Uploaded June 2023 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
The second thing to write on the page is jump back to #1 on the page and figure out the genre. Is it a love story, a western, a thriller – what is your story?
The reason this is next is because within each one of these genres there are conventions that will help you. You may be thinking formula, and you’re partially right and partially wrong. Great musicians usually know the general structure of music before they go off and care something wildly new. Whether you’re starting out, or have done this before knowing the genre and the conventions within that genre offer you a roadmap. So let’s take the genre of the detective story and examine some of the main conventions. In the video I talk about “The Big Lebowski”. I like to imagine the Joel and Ethan Coen first had the idea of The Dude. Great character, right? A loveable detective character.
But what’s the story, what is the dude doing, where is he going? Well, the Coens decided it’s a detective story–detective meets slacker story. Ingenuous right. They follow the general conventions of a detective story.
Verified
1. Someone usually a rich person hires the detective
2. There’s a beautiful woman involved (perhaps a beautiful man)
3. The detective gets beaten up – usually more than once. Loses hope, maybe even tries to quit but eventually
4. The detective solves the story
That’s it – those 4 things are going to help you write your story. Knowing the genre is going to lead you to those conventions.
And although I can’t say I’ve ever sat down to write a song, or start a business, my guess is there are similar conventions genres – it is a love song, it is a fashion business or are you selling a service.
I wish there was one place I could point you that had everything about genre, but I haven’t found it yet. Some books that have helped me are:
The Story Grid by Shawn Coyne – this is probably the most detailed book about writing stories that check out the book and check out their archives and Shawn’s lecture podcasts.
“Story” by Robert McKee -I’ve mentioned him before as the master of storytelling.
Another book that’s helped me is “Save the Cat! Goes to the Movies” by Blake Snyder
Watch, read, learn. Next week on to Acts, 1, 2, and 3.
The second thing to write on the page is jump back to #1 on the page and figure out the genre. Is it a love story, a western, a thriller – what is your story?
The reason this is next is because within each one of these genres there are conventions that will help you. You may be thinking formula, and you’re partially right and partially wrong. Great musicians usually know the general structure of music before they go off and care something wildly new. Whether you’re starting out, or have done this before knowing the genre and the conventions within that genre offer you a roadmap. So let’s take the genre of the detective story and examine some of the main conventions. In the video I talk about “The Big Lebowski”. I like to imagine the Joel and Ethan Coen first had the idea of The Dude. Great character, right? A loveable detective character.
But what’s the story, what is the dude doing, where is he going? Well, the Coens decided it’s a detective story–detective meets slacker story. Ingenuous right. They follow the general conventions of a detective story.
Verified
1. Someone usually a rich person hires the detective
2. There’s a beautiful woman involved (perhaps a beautiful man)
3. The detective gets beaten up – usually more than once. Loses hope, maybe even tries to quit but eventually
4. The detective solves the story
That’s it – those 4 things are going to help you write your story. Knowing the genre is going to lead you to those conventions.
And although I can’t say I’ve ever sat down to write a song, or start a business, my guess is there are similar conventions genres – it is a love song, it is a fashion business or are you selling a service.
I wish there was one place I could point you that had everything about genre, but I haven’t found it yet. Some books that have helped me are:
The Story Grid by Shawn Coyne – this is probably the most detailed book about writing stories that check out the book and check out their archives and Shawn’s lecture podcasts.
“Story” by Robert McKee -I’ve mentioned him before as the master of storytelling.
Another book that’s helped me is “Save the Cat! Goes to the Movies” by Blake Snyder
Watch, read, learn. Next week on to Acts, 1, 2, and 3.
