How to Explore the World of Possibility in Your Stories
I\u2019m at a dinner party in this cool, old house that belongs to one of my stepmom Sandy\u2019s best friends. This castle-style home stands three stories tall and has winding staircases inside and trees surrounding it.
And I\u2019m a fourth-grader surrounded by adults at this get-together. So despite this cool house, I eventually get bored. I\u2019m still sitting in my chair trying to behave, though.
Just as we\u2019re about to start on dessert, Denise (who lives there) notices my boredom. She takes a leftover dinner roll and chucks it out the window! We\u2019re so high up that we never even hear it hit the ground.
I look at her in shock as she takes another roll and throws that out the window, too! I ask, \u201cDenise, why do you do that?\u201d\xa0
She responds, \u201cOh, to feed the dragons, of course.\u201d
Dragons?!\xa0
\u201cYou have pet dragons?\u201d I ask.
\u201cYeah, three of them. And they love dinner rolls.\u201d
Right then and there, I decided that Denise is one of the world\u2019s coolest people and that I too want to have pet dragons.
This story has stuck with me ever since I was that 9-year-old because of the possibility. What if there were actually dragons or other magical creatures living among us?
That\u2019s the premise of the Sam London Adventure books series written by my special guest today, Todd Gallicano. In this episode, he and I talk about how you have your own hero\u2019s journey, effective ways to open and close your story, plot twist predictability, and overcoming writer\u2019s block.
You\u2019ll also get answers to questions like:
How can you use truth as a springboard for a fictional story? In what way are you on your own hero\u2019s journey right now? Should you leave a story open-ended or resolve it for your audience? And what\u2019s really responsible for writer\u2019s block anyway?
What you will learn in this episode:
- Why the inner journey is so important in storytelling
- Why the precipitating or inciting incident is an essential element to open a story
- Why writing yourself into a corner might be the best thing to do for your story
Who is Todd?
Todd Gallicano is a book author, Hollywood screenwriter, and international speaker who graduated from New York University\u2019s School of Film and Television. He began his film career with Italian-born producer Dino De Laurentiis. Since then, he\u2019s sold screenplays to SKG, Netflix, and Dreamworks and had scripts developed with Warner Brothers, 20th Century Fox, and other major production companies. In 2023, Heather Graham, Brandy Norwood, Jason Biggs, and Matt Ceden\u0303o will star in the film Best. Christmas. Ever. based on his screenplay.
Lovers of the Harry Potter books or Rick Riordan\u2019s fictional works based on ancient Greek, Roman, and Norse mythology will appreciate Todd's Sam London series. His series has already garnered a reputation for encouraging readers to learn more about mythology and folklore, as well as visit and support national parks worldwide. Todd was a recent panelist at the International Congress of Arabic Publishing and Creative Industries and has spoken at the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair. His talks have touched on adapting books into films, games, and audio, and he\u2019s introduced thousands of students to the universal storytelling components within ancient myth and modern fantasy.
You may have also seen Todd\u2019s appearances on TV or his articles in major publications. Currently, he hosts the podcast The Creature Files where he invites expert guests and eyewitnesses to talk about creatures from mythology and folklore.
Links and Resources: