How To Tell a Story

To start this note, it might help to clarify what I mean by "telling a story". I don't mean only saying a story out loud or in writing. I mean the art of storytelling in any and all mediums. that being said, for the most part my focus and interest is on story writing. I will therefore largely use language which is centred around writing. However, I shall try to be generic in my approach.

Elements of a Story

I'm sure that someone has done a great job of explaining what the elements of a story are. And I'm sure that many people have done a great job of detailing how to bring each element to life. I intend to find some of these people and their valuable content, to learn from them. But before I do any of that, I would like to take a crack at it on my own. I believe that this would be useful to form my own view. As I learn from others I can then more actively keep editing and updating my construct of story telling.
I would like to take an outside-in view here and start off with the parts of a story which are underlying. From there I will try to capture the parts of a story which are more front and centre. These are the parts which are more obvious and which probably make or break the story.

- [[ world building ]] :

When we read a book or watch a movie, we are transported to the world of the story. There are many things which we are explicitly shown about this world. There are other facets which are implied and we absorb. There are probably a few others which we imagine for ourselves, whether or not they are intended by the author. And there are probably some which the author intended but we don't observe.
Every detail about the world and setting of the story which is thought up of by the author is part of the story's world. A world could be very simple and have only as much detail as is needed by other story elements in the book, or it might be far far more detailed than can possibly come out in a story. I'm sure that they both have heir merits.
What strikes me as critical is that the world should not contain contradictions. The story's world is like a set of facts and constraints which define what can happen within the story. On the one hand our world building should be realistic and reasonable, so that the set of possibilities for the story is somewhat bounded. On the other hand we don't want the world that we built to be so narrow that either we run out of creative possibilities or run the risk of contradicting ourselves.
World building seems vague, and it seems like a step which is largely done before the story and is only visible in parts. But I think that it sort of acts as the foundation for many good stories.

- character development :

In the world that we have built we may insert characters and objects. I'm not able to quite define what the distinction is between a character and an object in a story.The idea of a character being animate is not very meaningful in a fictional story and isn't actually necessary either.
Whatever might exactly be meant by "characters", they are usually the focus of a reader's attention and the centre of the plot. "Well written" characters are usually relatable, interesting, grow and develop etc. Thus, characters are probably one of the most powerful and useful elements that one can nail down to tell a good story.

- deconstructing plots :

The plot is probably the most obvious and memorable part of any story. In a sense I guess it's usually the most important part of the story. The plot is at a top level a series of what happens.
I like to imagine that the world and the characters & objects are the rules and the building blocks. The plot is then what we choose to do with the building blocks, within the set of rules. What we do might be interesting or boring. Good plots are probably not predictable, but still sensible in hindsight. Good plots probably need to be engaging and keeping the reader guessing.
My first guide to understanding how to read then write a plot is the book the seven basic plots .

- [[ writing style ]] :

The style of writing is probably something personal to each writer and also something which is developed over time and exposure. The same plot points can be covered in various degrees of granularity and detail. It is a matter of writing style. The same ideas can be conveyed in multiple ways and will manifest in the reader's mind differently as a function of the writing style adopted.

- [[ story telling medium ]] :

Through most of this note I have made it seem like stories are only written. However, the medium could be anything from writing to talking to a movie to a comic etc. The choice of medium affects the style of writing to an extent. However, it is a distinct element. Most of the time the medium is selected first and then the other 4 elements may be played around with in some way or the other.

In my mind, I would like to put the above 5 elements together. This just helps me create a mental image of how to use each of them and how they impact each other and together impact the reader.
I imagine a story to be like flowing river. The world is the terrain where the river flows. The river can't flow outside of the terrain, and the terrain brings in its own physics and natural boundaries which limit the flow of the river to some extent, but create a range of possibilities for each junction.
The characters and the objects are the water, sediments and any other material which the flowing river contains. They interact with each other and determine the nature of the flow of the river.
The plot is the path of the river. It determines how the river twists and turns and how long it heads in any direction.
The style of writing is the depth of the river. It may vary from one point to another, but at each point determines the layers of content carried by the river as well as what layers are on top vs the bottom.
Finally the medium is the width of the river, which determines the volume of detail which can come out through the plot the characters and the style.

TODO: Some other rough notes (to be reorganised)

In order to learn about some of the above, some additional books that might be useful for me are "Story by Robert mckee" & "Hero with a thousand faces Joseph campbell".

Style
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urJDbQl5W0I
All writing is either:
show/scene - detailed and drawing in - all important parts of plot tell/summary - efficient and distant - use as connecting tissue between scenes Not all details will make it to the page. But it helps to build out the details in your mind and decide as much as you can about the characters and setting. Then you decide what is important to show. Just create a first draft. Stories are not written, they are rewritten.
Plot
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uL0atQFZzL8
Plot is following a character(s) and seeing what all obstacles they run into or what happens along the journey. The character should have a motivation to keep the audience engaged. Every character thinks they’re the main character. Stories are more interesting when things get in the way of the objective. Style Think in scenes Writing is a process of questions Who is it about? What do they want? Why can’t they get it? What do they do about it? Why doesn’t it work? How does that end?
Style
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSoRzTtwgP4
Paint a picture with the choice of words you use Use words which force a sort of sound, smell, feel (any other senses) Use descriptive language with unexpected connotations, metaphors etc, to force the reader to actively imagine what you write
Generally nice channel
https://www.youtube.com/@QuotidianWriter

Storypedia
Write a detailed wikipedia like thing detailing everything about the story (plot, characters, world etc.). This reference will act as the foundation. After this writing the whole story will be easy, since everything can be answered by referencing this.