The Pixar 30-Day Storytelling Challenge
Tell better stories in 30 days
My 30-day Challenge this month is to tell better stories — and I’d love for you to join me.
This will be the Pixar 30-Day Writing Challenge. The aim of the Challenge is to:
- Learn the fundamentals of storytelling direct from Pixar, one of the world’s top animation studios.
- Connect with storytellers: Build valuable connections with other writers inspired by the power of story.
- Tell gripping stories: Write and publish articles on Medium fuelled by great storytelling.
…and have a great time doing it.
I’m sharing my plan to write even better stories on Medium.
To take part in the Challenge, you’ll need to:
- Complete at least one unit from the Pixar in a Box course (between 2 minutes and 2 hours, depending on how much of the course you complete) — this course is FREE and taught by the folks at Pixar.
- Write up one article using what you learn from the course.
That’s it! I’m keeping it simple so it’s easy to join in. More details below.
Write what you know… Or write car chases?
Before I share the details of the Challenge, here’s a small peek into the Pixar in a Box course, so you can see whether it’s a good fit for you.
One of the course tutors is Pete Docter, Chief Creative Officer at Pixar. He’s the director of Monsters, Inc. (2001), Up (2009), Inside Out (2015), and Soul (2020).
Here’s one of his quotes from the course:
“You hear all the time… write what you know. Now as a kid I was like: ‘I don’t want to write about suburban Minnesota, that’s boring. I want to write about explosions and monsters and car chases.’”
Docter eventually realized what “write what you know” actually means:
“Go ahead and write about explosions and monsters and car chases! But put something into it that talks about your own life, how you feel. Do you feel scared? Do you feel alone? Something from your own life will make the story come alive and not just be a boring car chase.”
In conclusion, he explains that “write what you know” means bring your emotions to your writing. Think about an event in your life, and the feelings it evoked. Then inject that into your storytelling:
“What happened to you made you feel some particular way. What you’re trying to do really when you tell a story is to get the audience to have that same feeling.”
Why I’m taking the Pixar Challenge — and why you should too
I decided to take this Challenge for a couple of reasons:
- I noticed my articles with a strong storytelling element are the easiest to write because they’re taken straight out of my life. No research.
- Storytelling posts are engaging to readers — they attract a lot of comments and interaction.
- I enjoy writing storytelling articles.
I’m doing it as a LIVE event, and you’re invited along to take part with me — I share how to join in below. You can also just follow along and see what happens. I’ll be sharing the articles I create along the way, and I’ll be writing up my results at the end of the 30 days.
It could be a roaring success. It could crash and burn. Or it might land somewhere between the two.
While I don’t believe the Challenge will make me the next George Lucas, J.K. Rowling, or Michael Thompson, I do expect it to have significant benefits for all writers who take part.
The rules for the Pixar Writing Challenge are as follows:
I’ll be taking the storytelling modules from Pixar in a Box at Khan Academy — they’re free to take, and no registration is needed.
I’ll be doing some of the exercises too, and publishing at least one story I write during the course to Medium.
Here’s what you need to do to take part. During April 2021:
- Take the Pixar in a Box course (free). You can take anything from one unit to the entire course. It’s taught by the folks at Pixar.
- Publish a story you create while taking the course
- Tag your post with “Pixar Challenge”
- Optional: Link back to this article when you publish.
That’s it! I wanted it to be super-simple.
I’m planning that most of my stories published in April will be written as part of the course, but all you need to take part is one story.
What will you learn from the Pixar Challenge?
How to tell stories like Pixar! The team at Pixar are master storytellers, with almost all of their movies scoring over 7/10 at the Internet Movie Database, (IMDb), and many scoring over 8/10. The average on IMDb is 6.4/10.
The course is delivered by the Pixar team. It’s amazing to get this level of insight for free!
The modules of the course are:
- We are all storytellers
- Character
- Story structure
- Visual Language
- Film grammar
- Pitching and feedback
Each module features around 10–20 minutes of video, plus around five storytelling activities. That means you can watch all the videos in a couple of hours, about the same time as it would take to watch a movie. That’s a small investment to significantly improve your storytelling.
Please note I have no affiliation to Pixar, the Khan Academy, or the Pixar in a Box course.
The Pixar Challenge activities
The activities during the course are designed to help you develop stories. Some of them are about writing stories, so these are the ones I’ll be using to write articles this month. Others are focused on drawing (I won’t be completing those!).
Here’s an example activity from the course that I’m excited to try:
Part A: Think of a memory that you remember vividly. It should be a memory that comes easily to you.
Part B: Why do you think you remember this so well? Try connecting one or more emotions to this memory.
Part C: Now try and express your memory and emotion in some way. The goal is to get it out of your head… Write your memory in less than a page. Do the emotions come out in your words?
As you can see, the activities are designed to get your creativity flowing and many of them get you writing real stories from your life.
Writers taking part:
- David Majister — that’s me.
- Ria Tagulinao — who inspired the Challenge and introduced me to the Pixar course.
- Kristina Jancar
- Akshad Singi
- Neeramitra Reddy
- Jason
- Kevin Lee
- Abena D
- Niharikaa Kaur Sodhi
- Louise Foerster
- Christine Costa
- Rosy Gee
- Courtney Burry
- Kieran Ahearne
- Mary DeVries
- Tess Wheeler
- GB Rogut
- Charlie Brown
- Marie Kester
- Emily Wilcox
Who’s in?
I’d love to have you join me for this Challenge!
Drop a comment below if you’d like to take part. I’ll tag you and link to one Medium story you write during the Challenge if you share it in a comment.