The greatest stories ever told contained great characters and plot, vivid descriptions and dialogues, but it contained more than that. These stories succeeded because of one simple thing: The succeeded in making us feel something, anything, any emotion good or bad, but we felt it, and that made all the difference. It wasn't just the punny lines, or the badass protagonist(s), but our happiness of their success. It wasn't just the magnificent plot that they used to get the money back, but the anticipation to see how it will unfold and unravel, the need to know and the tension in the air.
Today I'm announcing something, something that I've been waiting for far too long. Today I'm announcing that I'm starting my first series in the blog: GMing to Break the Fifth Wall, or in other words GMing to get the emotional impact we're so trying to achieve.
In the series, I'm gonna discuss 7 main emotions that I think are essential for the success of the story we're all trying to tell:
Each of these emotion posts will contain a few connected emotions also.
Before I close this post, there are a few things I want to touch. Some of them are probably known, like scenes and story arches, characters and descriptions, but there are 2 that are less known and it's important to discuss them for a moment before we continue:
- Beat: This is the most basic unit in the story, as a scene is made of a few beats. Beats start and end with the emotional shifts. When an emotional shift had happened, a new beat has started.
- Sequence: Just as beats make scenes, sequences make acts. An act is usually made from between 2 to three sequences. They are like mini-acts which tell a part of the act. The best way to explain what it is by an example: When Alvy, Annie and Rob travel to Alvy's childhood town, we see a collection of Alvy's memories from there. This is a sequence.
- Breaking the Fifth Wall: this is a term coined by John Wick, which means "making the audience be the event". This is the highest form of storytelling.
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