Here are the latest newsletters outlining upcoming seminars and more:
"Like music and dance, story is kinetic." |
- ROBERT MCKEE - |
Mastering Story Tempo |
As writers, we want to use the power of storytelling to hurl the audience toward act climaxes because scenes of major reversal are generally long and tense. But how do stories gather pace? And how do you stop them becoming runaway locamotives? The pace of your story begins on the page. The overall tempo of story is controlled by adjusting the relative level of activity within a scene via dialogue, action, or a combination. A character staring out a window coming to a vital life decision may have a low tempo, an argument in a courtroom, a high tempo. As a story moves through its telling, it should call upon greater human capacity, demand greater willpower, generate greater change in the characters' lives, and place them in greater jeopardy. In a well-told story, therefore, the progression of scenes and sequences accelerates pace. As we head towards act climaxes, we take advantage by shortening scenes while the activity taking place in them becomes much more brisk. As writers, we must control the tempo. You needn’t uniformly lengthen all earlier scenes, and shorten later ones, but the progression must be shaped to create a satisfying rhythm. Pace must be shaped by the writer, for if we don't, the editor will. |
McKee's Fall Program Continues This Week |
STORY |
WEBINAR SERIES |
Week 1 Now Available On Demand! |
Robert McKee’s STORY Webinar Series continues this week with three more lectures delivering an unparalleled knowledge of the storytelling craft. This week's lessons include:
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Sign up today and catch up at your convenience. |
The Rhythm of Story |
Robert McKee teaches how writers can manipulate rhythm and tempo by mixing up the length of scenes in a story, in order to progress and accelerate the telling to a satisfying climax. |
Quote of the Week |
"Pacing has become more important than ever. I've always tried to start my stories out with something that will hook their attention." |
- WILL HOBBS - |
Award-Winning Author |
GHOST CANOE CROSSING THE WIRE CITY OF GOLD |
The McKee Collection |
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"If the condition of your character's life stays unchanged from the beginning of a scene to the end, nothing meaningful happens. It is a nonevent." |
- ROBERT MCKEE - |
The Soul of Storytelling |
A story isn't just moments of conflict or activity, personality or emotionality, witty talk or symbols. What we seek as writers are events, for an event contains all the above and more. Story events create change. Yet change only provides a part of the picture. When you go to sleep, if the streets outside your window are dry, but wet the next morning, you assume change has taken place. The world was dry, now it is wet. But it means nothing. Story events are meaningful, not trivial. To make change meaningful you must express it, and the audience must react to it, in terms of value. A story value could be any such universal quality of life that can reverse its charge from positive to negative, or vice versa, at any moment: love/hate, freedom/slavery, wisdom/stupidity and so on. Values are the soul of storytelling. A storied event, therefore, is either an action taken by a character that changes a value charge in his life, or an action outside of the character's control to which he reacts as it reverses a value charge in his life. Master storytellers don't waste the audience's time on moments of activity. Instead, they sweat and toil to pack every scene with conflict, change, and above all else, meaning. |
Robert McKee Returns Tomorrow! |
STORY |
WEBINAR SERIES |
NOVEMBER 3 - DECEMBER 3 Lecture: 1:00 - 2:30 PM (ET) Live Q&A: 2:30 - 3:00 PM (ET) Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays |
Learn to craft meaningful stories with Robert McKee this fall. |
McKee's STORY Webinar Series consists of fifteen writing lectures covering all of the content from his legendary seminar, each one coupled with a live Q&A period. Over 30 hours, Robert will teach you everything from the fundamental principles of story design to the finer points of the craft that will set your writing apart. If you're a writer and haven't yet attended McKee's legendary seminar, right now could be one of those defining moments for your professional writing career. |
Escalating Risk Through a Scene |
When opening gaps between expectation and reality within a scene, should the risk escalate each time? Robert McKee explains risk and value in relation to building a scene beat by beat. |
Quote of the Week |
"After nourishment, shelter and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in the world." |
- PHILIP PULLMAN - |
Award-Winning Author |
HIS DARK MATERIALS |
The McKee Collection |
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"Characterization provides clues to a character's identity, but readers and audiences know that appearance is not reality." |
- ROBERT MCKEE - |
Characterization: How Much Is Too Much? |
No one is simply "born that way." All complex characterizations display traits both genetically given and actively acquired. Genetic traits tend to last, while acquired ones evolve over a lifetime. The same is true of character. Every observable trait on stage, page, and screen sits on a spectrum ranging from the negative to the positive. First are traits that manifest in public such as Charismatic/Boring that define a character's relationships with wider society. Then come behaviors manifesting in personal relationships such as Concerned/Unconcerned. How many traits should a character express in a telling? On the one hand, if we were to dramatize every possible characterization, not only would the telling take forever, the character might become overwhelming and incomprehensible. Conversely, one lone trait would reduce the role to a bit part. Instead, reveal enough of the character to generate interest, but leave some undiscovered. If aspects are left unknown and mysterious, your audience or reader will discover the rest through their own curiosity and imagination. Only the writer can discover the ideal number of observable traits for any particular character. But this, of course, is just the beginning. Characters must go much, much deeper… |
Starting Next Week! |
STORY |
WEBINAR SERIES |
NOVEMBER 3 - DECEMBER 3 Lecture: 1:00 - 2:30 PM (ET) Live Q&A: 2:30 - 3:00 PM (ET) Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays |
Master Your Art with McKee This Autumn. |
For the past four decades, Robert McKee has been “the most influential storytelling theorist since Aristotle” (THE GUARDIAN), with alumni including winners of over 75 Oscars, 250 Emmys, 50 DGA and 100 WGA awards, and some of the best creative minds from 20th Century Fox, Disney, Paramount and more. |
Creating Character Flaws |
Robert McKee teaches how writers can use the principle of character dimensions to create contradictions and flaws. |
Quote of the Week |
"It's not until you really throw your character into the story that you can genuinely understand who they are." |
- ELIJAH BYNUM - |
Award-Winning Director and Screenwriter |
MAGAZINE DREAMS THE DELIVERANCE HOT SUMMER NIGHTS |
The McKee Collection |
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"Like a composer choosing notes and chords, we shape our stories by deciding what to include or exclude. The task can be harrowing." |
- ROBERT MCKEE - |
Balancing Unity and Variety |
When considering your plot, this sentence should be logical: "Because of the Inciting Incident, the Climax had to happen." In other words, from the moment your protagonist's life is thrown off balance, the chain of events that unfolds should, in hindsight, seem inevitable. The events of story, even when expressing the chaos of life, must be unified. Yet whilst unity is critical, it is not sufficient. Within this unity, you must seek to introduce as much variety as possible. As artists, if we hit the same note again and again, every scene sounds like the next. The unique tone of Vince Gilligan’s BREAKING BAD punctuated drama with dark humor. It delivered multiple crime stories, a disillusionment plot, an enterprise story, countless action sequences and much more. All unified by the protagonist's deep desire to achieve a balance among the chaos. Most of us are not capable of this amount of variety, nor would our stories warrant it. However, our duty as writers is to avoid the cardinal sin of story: A bland, monotonous telling. As you write, seek the tragic in the comic, the political in the personal, the extraordinary behind the usual, the trivial in the exalted, and serve your audience a feast of unified pleasures. |
Only Two Weeks To Go! |
STORY |
WEBINAR SERIES |
NOVEMBER 3 - DECEMBER 3 Lecture: 1:00 - 2:30 PM (ET) Live Q&A: 2:30 - 3:00 PM (ET) Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays |
Recordings available until the end of February 2027. |
Robert McKee’s STORY Webinar Series is almost here! Through 15 in-depth lectures and accompanying Q&As, McKee guides writers through the near endless possibilities of story design, providing creatives with an unparalleled understanding of writing principles and how to apply them when telling your story. |
Student, Union, and Story Repeater discounts available. |
Unity of Action |
Why do great story endings feel inevitable, even when the outcome is impossible to predict? In this Q&A, Robert McKee explores the principle of unity of action, explaining how the Inciting Incident and Climax are connected through cause and effect, and how the protagonist's pursuit of balance holds a story together. |
Quote of the Week |
"Develop a clean line of action for your leading character." |
- BILLY WILDER - |
Award-Winning Director and Screenwriter |
THE APARTMENT |
The McKee Collection |
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"Subplots can intersect with your central plot or run alongside, enriching your story with variations on a theme, or layering the telling with irony." |
- ROBERT MCKEE - |
The Subtle Power of Subplots |
The function and importance of subplots are often overlooked by writers. They may be secondary storylines, but require all the creative energy of a central plot. Additional storylines have the power to magnify complexity, increasing your audience's emotional involvement, but like all storytelling principles, they don't come without risks. Subplots mustn't draw focus. Make no mistake, your subplot protagonists are major characters, supporting or servicing the main spine of action. Yet be wary of emphasis. The balance between central plot and subplot must be carefully controlled, or you risk losing focus on your primary story. Subplots mustn't lessen intensity. A blend of empathetic concern and intellectual curiosity for your central plot's protagonist creates a story-long suspense, holding your audience from first page to last. Drawing empathy away from the telling's core character to a supporting role instead can defocus that intensity. A subplot receives less screentime and emphasis than a central plot. But when beautifully crafted, and used with control, it’s the subplot that possesses the strength to lift a mediocre story up to greatness. |
Join Us Online Next Month! |
STORY |
WEBINAR SERIES |
NOVEMBER 3 - DECEMBER 3 |
Recordings available until the end of February 2027. |
Between Fade In and Fade Out awaits an ocean of blank space. To some, a daunting tide of white pages. To most, a reason never to set sail. Robert McKee returns to your screens this fall, bringing with him four decades of expertise and a 30-hour masterclass in storytelling that will help you navigate the expanse before you. |
Already attended Story? |
Writers frequently revisit the seminar to rekindle their passion for writing and renew their commitment to the craft. We offer a generous discount to our Story alumni who feel the time is right to gain new insights from Robert's teaching. |
How Should You Use Subplots? |
How should writers use subplots, and how many does a story need? Robert McKee explains why there is no fixed formula for constructing subplots, and explores how they can strengthen the central plot, add conflict, deepen a story, and improve its pacing. |
Quote of the Week |
"The characters are the plot. What they do and say and the things that happen to them are, in a sense, what the plot is. You can't take character and plot apart from each other." |
- TERRY PRATCHETT - |
Award-Winning Author |
THE DISCWORLD SERIES |
The McKee Collection |
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"Well-written exposition doesn't guarantee a superb story, but it does tell us that the writer knows the craft." |
- ROBERT MCKEE - |
Why Good Writers Pace Themselves |
The knotty problem of exposition can be tricky to unravel. Dealing with facts about setting, biography and characterization intimidates some new writers, as a result they often include too much too soon, hoping to get it all out of the way in act one. Pace your exposition. You do not keep hold of the audience's attention by showering it with information. If you reveal everything, the audience will sense the ending long before it arrives. Instead, create progression. Withhold everything except that which is absolutely necessary for comprehension. Share the least important facts early, and let the rest follow through natural, honest and motivated character behaviour. "I am your father" is a truth Darth Vader never wanted to tell his son. This honest and powerful moment arises because the pressure of life is squeezing the character between the lesser of two evils. If he doesn't share the secret, he'll have to kill or be killed by his child. Dramatize your exposition, control how and when it's shared, parse it out only when and if the audience needs to know. Before long, the delivery of exposition will become an invaluable asset in the crafting of your masterpiece. |
Coming Up In November... |
STORY |
WEBINAR SERIES |
NOVEMBER 3 - DECEMBER 3 |
Join us for the scheduled Zoom sessions or watch On Demand. |
Robert McKee's STORY Webinar Series teaches how to hook and hold your audience from first page to last, before paying it off with an emotional climax like no other. Over the course of 15 sessions held throughout November, McKee's 30-hour masterclass explores the storytelling principles essential to every writer, whether you create for stage, page, game or screen. |
Learn from "The Ultimate Master" (BBC). |
Creating Intrigue Through Character Backstory |
In this clip from a live Q&A session following McKee's webinar on Cast Design, Robert teaches how the revelation of secrets can be used to drive your story towards a powerful climax. |
Quote of the Week |
"You know, to write exposition brilliantly is hard." |
- RICHARD JENKINS - |
Emmy-Winning Actor |
THE SHAPE OF WATER THE VISITOR |
The McKee Collection |
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"At climax, we sense inevitability. At inciting incident, we imagine the freedom of endless possibilities." |
- ROBERT MCKEE - |
Is Your Inciting Incident Doing Its Job? |
Henry James wrote about story art in the prefaces to his novels, and once asked: "What is an event?" An event, he said, could be as little as a woman putting her hand on a table and looking at you "that certain way." In the right context, such a look could mean a life made or broken. The Inciting Incident is the first major event in your story. This crucial moment is a kind of explosion. In Action, and its subgenres, it may literally be an explosion. In other stories, it might be a moment as subtle as a smile. It could pivot a protagonist's life sharply to the positive (Romeo falls for Juliette) or darkly to the negative (Hamlet discovers his father's murder). In either case, when life goes out of kilter and chaos invades your character’s world, the subconscious drive for equilibrium stirs into consciousness. As a writer, you must concentrate on its function. Does it jolt your character from their existing life pattern? Does it launch them on a quest to restore balance? Does it suggest to the audience where the story could go, and how it might end? If it does all this, then your Inciting Incident need not be loud or spectacular. In the right context, the smallest gesture can change a life. |
McKee's 2026 Autumn Program |
STORY |
WEBINAR SERIES |
NOVEMBER 3 - DECEMBER 3 |
Tuesdays / Wednesdays / Thursdays Lectures: 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM (ET) Live Q&A: 2:30 PM - 3:00 PM (ET) |
Robert McKee’s STORY Webinar Series teaches the universal and eternal principles of story, foundations that have guided master storytellers for thousands of years. Join a global class of industry creatives for this 30-hour masterclass, and discover why students have sought McKee’s expertise across four decades. |
Change the course of your writing career. |
Postponing Your Inciting Incident |
Robert McKee teaches the dangers of banality, and how moments with no meaning risk undermining your story. |
Quote of the Week |
"Start as close to the end as possible." |
- KURT VONNEGUT - |
Novelist |
SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE CAT'S CRADLE BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS |
The McKee Collection |
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"Believability does not mean reality. A story set in a world that might never exist could be absolutely authentic." |
- ROBERT MCKEE - |
What Happens When Your Audience Believes? |
What’s a writer’s worst fear? That the reader or audience will find his work boring? Dislike his characters? Disagree with his ideas? Possibly. But perhaps the greatest dread is disbelief. When a reader or audience does not buy into in the actions characters take, when they sour on the telling, thinking thoughts like, "That kind of woman would not do things like that," they toss the book aside, reach for the remote or head for an exit. We must believe. Credibility in character begins with characterization. Readers and audiences involve themselves when they sense an honest connection between the cast's mental, emotional and physical traits and what they say, feel and do. Authenticity in story is only possible when the artist possesses a godlike knowledge of their fictional world, and the characters that populate them. The moment a story lacks believability, audience involvement dissolves. Believability induces audiences to surrender to a story as if it were real. But more than that, when authorial knowledge of world and character meets your personality, your work becomes what you are: unique. |
McKee's 2026 Autumn Program |
STORY |
WEBINAR SERIES |
NOVEMBER 3 - DECEMBER 3 |
Tuesdays / Wednesdays / Thursdays Lectures: 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM (ET) Live Q&A: 2:30 PM - 3:00 PM (ET) |
For the past four decades, Robert McKee has been “the most influential storytelling theorist since Aristotle” (THE GUARDIAN), with alumni including winners of over 75 Oscars, 250 Emmys, 50 DGA and 100 WGA awards, and some of the best creative minds from 20th Century Fox, Disney, Paramount and more. |
Now is your chance to learn from the best. |
Are Your Characters Credible? |
How do you make your characters believable? Robert McKee discusses character in relation to story structure, and how to make motivations organic. |
Quote of the Week |
"A likely impossibility is always preferable to an unconvincing possibility. The story should never be made up of improbable incidents; there should be nothing of the sort in it." |
- ARISTOTLE - |
Philosopher |
POETICS |
The McKee Collection |
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