urxvtcdAug 2021Strongly recommends
Not a blog post, but a piece of Kurt Vonnegut's talk randomly found on youtube had an impact on me: ▶ this video
in “Ask HN: What's the most life-changing blog post you've ever read?” · View on HN
Kurt Vonnegut, Shape of Stories (subtitulos castellano)
Kurt Vonnegut, Shape of Stories (subtitulos castellano) on HackerTube: recommended by 6 Hacker News commenters across 6 separate months, 2019–2024.
Eva CollinsAlonso
Open on YouTubelecture · evergreen
Kurt Vonnegut's 2004 Case College lecture, with Spanish subtitles, in which he sketches the shapes of stories on a blackboard. He plots story arcs as good and bad fortune against time.
Why Hacker News recommends it
Frequently recommended as a delightful, influential way to think about story structure.
- people recommended it
- 6
- separate months
- 6
- strong recommendations
- 2
- discussed on HN
- 2019–2024
“Vonnegut is really special. I always like coming back to his Shape of Stories talks”
What HN commenters said
7 Hacker News comments link this video. Each one links back to its thread.
bmitcNov 2020Strongly recommends
Vonnegut is really special. I always like coming back to his Shape of Stories talks: [link] Here's a longer one: ▶ this video It's interesting to see the difference in him with age. He seems to giggle more as an older man.
in “Kurt Vonnegut, The Art of Fiction No. 64 (1977)” · View on HN
plussed_readerFeb 2024Recommends
You can find variations of this talk across his life but Vonneguts 'Shape of Stories' kept ringing in my head while going over this paper. I like the later-in-life version of the talk. ▶ this video
in “The emotional arcs of stories are dominated by six basic shapes” · View on HN
f0e4c2f7Nov 2021Recommends
There is a video of Kurt Vonnegut talking about story telling called Shape of Stories thats pretty good. ▶ this video
in “Ask HN: How do I learn how to tell a good story?” · View on HN
sam_0123Jul 2021Recommends
Yes, Hero's Journey plot ( [link] ) is very well understood and yet continues to sell well and generally the idea of certain shapes to stories is beautifully explored here among other places: ▶ this video
in “No More Movies” · View on HN
iawJan 2019Recommends
There's an excellent video where he goes through these [0], worth a watch if you have the time. [0] ▶ this video
in “At the Blackboard: Kurt Vonnegut diagrams the shapes of stories (2005)” · View on HN
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bmitcJul 2021Cites it
That's what I meant by presentations of his shapes of stories. There are a couple of lectures posted on YouTube. [link] ▶ this video The thinking originated in his (rejected) master's thesis at the University of Chicago. Here are some photos of some of the graphs: [link] Even there, in an incomplete copy, there are seven unique story shapes. And there's a major difference between saying here are some shapes of some stories and here are the only story shapes.
in “No More Movies” · View on HN
Topics & tags
Literature & writing craftUniversity lectures & courseskurt vonnegutstorytellingnarrative arcswriting