Kara Analyzes Pixar Movies: TOY STORY 2

I was 8 years old when Toy Story hit theaters. I remember eating the chocolate bars my mom smuggled into the theater in her purse while marveling at how darn cool the movie looked. Unlike many movies I loved as a child, Toy Story holds up for me as an adult. Amazingly, so does its sequel, released in 1999.

Sequels have a hard job to do, whether they are books or movies. If the sequels aren't as strong as the original piece that we loved, we as consumers may abandon the franchise, our memories of it tainted.

Today I'd like to examine Toy Story 2, and what makes it such a strong sequel as well as an enjoyable movie in its own right.

1) You don't have to watch Toy Story to enjoy Toy Story 2. We learn a lot about the characters and where they are coming from emotionally in the first movie, which certainly adds to our appreciation of them in Toy Story 2, but you can still understand the plot perfectly without having watched the first movie. It's a complete story all on its own.

2) At the same time, it builds off of what we learned about the characters in the first movie. For example, Woody understands Jessie's pain at being cast off perfectly because of what he went through with Andy and Buzz in the first movie. We as readers/watchers enjoy seeing how a character's experiences inform their choices as they move on through life, which is why so many of us love series.

I think these are important points to keep in mind as we consider writing sequels. Is the storyline of the sequel strong enough to stand on its own? Do we get to see the outcome of the character growth that we showed in the first novel?

What are your thoughts on Toy Story 2 and creating strong sequels? Please share in the comments!

Kara Analyzes Pixar Movies: WALL-E

I have never tried to write a book with more than one point of view, although I accidentally did once when I was a novice writer and didn't understand what the heck I was doing. There was a lot of head hopping. I don't recommend it.

As I've been doing query critiques for my Tuesday Museday feature, I've had the opportunity to critique queries with multiple POVs. We've seen some in our Pass Or Pages contests, both as hopeful entrants and finalists. What I've learned from these is that writing a query letter for a book with multiple POVs is quite a difficult beast. You have to show the reader who two people are, plus their goals, plus the stakes, plus how they intertwine. And it can still only be a page long!

Why do you have to be sure to show all that? Well, for an example, let's examine WALL-E.

Do you remember the trailers for WALL-E? We got an impression that the movie would be about a funny robot, and... that was it. That was all we knew. Pixar has a history of vague movie trailers, and WALL-E's was the nadir.

So you start watching the movie. Sure enough, there's the robot. He's adorable. There's funny references to Earth culture. If you're lucky, you don't get "Put On Your Sunday Clothes" stuck in your head.

Then there's another robot. Then the robots are traveling in space. And suddenly, there are hilariously fat humans and a rogue autopilot and a very important plant. The story is no longer about WALL-E and his quest to find love with the robot EVE. Now it's about the humans, and their quest to get back to Earth. WALL-E's love story, once the most important part of the movie, is thrust to the back burner.

If you, like me, were completely thrown for a loop by the appearance of the humans, then you should understand the importance of clearly communicating all the important POVs in a query letter. Pixar's query letter for WALL-E (the movie trailer) showed us a robot, and we requested pages (bought a movie ticket) expecting a story about a robot. By the middle of the manuscript (movie) our story about a lonely robot has shifted into a story about the human race reclaiming their planet.

I'm not saying WALL-E is not a good movie. I like it. My kids once watched it seven times in a row on a drive to Yellowstone. It won an Oscar. But the advertising for WALL-E was misleading because it only focused on one character. For people looking for a movie about robots, they might have felt betrayed when the humans showed up and took over the story. For people looking for a heartwarming story about the human race overcoming challenges, they would never have tuned in and missed a great story.

Don't do that with your query letter.

Kara Analyzes Pixar Movies: FINDING NEMO

When I'm trying to come up with a new idea for a book, the thing I struggle with the most is plot. I often have an idea for characters, and how I want them to change over the course of the story, but deciding how to get them through that change is hard!

A book called Save the Cat! helps me the most when I'm struggling to nail down a plot. It's written for screenwriters, but regular ole novel writers can find priceless nuggets of wisdom as well. My favorite nugget of wisdom is the explanation of story beats, or the basic structure of successful stories.

Last time, I wrote about a Pixar movie I love, and why I believe it is so powerful. Today I want to talk about story beats, and how Finding Nemo (mostly) fits in. Spoiler alert: I don't like Finding Nemo. I could never articulate why, however, until I learned about story structure. Then everything fell into place for me.

If you want to learn more about story beats and structures, I highly recommend Save the Cat! by Blake Snyder.

Opening Image: We recognize the danger of living in the ocean, and why it would terrify Marlin, as we see his wife and babies (all but one!) annihilated by a bigger fish.

Theme Stated: Marlin tells Nemo, and us, that staying safe and not taking risks is the best way to live your life.

Set-Up: Nemo goes to school for the first time, and Marlin is having a hard time with the prospect of his increased freedom. Nemo's friends dare each other to go further and further into the ocean.
By this point, Snyder says that all the main characters should be introduced or at least hinted at. But... Finding Nemo is going to wait to introduce one of its main characters.

Catalyst: Nemo gets "fishnapped" by the dentist.

Debate: Can Marlin find and save his son?
This is where Marlin finally meets Dory, as he swims around desperately trying to follow the boat that took Nemo away.

Break Into Two: Marlin decides to team up with Dory, and work with her to find Nemo.

B Story: Nemo's time in the dentist's office serve as the B story of Finding Nemo. I guess we see Nemo grow into his own person (fish?) away from his father? He learns to trust himself and take some risks? Well, I thought he already showed that he was willing to take risks when he touched the boat, but whatever. At least the scenes in the fish tank are generally funny. We meet the B story characters, and they trust Nemo and encourage him, which makes them the opposite of Marlin. Okay. I'm 90% on board.

Fun and Games: All kinds of crazy things happen to Marlin and Dory as they travel together. This is the "looking for Nemo" part of Finding Nemo. This is where Pixar delivers on the premise of the movie, which is that a homebody fish must leave the safety of his home to find his son. The wacky adventures happen here.

Midpoint: This is where the stakes are raised. I'm not entirely sure what the midpoint of Finding Nemo is. My guess is when Nemo finds out that the dentist's niece is a fish-killer, and he's intended as her next victim pet. If someone can tell me in the comments what the midpoint is for Marlin, that would be great. Since he's the A story, it seems like it might be important. After all, he doesn't know anything about the dentist's niece. For me, this lack of clear midpoint for Marlin is what makes this part of the movie feel like it's dragging.

Bad Guys Close In: More challenges for Marlin and Dory as they try to get to P. Sherman 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney. Things get harder. Likewise, over at the dentist's office, the escape plan is not going well, and the terrifying niece has arrived.

All Is Lost: This is the "false defeat," the darkest point of the movie. Marlin, having made it to the dentist's office, thinks that Nemo is dead. He has failed.

Dark Night Of The Soul: Marlin leaves Dory, completely crushed. Dory, lost and forgetful, despairs.

Break Into Three: Gill helps Nemo escape, and Dory helps him find Marlin. It's great that the A and B stories have come together, but... Marlin doesn't do much.

Finale: Dory gets captured in the net. Nemo uses the lessons he learned in the tank (determination! self-efficacy!) and Marlin uses the lessons he learned on his journey (trust others! don't give up!) to save her.
And then there's the bit that drives me crazy. Marlin thinks that Nemo is dead again. We already hit that beat in All is Lost. Now they're just repeating themselves. For me, this scene would be so much stronger if Nemo came out victorious right off the bat and father and son shared a moment together reflecting on how they've changed.

Final Image: Marlin allows Nemo to go off to school without him, no longer painfully overprotective.

So there you have it. Finding Nemo mostly fits into these solid structural beats, except where it doesn't. For me, those are the worst parts of the movie. Too bad I didn't read Save the Cat! until 12 years after the movie came out. It would have saved me a lot of time trying to explain why I dislike it so much.

If you are struggling with plot or pacing, try applying this story structure to your book to see how it fits. Are you hitting all the right beats, in the right order, to build to a satisfying finale? Whether your story is told chronologically or not, getting the beats right is still important for overall reader satisfaction.

Agree or disagree, I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments.

    

Kara Analyzes Pixar Movies: CARS

I have three kids: two boys, and a girl. This means I've watched a lot of movies designed for children that I might not have chosen to watch on my own. Some just outright suck. Others are excellent opportunities to learn something I can use in my writing.

CARS is one of the latter.

If you haven't seen the movie, I suggest you watch it with your writer brain and pay close attention to the plot. Go do that, and come back. Just kidding, you can keep reading even if you haven't seen the movie.

The inciting incident in a story is the one that propels the story. If the inciting incident doesn't happen, the rest of the story doesn't happen. In CARS, it's Lightning McQueen falling out of Mack's trailer and getting lost on the highway. If this doesn't happen, he doesn't get to Radiator Springs, doesn't learn any lessons, and doesn't change.

The inciting incident is often something that passively happens to a character. Which isn't terrible, if the rest of the story happens because of choices actively made by your character. But in CARS, the inciting incident happens because of the main character's flaw. I'd say that is probably the strongest way to start a story.

Lightning McQueen is a selfish a-hole at the beginning of the movie. He forces Mack to drive through the night to get him to his race, instead of allowing him to sleep. He promises Mack he'll stay awake with him and keep him company while they drive, but instead he falls asleep. Finally, he surrounds himself with all kinds of crap that reminds him of how great he is (remember, the trailer door opens because a stupid Lightning McQueen toy falls on the switch).

Lightning finds himself in a pickle (or CONFLICT, the heart of all stories) because of his flaws. He spends the rest of the movie trying to overcome those flaws. We get to see how he slowly becomes less selfish and more mature, which makes the ending feel completely earned instead of rushed. Of course the new Lightning would have the heart to lose the most important race of his career. We have spent the entire movie watching him become that person (or racecar, if you will). He has earned his new heart.

(Don't get me started on the ending of CARS 2, which is a post for another day on how NOT to earn an ending.)

How can you apply this to your own writing? Examine your inciting incident. How does it come to pass? Does it happen to your character, or because of your character's choices? How does it affect the subsequent choices your character makes over the course of the book?

Incidentally, the inciting incident is also an important part of your query letter. You must show in your query what the inciting incident is, and how it's going to affect your character over the rest of the book. Writing the query letter can help you evaluate the strength of your inciting incident.

Pixar and High-Impact Fiction

A lot of writers know that the people at Pixar are master storytellers. For starters, there's a list that discusses 22 Rules of Storytelling according to Pixar. They've also been mentioned previously here at Operation Awesome, and I explained on my other blog, The Writer Librarian, how Wreck-It-Ralph helped me learn about plot and character motivation. (Wreck-It-Ralph was officially "Disney," but was produced by John Lasseter, the chief creative officer at Pixar.)

And, in starting a new manuscript for the new year, I stumbled upon this video from Michael Arndt, one of Pixar's screen writers. This gem helped me work through the beginning of my story:


After watching this video, I figured out that my main character was a perfectionist, and that was the motivating factor that led into her journey. And as Michael Arndt so brilliantly points out, "the seeds of failure have to be planted in the beginning." So even though I'm only about 12,000 words in, I know exactly what happens next, and how it will affect my main character later in the story. 

It was a reminder how Pixar's storytelling has been a key element in their success. 
In reading submissions for a literary magazine, I've come across a lot of pieces that were well-written, but there was no actual story involved. Just a bunch of vignettes where nothing really happened, and the characters weren't really changed by the end. 
On the flip side, a lot of commercial fiction (particularly YA) is thought of as plot-driven only. I've definitely run into this as a YA writer in my MFA program, and luckily for me, my cohorts are supportive of what I write, and don't try to steer me in any particular direction. 
But all that aside, there's room for storytelling in all facets of fiction. Literary agent Donald Maass talked about this in his book Writing 21st Century Fiction, regarding what he called high impact fiction. "High impact comes from a combination of two factors: great stories and beautiful writing" (2). 
So, think back to other Pixar movies you've watched (or Disney movies that had obvious Pixar influence, like Wreck-it-Ralph, Meet the Robinsons, and Frozen). What kept you watching? What made the movie memorable? What seeds were planted in the beginning that showed up throughout the story?
Now think about your own current Work-in-Progress, and ask yourself the following:

• What does my character want more than anything? How will this get in his/her way?


• What are the bad choices my character will make, and how do I get the audience to root for him/her in these decisions?


• How will my characters change as a result of their journey?

Feel free to watch a Pixar movie in the meantime, if it helps. Even Pixar/Disney movies that didn't do as well are informative, because they're examples of stories that might have been lacking.
What about you--what have you learned while crafting your own stories?

In the Words of...

I was on the interwebs doing writing research...okay, I was procrastinating by looking at pictures of cats doing things. Like this:

Source: www.icanhascheezburger.com
But then I found some wonderful writing/storytelling tips that to share with you: 

Kurt Vonnegut:

1. Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.
2. Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.
3. Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.
4. Every sentence must do one of two things—reveal character or advance the action.
5. Start as close to the end as possible.
6. Be a sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them—in order that the reader may see what they are made of.
7. Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia
8. Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To hell with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages.

George Orwell:

1. Never use a metaphor, simile or other figure of speech which are used to seeing in print.

2. Never use a long word where a short one will do.

3. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.

4. Never use the passive where you can use the active.

5. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent. (I’m charmed by his example: use “snapdragon,” not “antirrhinum.” Snapdragon is so much nicer.)

6. Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.

Source: www.gretchenrubin.com

E. L. Doctorow:

Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way. 

Source: Suzanne Bates-Glover via Pinterest

Do you have any writing tips or quotes you'd like to share? Leave them in the comments. 

Happy Wednesday.