Twenty two rules of storytelling

This morning, I was paging through some old notebooks in which dad had jotted down assorted notes. I came across a list which he had entitled “Twenty-two rules of storytelling”. I found them to be pretty fun and compelling, and so am jotting them down here. (From a short google search while transcribing dad’s notes, I learned that these ‘rules’ originated from a series of tweets by a Pixar Directory/Storyteller).

Not all are profound, but most are at least helpful. Some of them are incredibly applicable to science writing, too. I’ve marked the ones I found most endearing, resonant, or reminiscent of conversations with dad, with **.