Steven McCommas

Putter togetherer of various media.

[Bill Pourquoimec @BillPourquoimec]

“I recommend heartbreak. Being abandoned by your lover, totally destroying your life. Everyone should try it out at least once.”

- Lou Reed, 1973

[Nathan Baugh @nathanbaugh27]

In 4 minutes, Kurt Vonnegut explained stories better than anyone I’ve ever heard.

“The shape of the curve is what matters. Not their origins.”

He plots stories on 2 axes:

X: Time
Y: Good fortune / ill fortune

He goes on to say,

“Somebody gets into trouble, then gets out of it again. People love that story. They never get tired of it.”

Point 1:

Stories have defined patterns.

In Joseph Campbell’s Hero of a Thousand Faces, he makes the case for the Hero’s Journey.

Since then, it’s become the most famous storytelling structure in the world.

Vonnegut argued stories could be divided into 8 shapes.

Each story, he said, fit one of the 8.

Point 2:

Vonnegut says,

“Be a sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them — so the reader may see what they're made of.”

To see who your characters really are, you have to make them suffer.

Only then does your audience have someone worth cheering for.

Point 3:

End on a high note.

Vonnegut says, “It’s not accidental that the line ends up higher than where it began. This is encouraging to readers.”

The way a story makes people feel when they finish is how they remember it.

It’s called recency bias.

Lift people up and they will love you.

***

“There are people. There are stories. The people think they shape the stories, but the reverse is often closer to the truth.”

I wrote this with @RobbieCrab. Follow him for lessons on storytelling + fundraising.

And I talk about creative storytelling. Follow @nathanbaugh27 for more like that.

[weird medieval guys @WeirdMedieval]

"it's whatever"

[Fiona’s Videos 🎬 @fiona_videos]

@OTerrifying

[Science girl @sciencegirl]

When confronted by ruthlessness sometimes the hunted choose a dangerous strategy, like this mountain goats’ method of fending off an eagle

The fight for freedom is at any cost.
https://t.co/NBxdXNm940

[Massimo @Rainmaker1973]

In the Berezka dance, women move with steps so short that it looks like they're floating

[read more: https://t.co/XVTG1KC7Ec]
[📹 https://t.co/VJcNWB5QZP]

[Jason Wilde @JasonWilde108]

Beautiful words from a beautiful man!!

[Terrible Maps @TerribleMaps]

How to find Kentucky on the map

[Nicole @gaycrouton]

Do you want to celebrate Halloween by watching The X-Files, but don’t know where to start?

Here’s a thread that groups episodes together based on different horror genres 🎃👻👽🤡🔪🩸

[Joshua Eustis @telefontelaviv]

Sound up for a vibe shift in electronic music that influenced us all and never would have happened without Dave Smith and @sequentialLLC

[Steven McCommas @smccommas]

@MalikaTirolien Thanks so much!

[Steven McCommas @smccommas]

Hi, @MalikaTirolien. I filmed Vox Sambou's concert at LowDown in Tulsa, OK for OK Roots Music last month and I'm adding song titles to the video. Could you please tell me the name of the slow, beautiful song you sang by yourself with the keyboard player?

[Eleanor Morton ($8) @EleanorMorton]

Every Jack the Ripper Documentary

[Reverend Ray Ray McRaybob and 69 others @ThatRayShow]

The only known photo of Schrodinger's cat.

[Scarlet Garlands @ScarletGarlands]

January means reorganizing, inventorying, and planning for a brand new season.

I'm holding a 20% sale on Etsy starting today through 2/1/22 for all current items. There are just a dozen handmade pieces left from last year, so get them while you can!

Apply coupon code: SCARLET20

[Jonathan Hoefler has moved to Threads/Bluesky @JonathanHoefler]

Powerful scene in Succession S03E03 depicting the coordination of law enforcement agencies, represented by the Arial FBI, the Franklin Gothic FBI, the Univers FBI, the Impact FBI, and even the Aachen FBI.