Storytelling: Media & Formats

Photo credit: T-Story Team (Creative Commons)

It is in human’s nature to arrange everything in orderly pigeonholes. So one day I sat at my laptop and thought of every possible means, form, medium and format, which can be used for storytelling, and I wrote them down.

Here’s is the list I came up with. I hope I have covered the whole ground. Well, at least almost.

• novel
• serial novel
• novella
• short novel
• short story
• flash short story
• play
• screenplay
• TV play
• fable
• fairytale
• folktale
• legend
• saga
• picture book
• diary
• rhyme
• poem
• epic
• limerick
• biography
• autobiography
• memoirs
• letter
• newspaper article
• magazine article
• ebook
• anecdote
• joke
• blog
• vlog
• cartoon
• caricature
• comic strip
• comic book
• graphic novel
• digital graphic novel
• webcomics
• photographic novel
• movie
• TV film
• TV miniseries
• short film
• documentary film
• web documentary
• TV show
• TV animation series
• documentary series
• animation film
• short animation film
• opera
• rock opera
• musical film
• musical video
• audio podcast
• video podcast
• radio podcast
• reality show
• song
• ballad
• nursery rhyme
• musical album
• audiobook
• audio theater
• radioplay
• painting
• videogame
• online game
• interactive film
• bubblegum insert
• TV news report
• radio news report
• cave art
• stand-up show
• photography
• slide film
• laser show
• graffiti
• circus show
• sculpture
• architecture
• dance
• oral story
• gossip
• police report
• historical chronicle
• interview
• 3D painting
• engraving
• TV advert
• religious parable
• miracle story
• press release
• witness statement
• shanty
• session with the therapist
• religious confession
• haiku
• Google spotlight story
• mythology
• interactive fiction
• self-revelatory story
• psychodrama
• drama therapy
• playback theater
• saga
• dream interpretation
• instructional ribbing
• lesson
• role-playing game
• storyboard
• Villu Paatu
• seanchai
• panchatantra
• maggid
• tanci
• Burra katha
• shuochang
• pingshu
• review
• holographic theater

Where Do Writers Get Their Ideas?

Photo credit: www.udd.cl

Any writer hears this question quite often. Answering it is like answering a child’s question, “Where do babies come from?” Well, I’m not going to give a writer’s version of stork explanations. And I’m not going to talk about bees and birds. I don’t believe in muses, either. I don’t even believe in inspiration. I’m a give-the-full-disclosure kind of parent/writer. My little son would probably be a killjoy at the kindergarten during lively discussions about Ded Moroz (a Slavic fictional character similar to that of Father Christmas). He would say, “There’s no such person. At least, not in our Multiverse.”

Where do I get writing ideas? Anywhere and everywhere. In most unexpected places. And I like asking myself the “What if?” question. Por ejemplo: Pluto is the big news these days. As you know, Pluto is not a planet. Technically, it’s a frozen comet. Now, what if… it gets unfrozen? You don’t know yet how the Pluto in your story gets warmer, but you’ve just started developing your idea, right?

Your next what-if will be: “What if Pluto gets unfrozen, spreads its tail and starts moving off its orbit?” Now, that’s becoming more interesting!

If you’re in search of an idea for a disaster thriller screenplay, your third what-if will obviously be: “What if it starts moving towards the Earth and will cause an extinction event?” Yeah, we’ve already seen something like that on the big screen, but, you know, Hollywood has a short memory. This idea is a freebie. You can take it. Make it into “Armageddon 2”, if you can. Unfortunately, you can’t put Bruce Willis into your screenplay, but maybe Matt Damon is available now. The idea is up for grabs. You can start dialing Michael Bay’s number. I’m not a greedy gorilla. I just want to see “Armageddon 2”.