How ‘Intention and Obstacle’ Can Help You Tell a Better Story
“We can make ideas have sex.”
I love learning from people outside of my field of expertise.
When you’re a businessman and read too many business books, your mind can get lost in the business concepts. But if you read fiction, or learn from people who do different things than you do, live in a different world — you get something much better.
Idea sex. Ideas from different unrelated fields come together, collide, and have babies — new ideas and techniques. You can then use them for whatever it is you’re doing.
Aaron Sorkin is an American screenwriter and author of movies such as Social Network, Moneyball, A Few Good Men, and award-winning plays, such as To Kill a Mockingbird.
And yes — most of us are not screenwriters. Yet, telling a story on screen, in prose, or in a Medium post is quite similar. The rules and building blocks of a story are the same.
The Fundamentals Of a Good Story
A good story involves drama. Drama means conflict. Conflict of what?
Intention vs. the Obstacle.
Aaron Sorkin teaches us that if you want to tell a good story, there must be:
- Intention — the…
