board. I myself have feared getting on my skateboard after an accident with it. Then also, they used really good "show do not tell" with Mia avoiding getting on that board. Tho she might have said something after. She is in conflict with her self as she has not complitely given up as she truly cares about those animals. Otherwise putting it off would not be so hard for her. And you can as audience cringe you nose at how cross a chocolate sock sounds and especially when a character drinks from one. We also get amusing character tropes using stereotypes such as this man with a business trying to sell weird products. Also we get the rich guy's daughter whom he spoils. She on the otherhand gives of this raised in a barn energy. It may comes as bit annoying. Often feels like the girls don't like her, but she doesn't get the hint. She really wants to be in their company. However, no decent person would let her get hurt either, so she has to be saved when unable to move in that avalanche. Mia is baffled by why the girl entered the competition without knowing how to snowboard, but it was because they were no paying attention to her and she wanted to prove herself to them as a friend and repay what Mia had done. Others did not notice either, what she had been doing with that act. They seemed to think it was because she was just being her obnoxious self kind of.
I was literally gonna skip the fear and internal conflict for my character as i didn't want her to have. But this video got me editing my whole outline!!!
I cannot even verbalize what a gem you are to the writing community. I love these sort of critiquing video with examples! I always heard you talk about characters misbeliefs but I never fully grasped and understood what that meant until I saw it in examples like these
Hey, did you guys realize... she just hit 100K subs like a month ago and she's already sitting at 120K?! She's gonna be at 1M in no time!! #skills #nolimits
But just from this video I can see, she has already changed her video format. She now does the same thing as Jenna which is “but Janna!?” “But Abbie!”. I haven’t seen anyone else comment on this, and just want to know, has anyone else noticed? Or just me? I love Abbie and her videos, big fan on hers. But I hope she doesn’t veer of course and move away from her normal format because that’s why I love it so much
@@rivermay109 First of all, I totally get where you’re coming from. Abbie has such a unique quality about her and the way she presents her information… I hope she doesn’t change too much either. That being said, I have followed her since about 2018 and she has definitely changed some since then. However, Abbie does not strike me as someone who would copycat another AuthorTuber in order to achieve growth. That’s just lazy. Abbie is not a lazy creator. I think her “but Abbie” line is just… her. I mean, I get that Jenna does that too, but that’s definitely not an original line - no one “owns” that phrase lol Also, you mentioned that her video format has changed. She is only using this format for her “Science of Story” series. The rest of her videos are not done this way. :)
@@rivermay109 No, I've seen it, too. She's growing lots more confidence, but I'm afraid it's changing the way she gives advice and presents herself. I'm glad she's happy, but where did our Abbie go?
Another great Pixar story that uses the formula with non human entities is Walle. Through completely nonverbal communication, it gives the backstory of how the world ended and all the humans left through commercials, newspapers, and broken Walle robots. Not only does it establish that Walle is completely alone, but it also shows his creativity with his trailer full of lights and toys and his desire for love when when we see him watch Hello Dolly and focus on the dancing and romance scene. Not enough people talk about Walle but it is a masterpiece in my opinion, plus it has the wild plot of robots trying to take over the humans and fighting in space
So glad to see Finding Nemo getting the love it deserves!! I learned soooo much about storytelling just from listening to the audio commentary on it 😂 It's interesting, because in the director's mind (Stanton), Marlin was more of the main character than Nemo. It brought a whole new meaning to my perspective of the story. It was a time in my life when I was making the leap from short stories to novels, and what I learned shaped my writing today.
John Carter was an amazing movie. The only problem it had was the lack of advertising and a bad title. It should have been titled 'John Carter of Mars"
Walter White is a good example of desire verses fear. He spent his whole life wanted to be the best at something, to be great. Always wanting to go bigger and better, but he gets beaten down by the world until he's a boring highschool teacher who works at a car wash to make ends meet. Then when he finds out that he has terminal lung cancer, he looses his fear and starts becoming the thing he always wanted to be: a great chemist and a respected man.
And he does stupid things, like telling Hank that Heisenberg was still out there, in order to be recognized. He's a genius who can be a complete idiot out of ego!
I think the reason of why so many writers are obsessed with the plot is because they haven't analysed the difference between active characters and pushed characters throughout a emotionless story, also thinking that emotion means no action.
This is completely unrelated to Disney; but actually this video was really therapeutic for me. It made me realize that I, too have a strong desire, and a fear and misbelief holding me back. I wrote it down and am now determined to get over my fear, change my belief about myself and the world around me and to have my own happy ending. :) Thank you Abbie
This mentality can also cause the "Formula" that so many Marvel movies fell to. The trope of the journey. We have seen in it every single Marvel hit, and we have started to see it fail. So, sometimes, the audience wants something different. But I really love these lessons and I am starting to put them in my own writing. Whether in role play, or in my short stories. So, thank you so much for this.
Star Wars for example doesn't introduce Luke till 15 minutes are in. The baddies and the supporting characters come first. It creates the world, then brings in the protagonist. There's many ways to write a story, but strong characters always need to be there.
John Carter is actually a cult classic for sci fi nerds. The financial success aside it’s a perfectly fine film - for a more niche / different demographic.
Big fan of the movie, thought it was better than the book. However she is right about the financial success and that's huge because one of the better things than a great movie is a whole sequences of great movies.
There were a lot of factors outside the core work of the John Carter movie, like lack of marketing support and changes going on at Disney+Marvel, that made it bomb. For sake of intellectual honesty, she shouldn't talk about movies she haven't watched. I really enjoyed John Carter and don't need no one to tell me what I'm supposed to love or not.
@@theakanani1562 I had a similar thought, since part of the reason John Carter got only lackluster marketing support from Disney was that they had just acquired the Star Wars rights from George Lucas, and they didn't want two competing space-opera franchises out in the market place. Also, John Carter had been mined by a lot of other sci-fi films for its ideas (Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon, Star Wars, etc.), so even though nobody had ever done a John Carter film, it felt derivative. Having said that, it could have benefitted from more character work. So Abbie isn't exactly wrong here - though it wouldn't have been a bad idea to actually watch the movie ;-)
OMG, I watched John Carter a few months ago and want my two hours back! It's terrible for exactly the reasons Abbie describes and she was right to save her time by not watching it. I'm sure there are people who like it just for the action and special effects, but it is purely plot driven and has no heart like the movies she gives as good examples do.
This is a really good video for Dungeon/Game Masters as well who are trying to build out their narrative for a D&D campaign. If you keep the focus on what drives your players and their motivations, they become so much more invested in the game.
The same goes for encanto... Mirabel is a child who is about to get her powers. She does not get it. Her grandma now thinks she can't do anything. Now she trys her best to blend in her family of people with super powers. Mirabel's desire: to be like her family members. Mirabel's fear: that she will do something wrong again Mirabel's misbelief: that she is not special and unique and she can't do anything perfectly.
I've been studying 3-act story structure for so long, that last time I was in cinema on Disney movie, I literally started analysing it unconciously. I knew which moment belonged to which point in structure, and I knew what will happen next. It kinda killed all the fun.
Seriously Abbie, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart, it's as honnest as it comes. It feels like I already know all of this deep down, but I'm overwelmed, and the way you pass this knowledge onto us is clear, organized. It helped me focus so much. It's like everything was there already but thanks to your work on this channel it can finally come out the right way. I have a plan to follow, I know exactly what I need to work on, in which order, and as a result I'v done more in those past few months than in the year prior. Really starting to feel like I'm going somewhere. If one day my novel becomes a book I swear your name will be in the thankyous somewhere, with Bill Hicks and Tolkien 🤣 not even kiding. I'm the story and the plot, but girl, you are the strategy. And I'm not even mentioning the energy you give, the raise in motivation I had, such a vertuous circle! If this was good ol antiquity I would say you're a Muse 😘 Thank you.
This is an extremely good video! I have four things to think about for every character in each story: Desire - What does your character want to do most and how does it conflict with your fear? Fear - What is your character scared of and how does it conflict with your desire? Misbelief - What does your character wrongfully believe in this internal conflict? (Stupid) Plan - With all three key elements, what is this character going to attempt to accomplish in the story?
when I say I could watch hours of these story conflict example videos and I get so excited when I see you upload and THAT IT'S A BEAUTIFUL 22 MINUTES LONG- ABBIEEEEEE I love your channel so much 😭 it's helped a ton with my writing and I'm such a nerd for these storytelling techniques 🥺💕
i went to a masterclass earlier this year taught by Brenda Chapman, the director of Brave, and she said that all the princesse's desires are usually presented in the first 5 minutes through a "I Want" song
1:34 OH MY GOODNESS!!! I CAN TELL THAT I'M ALREADY GOING TO LOVE THIS!!!! INSIDE OUT IS THE BEST!!! EDIT: Would you ever consider doing movie reactions on your channel? Like, film yourself reacting to a movie (and editing it of course so the video's shorter.) If so, I would love to see your reaction to Inside Out or Meet the Robinsons!
After overthinking what you said I realized you are spot on about John Carter of Mars --- it was good, but too slow. It didn't make the stakes clear in the first five minutes. You're absolutely right.
Totally agreed. the sequel trilogy failed the story of characters(all of Luke/Han/Leia and also the protagonist who fell in love with a man who mind raped her) and failed the plot as well(somehow Palpatine returned and so many other flaws).
These principles could also be applied to horror movies. Giving the audiences a reason to care about your characters, That's why Movies like Stephen King's It, and Jack Ketchum's The Girl Next Door, are so hard-hitting, and movies like The 2000s Prom Night Remake and Final Destination 3 don't hit hard as much.
It seems like the very beginning of these masterworks shows the character's automatic conflict, the conflict they come in already carrying, before the action of the story comes in and disrupts their life. That way when they...well, flail and fail against the unknown, we already have some feelings about them as a storyperson.
Your videos are always so enjoyable and motivating and inspiring, but this one hands-down has finally gotten me from "I have a story idea..." to "I KNOW HOW TO TELL THIS STORY!" I've been struggling with how to turn my ideas into stories but suddenly I GET IT! I'm so excited! It took me 2 hours to finish this video because I had to stop and take notes, and then I HAD to plot my first story and I got 70 percent there before I took a break! Gah! Thank YOU! I adore your channel! Sincerely, Thank you! ~Kiki 💜
Hugely entertaining, Abbie. I’m absorbing your tidbits avidly. That’s why I signed up to your patreon. You have an exceptionally effective method of connecting and simultaneously nourishing my inner writer. You’ve helped me with an epiphany today. Thank you.
You saved my WIP again. If I had a dollar for every story I started to write but couldn't finish because I didn't know the MC's internal conflict, I could buy a Brandon Sanderson book (or two) with the money.
They had a similar problem on Star Trek: TNG. In the first couple seasons they were so focused on being preachy that people didn't care. From S3 forward they started re-directing to more character focus. When writing each episode they would say "Is this a Data episode? or a Worf Episode? or a Capt. Picard episode?" etc. It completely turned the show around.
Abbie, I love your videos, especially those of this kind. I also think character driven stories are the best and that in general work better than a plot driven one, but there are some very successful movies and stories where characters have very little importance, Jusrassic Park comes to mind... Still keep doing what you do =)
Love that you are sharing these tips as to why we are all so invested in fictional Disney characters. I want to check out more of this story science since I'm a pretty visual learner
Im really thankfull that you have made this video because I want the reader to feel the pain that my main character is going through in my own story im writing
Confession time (this is a safe space isn't it?), I actually liked John Carter, I even liked The Lone Ranger. A couple of comparisons that spring to mind for me are the relatively recent Godzilla movies (the Matthew Broderick one and the later one with the dude from Breaking Bad in it) and Twister vs Into the Storm. I loved the earlier Godzilla story and I loved Twister and I think both of those were better movies for the reasons explained here. The characters were well portrayed at the earliest part of the movies and then developed further along the way. The later two movies were all about special effects and set-pieces. Junk food for the eyeballs. If you want nutrition, you need to get your vitamins up front.
Once I actually _saw_ John Carter I did like the movie, and by the end I was on the edge of my seat about wheter or not he would get back to Mars and back to Dejah. My nephew and I both found ourselves tearing up over it. BUT, the marketing did nothing to tell me what the plot was; how was I to know even that John Carter of Mars was a *famous* series of Edgar Rice Burroughs stories? I didn't grow up in the era these stories were popular, and I was not raised on a series of movies about John like I was with ERB's other famous character, Tarzan. Those movies were ubiquitous; there was ALWAYS a Tarzan movie on some TV channel in my childhood. But I had never heard of John. I liked the movie so much I got the books, and...I *struggled* to get through the first one, and never made it through the 2nd one. John is not a character you care about in the book. There is no reason to relate to him. He's just a self-insert character, there for you to imagine yourself in his place, around all these naked Martians (John is naked the whole story, too, btw). Stanton tried really hard to make a successful movie out of what was a successful book series and later comic series. But let's be real here: the comics were popular for the some reason the books were, and that had to do with the scantily clad pretty people on the book covers and in the pages. Really, Dejah with her metal nipple pasties and barely there bikini/thong did a LOT to sell those stories. All the Martians are naked and look down on Earthlings for wearing clothing. This was something of a theme with ERB. If you read Tarzan, he is naked, too, and the native African warriors are nearly so. ERB was a born in the latter quarter of the Victorian era and descended from Puritans, so make what you will of his preoccupation with nakedness in his stories.
Love this video. I love Disney especially their movies. And I’m happy that they’re so successful not because of the money but because the characters and the plot. Actually I watched tangled two times. The first time I haven’t noticed the secret ingredient. But the second time I did. This series or examples helped me a lot when my writing because I’m a very visual learner. And I learn better when some examples are being shown to me.
Abbie, this is pure awesomeness. I really enjoyed the video and found it extremely informative. We appreciate your hard work and devotion towards transforming our way of telling our own stories so that they are better heard. RESPECT ✊
I'd never heard of John Carter or Tomorrowland when they came out, so I do suspect advertising plays a pretty big part actually. In fact I've never heard of John Carter until just now
Hi Abbie! This is such a great video, I watched Tangled, Frozen and Moana two days ago, the timing couldn't be better 😂 I have a question: I've noticed that by wanting to show my character's inner conflict, my hook becomes a bit "obvious" (like I'm telling the reader: see, THIS is important, look, look!). I'd like to have tips to make the structure beats more subtle 😃
How do you make a villain protagonist sympathetic? I am thinking of doing it by giving them a selfless motivation (e.g by saving their child or their village/tribe) or make their antagonist far more evil in comparison.
Robin Hobb is a master at getting readers to care about her characters. Assasin's Apprentice begins a journey that will result in the need for trauma therapy. And yes, internal conflict is highlighted very early on and never lets up.
This is an excellent breakdown! My current novel has an issue with passive characters, especially in the beginning. You've given me a road map for revising it. (Of course, the real difficulty lies in applying the principles you've outlined here, otherwise we'd be swimming in blockbusters…)
I'm a fan of character-driven stories, too, but just to play devil's advocate: What do you think about "heist"-type stories, like Inception or Tenet? Those usually focus on the mission (and the mission is all the plot there is). Crime stories are usually also more about characters solving the case. Of course, these stories rarely work without any backstory about the lead character, but they don't necessarily give it to you within the first five minutes. In Inception, for example, they only reveal Dom's backstory fairly late.
I think when it comes to heist stories, the plot being pushed by the "mission" makes sense but your audience won't care unless your character has a personal stake in it. Why are they doing the heist? Is there someone, something they're trying to protect? Why are they trying to solve the crime? Is it just their job? Or does it have a tie back into their backstory. How does that heist, that mission change them? All "mission" driven stories can feel the same without the lead characters having some sort of stake in it as well as a transformation because of it.
Hello! it's amazing here! I've just started reading Hundred Days of Sunlight! (literally, pg 46) you're tips and stories are truly awesome! Especially this video, since Disney stories are one of my most fav (so emotional yet fun!)
This is so true, teenage films and adventure films try to keep the characters motives as blank as possible so you the audience can project yourself on to them. But this isn’t really that good
This really begs a lot of questions. Notably "what about the disney films that are great but sold poorly (like Treasure Planet and Atlantis)?" and "how much of a driving force can a character be in the universe or even just in their own life before it breaks willing suspension of disbelief?" That answer is probably different for everyone but I know for me that if you had started off this video by saying "your characters need to control the plot and not the other way around" I would have stopped watching because a protagonist that powerful feels like an arrogant author who doesn't know what my life is like is spitting on me (which I guess is the reason people hate the Mary Sue). Personally Disney films work for me because characters ARE punching bags of the plot, to pretty deep degree, otherwise it would be impossible to relate to them.
What she is saying is that all financially successful Disney movies have used the 5 minute rule. She's not saying applying the rule automatically makes a movie a success.
I also have to strongly disagree with your assessment that Disney movies are more plot driven. Aladdin chose to become a prince and try to impress Princess Jasmine. At the start of the movie, he talks about being seen for who he is. It's that desire that drives the movie. Ariel wanted to get out of the sea and be with Prince Eric. The whole movie was driven by the choices she made and her desires.
Treasure Planet flopped because its release was sabotaged by Disney, put out at the same time as Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, which was highly anticipated. They WANTED the movie to fail.
Title: The Hidden Science Behind Disney Movies Me: Let me guess… internal conflict? *watches video* Yep, we love a predictable queen!! Great video as always. :)
I’ve been considering cutting out one of my characters from my story. Not entirely, but removing his perspective. Now I can see, that I can’t answer any of these questions. He only breaks down in grief halfway through the story, being very upset that his brother was captured and is being used for evil against his will. I tried to reveal things about plot B, but it’s too early.
Personally I not only LOVED "John Carter", but it made me want to read the "Princess of Mars" book series as well! As soon as it came out on DVD I immediately rushed to the store to buy it, and have watched it repeatedly (even on Disney+). I also enjoyed "Alice Through the Looking Glass" and it's time escapades that made me laugh and actually described it to my friends as a story about a girl who steals a TARDIS from a Timelord and goes back in time to stop an Evil Queen! I thought the movie was much more touching, inciteful, and had much more depth than the original movie. I think the BIG problem with the movies that you have pointed to here is that they strongly lean towards (or are outright, as in the case of "John Carter") being adult-oriented movies, while if you notice all of the big box office hits are all children's movies. Even more when people think of Disney it is CHILDREN'S movies/productions that they think of, which adults can feel guilty about enjoying...NOT movies that aren't meant for children to see. (People don't immediately think of "Star Wars" or "Marvel" when they think of Disney, either, as these were things which were already popular and famous before they were purchased...rather than these being part of Disney it is seen as Disney being part of them, which is completely different.) You might argue that the "Star Wars" are made for adults, but they also have so much stuff that allows children (or at the very least tweens and teens) to get into the fantasy of what is happening, enjoying it along with their parents. I did enjoy "Mulan" as well with how they made everything much more realistic, but it wasn't as enjoyable as the original, and, in fact, I haven't enjoyed ANY of the live action remakes of the original animated movies WITH THE EXCLUSION of "Beauty and the Beast". Further if "John Carter" has been advertised as a Western themed sci-fi (like "Serenity"), rather than a Space Opera (like "Star Wars"), I think it might have even drawn more attention, letting everyone see the characters as reflections of real life stereotypes and the misunderstandings we allow ourselves to perceive when we don't look beyond these little boxes we make around them. You could also include movies like "The Princess Bride" was a box office flop, but is a highly acclaimed movie now. And "The Neverending Story" was successful, but started out so slow you don't care about Bastion, the character we are introduced to. To me he could have been much more removed and we could have kept the actual story he is reading, and that would have made the movie even better.
Good points. Except Star Wars under George Lucas was written with children in mind with adults along for the ride rather than the other way around. You can see this in that he negotiated for merchandising rights immediately. Some of the new Star Wars series are focusing on the adult perspective more. Plus Disney-owned Lucasfilms' Star Wars movies (the sequel trilogy) do seem to be more focused on adults - especially those adults that grew up with Star Wars with writing geared to them instead of the actual characters and stories.
I was struggling so much trying to figure out what was wrong with my writing, and what it was that my class was talking about, but this gave me so much context to that and helps so much thank you.
My challenge is doing this subtly and not accidentally overhyping the fear. Many times ive written something and gotten stuck because ive made the character so afraid that they SAY they desire something but refuse to take the risk as they complain why theyre also afraid to do it.
Hmm, Seems like I did this with my D&D Charecter without knowing: Desire: The Strength to protect others. Fear: To be lonely and to be seen as useless. Misbelieve: Get as much power as possible. (he's a Rogue btw) (just not in 5 minutes.. good to keep in mind)
I liked a little detail in Tangled, whenever Rapunzel felt her fears, she subtly reverted back to her life in the tower. Example: she hides in a secluded cave and she goes up in a tree, I could be overthinking but to me it felt as though she was subconsciously recreating her "Comfort bubble" which also happened to be the very thing suffocating her. Just my opinion, cheers!
Thats actually really cool!
If this was intentional, that would be really well thought out
That's good analyses
I don't think that's overthinking at all. I think it's intentional. Disney can be so great with character development in subtle ways like that.
And that's a accurate opinion! You're spot on. Doesn't that happen with us, too?
I once read that only 10% of life was something happening, the remaining 90% is just us reacting to it. I guess storytelling is the same
lowkey blew my mind
Sort of related; in school, I really hated how I couldn't get personal narratives to feel the way I could get fictional to feel and this video finally made me understand why. My memory is really crap, so I usually struggle enough with trying to remember enough about what happened at xyz event, much less the thoughts running through my head, and I hate _hate_ *hate* pulling that sort of thing out my butt, so many of my personal narratives were probably completely missing the internal conflict since I was recounting events rather than talking about how I felt in the moment.
Naturally. If something is meaningless to the protagonist, it's meaningless to the reader. A character's relative might die, but if your protagonist doesn't care about it, your reader won't care about it either.
That's very confusing with all the talk about how protagonists need to be active characters, though (it's even stressed in this video here, too). Because it makes some people think they constantly need to keep their characters in action, with no time for emotional reaction. And 90% reactive scenes would indeed mean the character is only "active" 10% of the time.
@@cosmicprison9819 I think active here means refers to actual plot elements introduced by the author. The plot and character always engage, but if the character is the plot, it kinda gets boring ig
The first 5 minutes of Up don't even use words, but they're still sufficient to show us that Carl wants a life of adventure with his wife, before his wife dies. I couldn't actually tell you off the top of my head what his fear is, because I haven't seen that movie in ages, but you don't even need words to get your audience hooked in the first 5 minutes. (Of course if it's a book, words are kind of important, but dialogue isn't always necessary.)
I guess his fear crippled in after her death, as he becomes bitter. So I suppose it's the fear of opening up to happiness and getting his heart broken/losing the happiness afterwards. Which damn...Isn't that most people's fear? Up is amazing.
@@camichandri Yeah, after Elle's death, it caused Carl to fearfully believe that life is nothing without Elle because she got him a bit out of his shell when they were kids. Hence why he took the house they worked on together on the balloons to go to that paradise he promised he'd take her to.
I love Up so much. Thank you for this!
Carl’s fear was that Ellie never had any adventure. That he didn’t give her everything she wanted in life, so he decided to give it to her after she had passed.
how do you write without words lmao
This is also why Disney movies are family movies: these are the same hopes, fears, dreams, and conflicts of real people, not just the younger generation who are portrayed as the protagonists, but also of the adults who have yet to identify that they still hang onto the infernal conflict they had as children. I still want to make my family proud, but after "discovering" that my dad, who's passed on, can no longer say 'no' to my writing, I'm spend hours a day following my dream, even when I do have "a real job." -------- Thank you, Abbie for this post, also because I am slowly figuring out my MC's internal conflict from these many examples, never mind that I'm editing Act 3 right now, and hope to need beta readers soon. :D
Infernal conflict. 🤣 I mean internal
Your life sounds like itll make a good movie ngl 😳 gl with ur writing you have my prayers :)
Beautifully put. If you need beta readers, I know there are some groups of them on Facebook
@@didjaseemyjams1582 oh, yes. Thank you.
@@benjaminramsey498 you're filling a need. ☺ there are plenty other themes and other ways to represent themes than Disney's.
What instantly made me fall in love with Marlin's character in Finding Nemo is that he named his only surviving child Nemo in honor of his wife, since he previously wanted to name his children after himself while he decided for Coral to name her side Coral, he even said "Well you can name one Nemo but I prefer Marlin Jr." Him naming his only surviving son Nemo was a selfless act and he instantly transformed as a result of his wife's sudden death
Oh wow. I thought it was because “Nemo” was the only that survived.
That was one of the best moments Pixar’s ever done. Such a great character moment
This is why so many songs at the start of a musical have the lyrics "I wish"
Sideways has a few videos that mention this; called the "I want" song. Check him out!
Like Moana, " I wish, I could be the perfect daughter"
Omg so true
They always wishing for something
Like the Into the Woods first song
Abbie has instilled the "characters matter" point in my mind so strong that I'm starting to see a major difference in my stories over the years! The quality of my recent works are truly better, thanks to the storytelling queen!
This comment brightened my day! I'm so glad my videos have been helpful and inspiring to you. 😊
She's made such a difference in my storytelling, too!! Her methods are revolutionizing!
I concur Abbie you made a difference in the story I am writing. Thank you.
the spam that we all need
@@AbbieEmmons I'm still waiting for The Hidden Science behind good and bad sequels.
I’m not an author nor do I desire to be, but her insights on the things she discussed has uses beyond writings/storytelling. It provides insight on things such as human nature, emotions, motivations, personal growth, and beyond. To hear it thoroughly explained brings a smile to my face.
It's the truth but not the whole truth
My desire: to be a "big time" author, to write my "great American novel"; My fear: disappointing my parents/family/dad; Misbelief: In order to have security and please others (which is/was my fear-based goal) I would have to conform, to "do something that makes money."
I understand and I have the same desire and fear. Only difference is its my mom.
Octavia E. Butler had that struggle. But she was so determined that even at her factory job, she would write during her lunchbreaks.
That is almost as impressive as her writing.
I wish you the best in your desire and I offer this anecdote as a suggestion to *look everywhere* for the things that work for you.
@@auldthymer thank you, yes. I've written on receipt paper between customers, then filled out scenes during breaks and at night. It works well. Ideas like simmering on the back burner.
@@kathyl6677 Good For You!
Are you....me????
OK, this is probably my personality showing through, and I realize everyone has their own ways and processes of writing. BUT - The more I dive into the details of plotting, the more I see it as the only way to really shape an amazing story. Again, that's what *I'm* seeing in my writing, but it's just becoming more and more clear to me. Thanks, Abbie.
Thats alright, I mean we all have different writing processes as Abbie herself said :). We all have different priorities, and most importantly, been through different experiences. So do what works for you and gl 😳
Tbh I do the same thing except I do it with my characters. My characters have surface level traits at first and then j dive deeper and deeper into their psyche
@@Emancy3 that reminds me of the process of getting to know friends. You see their personality for the first time, and you wonder how'd they get to that point. "Oh, Jessica’s so flirtatious with old men 😳 maaaybe she lost her dad or something" /j
So true.
Discovery writers build characters first and then build the plot around them. Good discovery writers generally still plot their stories, they just do it by rewriting scenes or even rewriting the entire story after they get to the end.
Whereas outliners method looks like
1. Outline (plot)
2. Write
3. Edit
Discovery writers tend to be more
1. Character creation
2. Write (what would my character do in this sitiation)
3. Revise (what situations need to change?)
4. Rewrite (how do my characters respond to the new situation?)
5. Repeat step 3 and 4 as needed
6. Edit.
@15:24: Actually you are still right Abbie, Nemo doesn't trigger the events of the plot, it's Marlin who's unconscious fear drives Nemo to rebel. After-all, he wasn't going to touch the butt. But yes, there are two stories within one, which is the brilliance of this film!
Omg my kids still laugh so much at that scene 😆 and they're 10 yrs old.
I completely agree. However, when we say there is a science to guarantee a successful story, it sounds like you will have a great story if you do this. That is not true. This takes the writer's skill out of the equation. Someone can do everything you said and still have a bad story if they don't have the skill to pull what they are trying to do. I know this sounds bad, but it really isn't. Because skill can improve over time.
Sure, but the opposite can be said and I think that's the point. This isn't implying that this is the only element of writing - that's a strawman argument you're tearing down. But, without a good plot your story will flop, even if you're a great technical writer.
@@bookishb3818 Not true. I said I agree, and Abby mentioned having a good plot. Nowhere is skill mentioned in the video. Something that is lacking in most AuthorTube videos. Even my own. Many new writers take writing advice literally and may see this as if I do this I'll have a good story, but not the skills to execute it. You can have internal conflict an amazing plot and be a great technical writer, and still have a flop.
I find plot to be over-rated.
Let's take a story where a lower-class young woman hears that her life can be improved by learning to enunciate differently. So, speech lessons.
George Bernard Shaw used this to create "Pygmalion," then Lerner and Lowe changed it into "My Fair Lady."
Speech lessons!
@@auldthymer That is a plot. It is what is happening on the outside of a character. To me, that is not an interesting plot, but to some it is. That is why characters matter because one character could make the story uninteresting to one person and a completely different character could make it exciting for another person. You gotta have a plot.
@@TimRG My point was "My Fair Lady" has an absurdly dull plot. BUT, we have the arrogance of Henry Higgins meeting the determination of Eliza Doolitle and THAT's what gives us a story. Speech lessons are hardly the plot we dream of.
I have always been a character reader and writer. I love how you articulated why characters were so key.
They are not but they do help
@@smg4reblooperd182 Why not? Because I'm unsure what would be key if not them
@@smg4reblooperd182 they are the key, without them it’s not a story, it’s an event
That’s why I’ve been having a hard time writing my stories! It’s because I haven’t connected to the characters and not made it important to them. Thank you so much for the video; it helped me out so much!
No this a dumbed down version of a very detailed topic
Fun Fact: Pixar’s BRAVE is actually about selfishness. Some of the elements in this film reminds me of the Scottish Play (Macbeth)-with the witches.
YES
Theater kids screaming internally
There's this one youtuber that wrote a screenlay about what could have been the story for Brave 😂 he was utterly disappointed with how it turned out especially since the intro was super compelling but the rest was so forgetable.
@@aimeebarte837 i saw the video. I kinda liked
What play?
All these examples made me realise my character's fear has been staring me in the face for ages! Hopefully I can plot a little more easily now that I know what my character must overcome to move forward.
You need a lot then that for character development
It's actually incredible how you can symbolize the internal conflict of the character by using the setting and plot. In the movie Gravity, for example, a female astronaut flees to space because she doesn't want to feel the 'weight' of her grief for losing her daughter. In all of these Disney movies, they do the same, symbolizing the character's desire for freedom and fear of the world by placing them in a scary confined space. I always think i's more powerful when writers can show the internal conflict through other elements of the story without even using dialogue or exposition. Definitely, something I strive to accomplish. Thank you for this amazing analyzation Abbie!
"It has nothing to do with having the Disney logo on your thing." Well, I better cancel my tattoo appointment, then.
When I saw this video I was going in "I will waste my time again, my deadline is coming in and now I am just going to run out of time." But actually, it was worth it. I learned a lot. Even helped me see a fear that was holding myself back: Fear that I have lost my touch and I will never be as good as I was. I have just kept telking myself that.
I also noticed even snall episodes of tv shows follow these patterns you showed. Mia in LEGO: Friends enjoys snow boarding. We see that as she does her tricks. She wants to enter a competition to help animals. Build a new shelter. As she is practicing a series of unfortunate event unroll and she injures herself. Even when her physical injury is cured the trauma, the fear from that incidents keep her back. The writers show this by days going by and her saying "maybe next day" and by showing a moment of her waking up and being terrified of seeing her board which has face drawn on it. Maybe symbolism of the terror. She even desparately makes excuses to stay of her board. Her friends know how much the animals mean to her and find this behavior strange. Then one of their friends who goes on about how Mia once saved her dog recklessly enters the competition in Mia's place. On the day of the competition an avalanche hits. Her friend who entered the competition is unable to run away and this forces her to save the day as she is the only one capable. She gets on that board with her friend and saves her. She wins tge competition and overcomes her fear that held her back. We akso had chocokate socks and funny characters as comic relief. Then a myth about a white deer working in the background. The question of its existence is answered before Mia gets on the board as she spots a white deer. Overall, it is quite well written episode. The internal conflict makes it interesting as itbis not her leg holding her back, but her fear of the incident repeating itself. But before we discover that we hope her leg heals on time so she can get the shelter. It was after that we discovered that the leg was not the issue. And to keep the story realistic they do look thriugh other options of funding the shelter, but kniw they cannot do it withiut. Tge shekter issue is brought up in the first place by her finding two animals in need of shelter. As she brings them in it opens the discussion on the issues tge shelter is having with funding and soace and all. They also tell what will happen if they do not get the funding. We do not want that. That creates the sense of urgency. We as readers get curious on what the outcome will be, will they be able to get the shelter. At one point it even felt unrealistic for her to win the competition as there were professionals. The snowboarding looked like a fun thing to base the story. Made me want to snowboard too. A lot went into that small episode.
Came back wanted to keep ranting about that episode: They even managed to make it relatabld to audience who have experienced the fear of getting onto a board. I myself have feared getting on my skateboard after an accident with it. Then also, they used really good "show do not tell" with Mia avoiding getting on that board. Tho she might have said something after. She is in conflict with her self as she has not complitely given up as she truly cares about those animals. Otherwise putting it off would not be so hard for her. And you can as audience cringe you nose at how cross a chocolate sock sounds and especially when a character drinks from one. We also get amusing character tropes using stereotypes such as this man with a business trying to sell weird products. Also we get the rich guy's daughter whom he spoils. She on the otherhand gives of this raised in a barn energy. It may comes as bit annoying. Often feels like the girls don't like her, but she doesn't get the hint. She really wants to be in their company. However, no decent person would let her get hurt either, so she has to be saved when unable to move in that avalanche. Mia is baffled by why the girl entered the competition without knowing how to snowboard, but it was because they were no paying attention to her and she wanted to prove herself to them as a friend and repay what Mia had done. Others did not notice either, what she had been doing with that act. They seemed to think it was because she was just being her obnoxious self kind of.
I was literally gonna skip the fear and internal conflict for my character as i didn't want her to have. But this video got me editing my whole outline!!!
Good move!
good choice, good luck...
@@vminmotivationalcurve88yea64 thankyou. Needed the luck😄😄
I cannot even verbalize what a gem you are to the writing community. I love these sort of critiquing video with examples! I always heard you talk about characters misbeliefs but I never fully grasped and understood what that meant until I saw it in examples like these
Hey, did you guys realize... she just hit 100K subs like a month ago and she's already sitting at 120K?! She's gonna be at 1M in no time!! #skills #nolimits
I can't wait for the day!
But just from this video I can see, she has already changed her video format. She now does the same thing as Jenna which is “but Janna!?” “But Abbie!”. I haven’t seen anyone else comment on this, and just want to know, has anyone else noticed? Or just me?
I love Abbie and her videos, big fan on hers. But I hope she doesn’t veer of course and move away from her normal format because that’s why I love it so much
@@rivermay109 First of all, I totally get where you’re coming from. Abbie has such a unique quality about her and the way she presents her information… I hope she doesn’t change too much either. That being said, I have followed her since about 2018 and she has definitely changed some since then. However, Abbie does not strike me as someone who would copycat another AuthorTuber in order to achieve growth. That’s just lazy. Abbie is not a lazy creator. I think her “but Abbie” line is just… her. I mean, I get that Jenna does that too, but that’s definitely not an original line - no one “owns” that phrase lol
Also, you mentioned that her video format has changed. She is only using this format for her “Science of Story” series. The rest of her videos are not done this way. :)
@@rivermay109 No, I've seen it, too. She's growing lots more confidence, but I'm afraid it's changing the way she gives advice and presents herself. I'm glad she's happy, but where did our Abbie go?
She’s already at 436k subscribers! 🥳 almost halfway there!
Another great Pixar story that uses the formula with non human entities is Walle. Through completely nonverbal communication, it gives the backstory of how the world ended and all the humans left through commercials, newspapers, and broken Walle robots. Not only does it establish that Walle is completely alone, but it also shows his creativity with his trailer full of lights and toys and his desire for love when when we see him watch Hello Dolly and focus on the dancing and romance scene. Not enough people talk about Walle but it is a masterpiece in my opinion, plus it has the wild plot of robots trying to take over the humans and fighting in space
Absolute GOLD! Thank goodness for Abbie Emmons!
So glad to see Finding Nemo getting the love it deserves!! I learned soooo much about storytelling just from listening to the audio commentary on it 😂 It's interesting, because in the director's mind (Stanton), Marlin was more of the main character than Nemo. It brought a whole new meaning to my perspective of the story. It was a time in my life when I was making the leap from short stories to novels, and what I learned shaped my writing today.
When you said 'But Abbieee' I heard an echo in the back of my mind of 'But Jennaaa' 😂
Samee 😂
Sameee😂😂😂😂
OMG SAME
Same! I love Abbie but I hope she doesn’t continue doing it because its unnatural for her. Or maybe she doesn’t feel that comfortable doing it,
Exactly what I need right now for my story.
John Carter was an amazing movie. The only problem it had was the lack of advertising and a bad title. It should have been titled 'John Carter of Mars"
Walter White is a good example of desire verses fear. He spent his whole life wanted to be the best at something, to be great. Always wanting to go bigger and better, but he gets beaten down by the world until he's a boring highschool teacher who works at a car wash to make ends meet. Then when he finds out that he has terminal lung cancer, he looses his fear and starts becoming the thing he always wanted to be: a great chemist and a respected man.
And he does stupid things, like telling Hank that Heisenberg was still out there, in order to be recognized. He's a genius who can be a complete idiot out of ego!
I think the reason of why so many writers are obsessed with the plot is because they haven't analysed the difference between active characters and pushed characters throughout a emotionless story, also thinking that emotion means no action.
This is completely unrelated to Disney; but actually this video was really therapeutic for me. It made me realize that I, too have a strong desire, and a fear and misbelief holding me back. I wrote it down and am now determined to get over my fear, change my belief about myself and the world around me and to have my own happy ending. :) Thank you Abbie
Now turn it into a Disney movie😂
@@Florinda_5 hahha what should I name it🤔
This mentality can also cause the "Formula" that so many Marvel movies fell to. The trope of the journey. We have seen in it every single Marvel hit, and we have started to see it fail. So, sometimes, the audience wants something different. But I really love these lessons and I am starting to put them in my own writing. Whether in role play, or in my short stories. So, thank you so much for this.
Star Wars for example doesn't introduce Luke till 15 minutes are in. The baddies and the supporting characters come first. It creates the world, then brings in the protagonist. There's many ways to write a story, but strong characters always need to be there.
John Carter is actually a cult classic for sci fi nerds. The financial success aside it’s a perfectly fine film - for a more niche / different demographic.
Big fan of the movie, thought it was better than the book. However she is right about the financial success and that's huge because one of the better things than a great movie is a whole sequences of great movies.
There were a lot of factors outside the core work of the John Carter movie, like lack of marketing support and changes going on at Disney+Marvel, that made it bomb. For sake of intellectual honesty, she shouldn't talk about movies she haven't watched. I really enjoyed John Carter and don't need no one to tell me what I'm supposed to love or not.
@@theakanani1562 I had a similar thought, since part of the reason John Carter got only lackluster marketing support from Disney was that they had just acquired the Star Wars rights from George Lucas, and they didn't want two competing space-opera franchises out in the market place.
Also, John Carter had been mined by a lot of other sci-fi films for its ideas (Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon, Star Wars, etc.), so even though nobody had ever done a John Carter film, it felt derivative.
Having said that, it could have benefitted from more character work. So Abbie isn't exactly wrong here - though it wouldn't have been a bad idea to actually watch the movie ;-)
OMG, I watched John Carter a few months ago and want my two hours back! It's terrible for exactly the reasons Abbie describes and she was right to save her time by not watching it. I'm sure there are people who like it just for the action and special effects, but it is purely plot driven and has no heart like the movies she gives as good examples do.
@@theakanani1562 Agree, I liked the analysis but I agree she shouldn't talk about things she haven't seen
This is a really good video for Dungeon/Game Masters as well who are trying to build out their narrative for a D&D campaign. If you keep the focus on what drives your players and their motivations, they become so much more invested in the game.
i had sooo much confusion about my story. YOURE A LIFESAVER
18:07 "But Abby! I want my story to have a thrilling, exciting plot!"
I immediately thought of Jenna Moreci when Abby said that 🤣
This is kind of mind blowing, not gonna lie. Thank you for explaining it so well, it's definitely a method that I'll try to use in my writing.
I am writing my own Disney movie with the help of ur UA-cam video right now nice work!
The same goes for encanto...
Mirabel is a child who is about to get her powers.
She does not get it.
Her grandma now thinks she can't do anything.
Now she trys her best to blend in her family of people with super powers.
Mirabel's desire: to be like her family members.
Mirabel's fear: that she will do something wrong again
Mirabel's misbelief: that she is not special and unique and she can't do anything perfectly.
I've been studying 3-act story structure for so long, that last time I was in cinema on Disney movie, I literally started analysing it unconciously. I knew which moment belonged to which point in structure, and I knew what will happen next. It kinda killed all the fun.
Seriously Abbie, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart, it's as honnest as it comes. It feels like I already know all of this deep down, but I'm overwelmed, and the way you pass this knowledge onto us is clear, organized. It helped me focus so much. It's like everything was there already but thanks to your work on this channel it can finally come out the right way. I have a plan to follow, I know exactly what I need to work on, in which order, and as a result I'v done more in those past few months than in the year prior. Really starting to feel like I'm going somewhere. If one day my novel becomes a book I swear your name will be in the thankyous somewhere, with Bill Hicks and Tolkien 🤣 not even kiding. I'm the story and the plot, but girl, you are the strategy. And I'm not even mentioning the energy you give, the raise in motivation I had, such a vertuous circle! If this was good ol antiquity I would say you're a Muse 😘 Thank you.
This is an extremely good video! I have four things to think about for every character in each story:
Desire - What does your character want to do most and how does it conflict with your fear?
Fear - What is your character scared of and how does it conflict with your desire?
Misbelief - What does your character wrongfully believe in this internal conflict?
(Stupid) Plan - With all three key elements, what is this character going to attempt to accomplish in the story?
when I say I could watch hours of these story conflict example videos and I get so excited when I see you upload and THAT IT'S A BEAUTIFUL 22 MINUTES LONG- ABBIEEEEEE I love your channel so much 😭 it's helped a ton with my writing and I'm such a nerd for these storytelling techniques 🥺💕
i went to a masterclass earlier this year taught by Brenda Chapman, the director of Brave, and she said that all the princesse's desires are usually presented in the first 5 minutes through a "I Want" song
aiming to write stories and animate them from scratch
but damn this early 5 mints rule is really an eye opening!
This is perhaps the best demonstration of these points. I have seen a couple of your videos but none drove the point home as much as this one did.
1:34 OH MY GOODNESS!!! I CAN TELL THAT I'M ALREADY GOING TO LOVE THIS!!!! INSIDE OUT IS THE BEST!!!
EDIT: Would you ever consider doing movie reactions on your channel? Like, film yourself reacting to a movie (and editing it of course so the video's shorter.) If so, I would love to see your reaction to Inside Out or Meet the Robinsons!
After overthinking what you said I realized you are spot on about John Carter of Mars --- it was good, but too slow. It didn't make the stakes clear in the first five minutes. You're absolutely right.
I'd say this is the one of the best videos from Abbie's channel so far. Key exemplified concepts that can really change the way we see storytelling.
This is undoubtedly the best writing video I have seen. Thank you.
This is my favorite video you've ever done!! Soo helpful, I'm already thinking about how to approach the beginning of my story differently.
Another reason why tangled works so well is because she has so many quirks that bring her to the non fictional relatable world!
I think the movie "Up" is another perfect example that uses this great formula.
If only Disney could have learned this before they started making Star Wars movies. Great video and insight.
Totally agreed. the sequel trilogy failed the story of characters(all of Luke/Han/Leia and also the protagonist who fell in love with a man who mind raped her) and failed the plot as well(somehow Palpatine returned and so many other flaws).
This helped me so much. I struggled to write novel all the time. Thank you. This is life savior.
These principles could also be applied to horror movies. Giving the audiences a reason to care about your characters, That's why Movies like Stephen King's It, and Jack Ketchum's The Girl Next Door, are so hard-hitting, and movies like The 2000s Prom Night Remake and Final Destination 3 don't hit hard as much.
It seems like the very beginning of these masterworks shows the character's automatic conflict, the conflict they come in already carrying, before the action of the story comes in and disrupts their life. That way when they...well, flail and fail against the unknown, we already have some feelings about them as a storyperson.
And this very video had a GREAT HOOK!!!! Do I need a hook in my next story? OF COURSE!!!
Your videos are always so enjoyable and motivating and inspiring, but this one hands-down has finally gotten me from "I have a story idea..." to "I KNOW HOW TO TELL THIS STORY!" I've been struggling with how to turn my ideas into stories but suddenly I GET IT! I'm so excited! It took me 2 hours to finish this video because I had to stop and take notes, and then I HAD to plot my first story and I got 70 percent there before I took a break! Gah! Thank YOU! I adore your channel! Sincerely, Thank you! ~Kiki 💜
Hugely entertaining, Abbie. I’m absorbing your tidbits avidly. That’s why I signed up to your patreon. You have an exceptionally effective method of connecting and simultaneously nourishing my inner writer. You’ve helped me with an epiphany today. Thank you.
Omg! This was so eye opening for my story. Thank you! 😊
*Smash cut to kid on tricycle in The Incredibles* "THAT WAS TOTALLY WICKED!"
Great Work Abbie! Keep it up!
You saved my WIP again.
If I had a dollar for every story I started to write but couldn't finish because I didn't know the MC's internal conflict, I could buy a Brandon Sanderson book (or two) with the money.
This helped me so much! Exactly what I needed to hear right now!
It's really helped me in my writing abbie!...now I'm crying in happiness! it's really changed my perspective of writing. 😭 ✨
They had a similar problem on Star Trek: TNG. In the first couple seasons they were so focused on being preachy that people didn't care. From S3 forward they started re-directing to more character focus. When writing each episode they would say "Is this a Data episode? or a Worf Episode? or a Capt. Picard episode?" etc. It completely turned the show around.
Man you missed the entire point of star trek 😑
most underrated genius on youtube
Abbie, I love your videos, especially those of this kind. I also think character driven stories are the best and that in general work better than a plot driven one, but there are some very successful movies and stories where characters have very little importance, Jusrassic Park comes to mind... Still keep doing what you do =)
Love that you are sharing these tips as to why we are all so invested in fictional Disney characters. I want to check out more of this story science since I'm a pretty visual learner
John Carter and Tron legacy were so cool, I believe they were ahead of their time
And they are still cooooool! 😀
Im really thankfull that you have made this video because I want the reader to feel the pain that my main character is going through in my own story im writing
"But Abbie" sound like "But Jenna!" From Jenna Moreci
ONE OF YOUR BEST VIDEOS EVER!!! Good job!
Confession time (this is a safe space isn't it?), I actually liked John Carter, I even liked The Lone Ranger. A couple of comparisons that spring to mind for me are the relatively recent Godzilla movies (the Matthew Broderick one and the later one with the dude from Breaking Bad in it) and Twister vs Into the Storm. I loved the earlier Godzilla story and I loved Twister and I think both of those were better movies for the reasons explained here. The characters were well portrayed at the earliest part of the movies and then developed further along the way. The later two movies were all about special effects and set-pieces. Junk food for the eyeballs. If you want nutrition, you need to get your vitamins up front.
Once I actually _saw_ John Carter I did like the movie, and by the end I was on the edge of my seat about wheter or not he would get back to Mars and back to Dejah. My nephew and I both found ourselves tearing up over it.
BUT, the marketing did nothing to tell me what the plot was; how was I to know even that John Carter of Mars was a *famous* series of Edgar Rice Burroughs stories? I didn't grow up in the era these stories were popular, and I was not raised on a series of movies about John like I was with ERB's other famous character, Tarzan. Those movies were ubiquitous; there was ALWAYS a Tarzan movie on some TV channel in my childhood. But I had never heard of John.
I liked the movie so much I got the books, and...I *struggled* to get through the first one, and never made it through the 2nd one. John is not a character you care about in the book. There is no reason to relate to him. He's just a self-insert character, there for you to imagine yourself in his place, around all these naked Martians (John is naked the whole story, too, btw). Stanton tried really hard to make a successful movie out of what was a successful book series and later comic series. But let's be real here: the comics were popular for the some reason the books were, and that had to do with the scantily clad pretty people on the book covers and in the pages. Really, Dejah with her metal nipple pasties and barely there bikini/thong did a LOT to sell those stories.
All the Martians are naked and look down on Earthlings for wearing clothing. This was something of a theme with ERB. If you read Tarzan, he is naked, too, and the native African warriors are nearly so. ERB was a born in the latter quarter of the Victorian era and descended from Puritans, so make what you will of his preoccupation with nakedness in his stories.
i am in love with Tangled and Mulan...if its on, I will always watch. you are spot on!
Love this video. I love Disney especially their movies. And I’m happy that they’re so successful not because of the money but because the characters and the plot. Actually I watched tangled two times. The first time I haven’t noticed the secret ingredient. But the second time I did. This series or examples helped me a lot when my writing because I’m a very visual learner. And I learn better when some examples are being shown to me.
Abbie, this is pure awesomeness. I really enjoyed the video and found it extremely informative. We appreciate your hard work and devotion towards transforming our way of telling our own stories so that they are better heard. RESPECT ✊
I'd never heard of John Carter or Tomorrowland when they came out, so I do suspect advertising plays a pretty big part actually. In fact I've never heard of John Carter until just now
I literally checked if I was watching video at 0.75× speed. Oh boy...you sound totally awesome in this slow deliberate tone. Great video as usual
Hi Abbie! This is such a great video, I watched Tangled, Frozen and Moana two days ago, the timing couldn't be better 😂
I have a question: I've noticed that by wanting to show my character's inner conflict, my hook becomes a bit "obvious" (like I'm telling the reader: see, THIS is important, look, look!). I'd like to have tips to make the structure beats more subtle 😃
How do you make a villain protagonist sympathetic? I am thinking of doing it by giving them a selfless motivation (e.g by saving their child or their village/tribe) or make their antagonist far more evil in comparison.
Robin Hobb is a master at getting readers to care about her characters. Assasin's Apprentice begins a journey that will result in the need for trauma therapy. And yes, internal conflict is highlighted very early on and never lets up.
My favorite Disney movie is Tangled.
We are two
This is an excellent breakdown! My current novel has an issue with passive characters, especially in the beginning. You've given me a road map for revising it. (Of course, the real difficulty lies in applying the principles you've outlined here, otherwise we'd be swimming in blockbusters…)
I'm a fan of character-driven stories, too, but just to play devil's advocate: What do you think about "heist"-type stories, like Inception or Tenet? Those usually focus on the mission (and the mission is all the plot there is). Crime stories are usually also more about characters solving the case. Of course, these stories rarely work without any backstory about the lead character, but they don't necessarily give it to you within the first five minutes. In Inception, for example, they only reveal Dom's backstory fairly late.
I think when it comes to heist stories, the plot being pushed by the "mission" makes sense but your audience won't care unless your character has a personal stake in it. Why are they doing the heist? Is there someone, something they're trying to protect? Why are they trying to solve the crime? Is it just their job? Or does it have a tie back into their backstory. How does that heist, that mission change them? All "mission" driven stories can feel the same without the lead characters having some sort of stake in it as well as a transformation because of it.
I'm starting to write a Disney song in my head that embodies the hook. 😁
Hello! it's amazing here! I've just started reading Hundred Days of Sunlight! (literally, pg 46) you're tips and stories are truly awesome! Especially this video, since Disney stories are one of my most fav (so emotional yet fun!)
Thank you so much! I'm so glad you're enjoying my book too! ☺
This is so true, teenage films and adventure films try to keep the characters motives as blank as possible so you the audience can project yourself on to them. But this isn’t really that good
This really begs a lot of questions. Notably "what about the disney films that are great but sold poorly (like Treasure Planet and Atlantis)?" and "how much of a driving force can a character be in the universe or even just in their own life before it breaks willing suspension of disbelief?" That answer is probably different for everyone but I know for me that if you had started off this video by saying "your characters need to control the plot and not the other way around" I would have stopped watching because a protagonist that powerful feels like an arrogant author who doesn't know what my life is like is spitting on me (which I guess is the reason people hate the Mary Sue). Personally Disney films work for me because characters ARE punching bags of the plot, to pretty deep degree, otherwise it would be impossible to relate to them.
Exactly! My God she skipped a lot of important steps to give her "message"
What she is saying is that all financially successful Disney movies have used the 5 minute rule. She's not saying applying the rule automatically makes a movie a success.
I also have to strongly disagree with your assessment that Disney movies are more plot driven. Aladdin chose to become a prince and try to impress Princess Jasmine. At the start of the movie, he talks about being seen for who he is. It's that desire that drives the movie.
Ariel wanted to get out of the sea and be with Prince Eric. The whole movie was driven by the choices she made and her desires.
@@siasans7116 Annie made it a ponit that she believes that character driven stories are what make diseny movies so good in her mind
Treasure Planet flopped because its release was sabotaged by Disney, put out at the same time as Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, which was highly anticipated. They WANTED the movie to fail.
My eyes have now been opened. I love you for making this video!
Title: The Hidden Science Behind Disney Movies
Me: Let me guess… internal conflict?
*watches video*
Yep, we love a predictable queen!!
Great video as always. :)
I’ve been considering cutting out one of my characters from my story. Not entirely, but removing his perspective. Now I can see, that I can’t answer any of these questions. He only breaks down in grief halfway through the story, being very upset that his brother was captured and is being used for evil against his will. I tried to reveal things about plot B, but it’s too early.
OH MY FREAKING GOD THIS SOUNDS SO AWESOME!!!!!!!
I think this video has changed my life. I truly love you. Thank you so much
Personally I not only LOVED "John Carter", but it made me want to read the "Princess of Mars" book series as well! As soon as it came out on DVD I immediately rushed to the store to buy it, and have watched it repeatedly (even on Disney+). I also enjoyed "Alice Through the Looking Glass" and it's time escapades that made me laugh and actually described it to my friends as a story about a girl who steals a TARDIS from a Timelord and goes back in time to stop an Evil Queen! I thought the movie was much more touching, inciteful, and had much more depth than the original movie. I think the BIG problem with the movies that you have pointed to here is that they strongly lean towards (or are outright, as in the case of "John Carter") being adult-oriented movies, while if you notice all of the big box office hits are all children's movies. Even more when people think of Disney it is CHILDREN'S movies/productions that they think of, which adults can feel guilty about enjoying...NOT movies that aren't meant for children to see. (People don't immediately think of "Star Wars" or "Marvel" when they think of Disney, either, as these were things which were already popular and famous before they were purchased...rather than these being part of Disney it is seen as Disney being part of them, which is completely different.) You might argue that the "Star Wars" are made for adults, but they also have so much stuff that allows children (or at the very least tweens and teens) to get into the fantasy of what is happening, enjoying it along with their parents. I did enjoy "Mulan" as well with how they made everything much more realistic, but it wasn't as enjoyable as the original, and, in fact, I haven't enjoyed ANY of the live action remakes of the original animated movies WITH THE EXCLUSION of "Beauty and the Beast". Further if "John Carter" has been advertised as a Western themed sci-fi (like "Serenity"), rather than a Space Opera (like "Star Wars"), I think it might have even drawn more attention, letting everyone see the characters as reflections of real life stereotypes and the misunderstandings we allow ourselves to perceive when we don't look beyond these little boxes we make around them. You could also include movies like "The Princess Bride" was a box office flop, but is a highly acclaimed movie now. And "The Neverending Story" was successful, but started out so slow you don't care about Bastion, the character we are introduced to. To me he could have been much more removed and we could have kept the actual story he is reading, and that would have made the movie even better.
Good points. Except Star Wars under George Lucas was written with children in mind with adults along for the ride rather than the other way around. You can see this in that he negotiated for merchandising rights immediately. Some of the new Star Wars series are focusing on the adult perspective more. Plus Disney-owned Lucasfilms' Star Wars movies (the sequel trilogy) do seem to be more focused on adults - especially those adults that grew up with Star Wars with writing geared to them instead of the actual characters and stories.
I was struggling so much trying to figure out what was wrong with my writing, and what it was that my class was talking about, but this gave me so much context to that and helps so much thank you.
please do a video on the internal conflict of ZOOTOPIA!!
What about A video on Persona 5 video game, specifically the character Goro Aketchi
Zootopia is one of my all-time favourite animated movies😊
yes thank youuuuu same let’s please get abbie to make a video about it it has such good internal conflict!!!!
You’re literally the Phil Jackson of writing definitely one of the best
My challenge is doing this subtly and not accidentally overhyping the fear. Many times ive written something and gotten stuck because ive made the character so afraid that they SAY they desire something but refuse to take the risk as they complain why theyre also afraid to do it.
Hmm, Seems like I did this with my D&D Charecter without knowing:
Desire: The Strength to protect others.
Fear: To be lonely and to be seen as useless.
Misbelieve: Get as much power as possible.
(he's a Rogue btw)
(just not in 5 minutes.. good to keep in mind)
You can do the science of the emotions and such. That's one thing only you can do.