/ic/ - Artwork/Critique

cont...

>You want to know exactly what makes people feel things
Build up, and pay off. Just like a joke. Writing stories and writing jokes aren't too different from each other.

>how to build up the plot and conflict.
This the fundamentals of storytelling. It's covered in several books in the OP, like Robert McKee's book. Again, learning it is simple, it's the execution that matters, and only way you'll improve is through repeated and constant practice.

>Story structure is also different depending on the length of the piece and the form of it.
I fundamentally disagree with this, and it's what prompted me to reply in the first place.

Absoultely not. Pic related, and the KiShoTenKetsu both work at a whole narrative level, and a scene level. Could be a short story that's only 3 pages, could be an entire series of books stemming multiple arcs. The fundamentals are the fundamentals.

From the words or Aaron Sorkin himself, one of the best writers in film alive right now:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-ETDTXUnB0&ab_channel=WIRED

Intention and Obstacle, the single most important components to a story. Ending is totally irrelevant. The reader isn't so much there for the grand finale, as they are for the entire journey. A series of set ups and pay off all strung together toward a singular objective.