Pixar's 22 Rules of Storytelling

Pixar is renowned for producing highly successful, critically acclaimed animated films. This is in no small part due to their dedication to craftsmanship and their 22 Rules of Storytelling. These core principles provide the foundation for their storytelling approach and are the keys to their success.

  1. You admire a character for trying more than for their success.
  2. You gotta keep in mind what’s interesting to you as an audience, not what’s fun to do as a writer.
  3. Try to keep your story grounded in a single moment in time.
  4. Exercise: take the building blocks of your story and cut them down to their absolute simplest forms.
  5. Come up with your ending before you figure out your middle. Seriously. Endings are hard, get yours working up front.
  6. Finish your story, let go even if it’s not perfect. In an ideal world you have both, but move on. Do better next time.
  7. When you’re stuck, make a list of what wouldn’t happen next.
  8. Pull apart the stories you like. What you like in them is a part of you; you’ve got to recognize it before you can use it.
  9. Putting it on paper lets you start fixing it. If it stays in your head, a perfect idea, you’ll never share it with anyone.
  10. Discount the 1st thing that comes to mind. And the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th – get the obvious out of the way. Surprise yourself.
  11. Give your characters opinions. Passive/malleable might seem likable to you as you write, but it’s poison to the audience.
  12. Why must you tell THIS story? What’s the belief burning within you that your story feeds off of? That’s the heart of it.
  13. If you were your character, in this situation, how would you feel? Honesty lends credibility to unbelievable situations.
  14. What are the stakes? Give us reason to root for the character. What happens if they don’t succeed?
  15. No work is ever wasted. If it’s not working, let go and move on – it’ll come back around to be useful later.
  16. You have to know yourself: the difference between doing your best & fussing.
  17. Coincidences to get characters into trouble are great; coincidences to get them out of it are cheating.
  18. Exercise: take the building blocks of your story and rearrange them into a different order. Then do it again, and again.