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[Coop and Dino singing]

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As long as language has existed, humans have loved stories. [Caveman and boy sitting by a fire]

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Whether it's a fable about a princess and her missing shoe...

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An epic tale of hobbits and wizards... [A hobbit in the shire and Gandalf appears]

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Or even just a super dramatic retelling of that time you ripped a hole right in the butt

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of your pants at school.. [Person's pants rip in school]

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Everyone loves a good story.

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Lucky for us, there are endless stories for us to tell, share, and enjoy. [Man searching for book in the library]

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But here's the thing – no matter how different they are, stories also tend to follow pretty

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similar patterns.

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Most notably, they all have a big and exciting climax. [Man jumps over fence and runs away and men shoot guns]

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But let's not get ahead of ourselves.

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Instead, let's start at the very beginning of the story.

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It's a very good place to start. [Girl singing in a meadow]

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You'll find one example of a common pattern in the very beginning of a story.

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The author will usually try to “ground us in the reality” of the story.

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What this means is that the writer will give us the setting – does it take place in space? [A view of a galaxy in outer space]

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In New York City?

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Two-hundred years ago?

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They'll also introduce us to the characters in the story so that we know who we're going

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to be hearing about.

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After all, we wouldn't want to meet our main character on page 394. [Man reading book and a King appears]

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That'd be…weird.

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After we're grounded in the story, there's usually some sort of trigger.

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This is an event that really launches the story, and it usually puts the characters

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in an unfamiliar situation. [Astronaut floating in space]

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Maybe the main character lost their pet dog Rupert, and must find him.

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Or an alien spaceship crash-landed into someone's backyard. [Alien spaceship crashed into the ground]

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Or they maybe they woke up one day and realized they've grown an eleventh toe.

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Whatever it is, this trigger is what really starts our main character on an adventure.

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Stories often feature some sort of surprise – and this surprise is often followed by [Coop discussing common patterns of stories]

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a choice.

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Maybe they're accepted into two different colleges and must pick where they want to go.

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Or maybe, two different people ask them to the school dance and they've got to pick who [Two guys ask girl to go to the school dance]

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to go with.

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Either way, something unexpected usually happens and they've got to make a decision.

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While short stories might only have one surprise, longer stories may have a ton of them, with [Short story with one surprise and long story with lots of surprises]

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many different choices to be made.

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But no matter what, these stories usually end up at the “big moment” when it seems

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like anything could happen – we're talking about….drum roll please…the climax! [A drum roll and climax appears]

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You can tell you've reached the climax because a drumroll always plays.

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…Just kidding.

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You can actually tell you're at the climax because it's the point in the story when the

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biggest choice has to be made.

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How will the princess save the prince from the dragon? [Princess stabs dragon]

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Can the robot win the thrilling robot boxing match?

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Will the boy be able to sing the song he wrote at his school's talent show? [Boy scared while on stage at a talent show]

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These are the big moments that usually end in an exciting result.

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And no matter what happens, there's usually a consequence.

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This is a big change that leads us to the end resolution of the story. [Dino eating monster]

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One of the most common ends to a story is....

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“And they lived happily ever after.

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The End.” [A man and woman walking by the sea on a beach]

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Another really common ending to a story is...

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“Both robots realized they should spread love instead of war, and so, they combined

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into a super robot that could turn rocks into cupcakes.[Robot turns rock into cupcakes]

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The End.”

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Okay, maybe that one isn't quite so common…but it's still a nice ending.

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