Story Studies Archives - Seeking Stories

The Way of Kings: Pages 100-200 Story Analysis

Archives, Seeking Stories, Story Studies

Apparently I missed the hype-train for Brandon Sanderson’s tome-of-tomes: The Way of Kings. Released in 2010, The Way of Kings is the first in a 10-book fantasy series, each installment longer than the entirety of The Lord of the Rings. #notatypo

Only the first three books have been released (Book 4 is due-out in late 2020), but the fanbase for entire series – The Stormlight Archive – is ravenous.

Having recently finished a different Sanderson novel (the wonderfully executed “Mistborn”) and watching some of my favorite booktubers glow about the series thus far, I eagerly picked-up Book One, expecting to rip through the thing faster than a windspren.

[Read more…]

Sleeping Beauty is not Sleeping Beauty’s Protagonist. Here’s why…

Archives, Podcast, Seeking Stories, Story Studies

Nearly 60 years after its release, Walt Disney’s Sleeping Beauty is still adored by audiences; however, for all of the love and nostalgia that Sleeping Beauty continues to garner, something about the story structure…just seems odd and somewhat misleading.

Here’s a little secret: despite the film being named after her, Sleeping Beauty is not the protagonist of her own film.

[Read more…]

Why I Won’t Finish The Matrix Reloaded

Archives, Seeking Stories, Story Studies

Today, I’m breaking a solemn rule amongst reviewers: don’t write a review until you’ve finished the thing. The thing, of course, being a book. Or a movie. Or The Matrix Reloaded.

In this case though, the rule-breaking has a particular point:

If a story doesn’t engage with its audience by at least the quarter mark, it does not matter how epic or excellent the rest of the story is. It will be nearly impossible for the story to recapture its audience and provide a resonate conclusion.

I gave The Matrix Reloaded the benefit of the doubt and watched through the halfway point. Then, the unthinkable.

I turned it off.

Here’s why:

[Read more…]

Review – Midnight in Paris (2011)

All Reviews, Movie Reviews, Seeking Stories, Story Studies

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

At some point, nearly every lover of stories has desired to meet their favorite, typically long-dead, author and pepper him with questions about, well, everything.

“What was it like the first time you stepped through the wardrobe?
“What more can you tell us about the Shire?”
“Can you teach me to write like that?”

While authors’ works will usually be our only access to their minds, this doesn’t stop us from dreaming what it would be like to have tea with the Inklings or ride a steamboat with Sam Clemons, so, when my wife and I stumbled upon a movie about a modern-day author who goes back in time to visit the likes of Hemmingway and Fitzgerald, we were naturally thrilled. After two days of fighting with our internet and desperately glancing at Netflix’s reminder that the movie was leaving in three days, we finally got Midnight in Paris to play uninterrupted.

[Read more…]

Review – Murder on the Orient Express (2017)

All Reviews, Archives, Movie Reviews, Seeking Stories, Story Studies

My wife and I were on a mission. 2017 had nearly come and gone…and we had missed nearly all of its theatrical offerings during their Regal runs. But surely – we thought – surely we can catch one or two films when they hit our beloved dollar theater.

Not a chance. We were discovering a truth we had only heard whispers of by sleep-deprived souls in dark and dreary corridors: “Once you are parents, you will NEVER go to the movies again.”

GULP.

For story-lovers such as us, a life confined to the twin-prisons of Netflix and Hulu seemed quite bleak indeed. We were determined to break free.

Review – G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009)

All Reviews, Archives, Movie Reviews, Seeking Stories, Story Studies

I have no idea how to rate this movie.

If you haven’t stopped reading yet, I suspect it’s for the curiosity of discovering what folly will come from this reviewer’s mind next. If so, never fear, for you’re in good company! After all, how better to start formally reviewing films than with one that splits its audience straight through the Prime Meridian? One that’s not so horribly bad to be drooling with deliciously dreadful things to say about it, but neither affording the opportunity for tremendous and emotional gushing.

Story Studies

Sign up for the Seeking Stories Updates and grab your free STORY STRUCTURE OUTLINE