Nate Listrom
I’m a UX professional investigating the intersection of story theory, neuroscience, and design. Join me as I pursue the art and science of crafting compelling, deeply satisfying stories.
Start here
- 👉 Discover the neuroscience behind emotional payoffs with a 12-part series on peak aesthetic experiences.
- 👉 Examine story structure beyond frameworks like the Hero’s Journey and Snyder’s beat sheet with essays on story structure primitives.
- 👉 Consider fresh perspectives on familiar topics like scenes and sequels, the MICE quotient, red herrings, Deus ex Machina, and more.
Featured
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The map and the mountain: Fifteen core beats of story structure Story structure frameworks are like maps. They need interpretation. In this note, I briefly cover the framework I use and introduce a series on how it works.7 min
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The three underlying functions of inciting incidents When story theorists talk about inciting incidents, they’re often referring to one or more of three distinct story functions: the tipping of the apple cart, the call to adventure, or the decision to cross the threshold.10 min
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Shinichi Suzuki and the three domains of mastery An exploration of the interaction between talent, education, and skill.5 min
Latest
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Jul 1
Turning points are disasters and decisions A look at the 1998 romcom ‘You’ve Got Mail’ shows us that Dwight Swain’s scenes and sequels are an ideal tool for crafting compelling turning points.6 min
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Jun 3
Four observations in response to Nathan Baugh on story twists To write good twists, bury details in a ‘sandwich,’ deliver the payoff just in time, surprise your audience with the method or degree of your payoff, and don’t ‘explain the joke.’6 min
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May 6
Use one scene-sequel cycle each act In a Western Character-event story, the scene-sequel cycle repeats three times on the act level. Using ‘Star Wars: A New Hope’ as an example, we examine how that works and how you can use it for your stories.10 min
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Apr 3
The map and the mountain: Fifteen core beats of story structure Story structure frameworks are like maps. They need interpretation. In this note, I briefly cover the framework I use and introduce a series on how it works.7 min
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Mar 4
Naming is hard: The making of ‘The Mirror of Tantalus’ (part five) The story of how I iterated through different working titles for my novelette, ‘The Mirror of Tantalus’4 min
Level-up your storytelling
Understand how stories work. Spend less time wrangling your stories into shape and more time writing them.