ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the concept of using the elements of fiction stories to tell nonfiction stories, with a detailed example. Stories are at the heart of good film production. A rough, flexible game plan or story structure strategy is usually mapped out before shooting begins. All stories have a beginning, a middle, and an end. These stories can be plot-driven or character-driven, or they can be stories of rivalry, love, power, adventure, or pursuit, and very often they are combinations of many of these elements. The characters' reactions to events, within a setting, will create a story arc that keeps viewers engaged. The events, plot points, or inciting incidents, whatever you wish to call them, of a story are fueled by conflicts of various kinds, whether internal or external, and will drive the story forward. The audience can be kept engaged in the storyline through surprises, twists, turns, and carefully withheld revelations about character, setting, and backstory.
