Develop original ideas and turn them into best-selling stories with tutorial cards that guide you through the entire writing process.
250 cards to solve any story problem
Learn expert tricks from seasoned scriptwriter
Enhance Break into the industry
Fix critical problems in your story with a collection of tutorials cards that remove guesswork from your writing.
Learn the industry’s most successful writing techniques optimized over 20 years of international screenwriting.
You have all the cards to create a professional pitch deck that makes your story irresistible to decision-makers
Writing a good story is a professional craft, and your idea won’t sell or get the attention it deserves without key components. You’re in the right place if :
Your characters feel flat or fake
Your structure is all over the place
Your plot or genre tropes feel déjà-vu
You fail to speak to your audience’s heart
You get a lot of notes and bad feedbacks
You are rejected by reps and producers
You are lost and face writer’s block
Skip the theory and start writing today! Our hands-on approach empowers you to build or fix your story immediately, one card at a time. Follow a simple, yet powerful process that removes guesswork and keeps you focused on creativity.
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Hi, I’m Domenico La Porta, founder of StoryTricks. Over 20 years and 70+ projects in film, TV, streaming, and video games, I’ve worked as a writer, ghostwriter, script doctor, and story consultant. Screenwriting is packed with pitfalls and setbacks—it’s easy to get stuck. That’s why I created StoryTricks: a tool to help writers like you tackle screenwriting challenges with confidence.
For the past 20 years, I’ve tested every storytelling book and tool. StoryTricks isn’t a new theory—it’s the best of what works, giving you expert knowledge at your fingertips.
Expert knowledge at your fingertips
Every famous theories in one place
Only field-tested techniques that work
Step-by-step, card-by-card guidance
Bite-sized, actionable & rewarding
Supercharged with modern science
Discover a complete range of tutorial cards that help you master the foundations of any good story and turn your initial idea into a compelling screenplay
Clarify your vision, find your concept, model your audience, craft the perfect logline, and bulletproof your pitch.
Master genres conventions from the 10 main genres and 36 subgenres, and create original ideas with a unique genre-blending recipe.
Powerful building blocks to create engaging characters with depth, relatability, and consistent development.
Master story structure, plot points, and pacing with a simple yet powerful template of 45 beats per stories
Master the empathy formula to unlock a powerful flow of emotions in stories that deeply connect with your audience.
Using sticky notes on the cards encourages you to be concise and focused. It helps you see the big picture at a glance, making it easier to identify and resolve issues, while boosting the overall quality of your story.
Get my free deck
Simply stick your handwritten notes directly on the cards. You can map your entire story and characters using standard-sized sticky notes that are easy to refine, scratch, and replace.
The cards are numbered to guide you through an easy step-by-step process. Simply start with the first card of each deck.
Solve each card with only few words. You can always return and swap them with a more refined version.
You can skip a few cards at first, but the further you go, the more you’re guaranteed to write a best-selling story.
Breaking Bad, created by Vince Gilligan © 2008-2013 AMC Networks. All rights reserved.
Titanic, directed by James Cameron © 1997 20th Century Fox and Paramount Pictures. All rights reserved
Joker, directed by Todd Phillips © 2019 Warner Bros. Pictures. All rights reserved.
The Last of Us Part II, developed by Naughty Dog © 2020 Sony Interactive Entertainment. All rights reserved.
The Mandalorian, created by Jon Favreau © 2007 Lucasfilm and Disney+. All rights reserved.
Raiders of the Lost Ark, directed by Steven Spielberg © 1981 Lucasfilm Ltd. All rights reserved.
Squid Game, directed by Hwang Dong-hyuk © 2021 Netflix. All rights reserved.
Stranger Things, created by The Duffer Brothers © 2016 Netflix. All rights reserved.
Stranger Things (Season 3), created by The Duffer Brothers © 2019 Netflix. All rights reserved.
Avengers: Infinity War, directed by Anthony & Joel Russo © 2018 Marvel Studios. All rights reserved.
Back to the Future, directed by Robert Zemeckis © 1985 Universal Pictures. All rights reserved
Titanic, directed by James Cameron © 1997 20th Century Fox and Paramount Pictures. All rights reserved
The Matrix, directed by The Wachowskis © 1999 Warner Bros. Pictures. All rights reserved.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, directed by Jeff Rowe © 2023 Paramount Pictures. All rights reserved.
Barbie, directed by Greta Gerwig © 2023 Warner Bros. Pictures. All rights reserved.
John Wick: Chapter 2, directed by Chad Stahelski © 2017 Summit Entertainment. All rights reserved.
The Queen Gambit, created by Scott Frank & Allan Scott © 2020 Netflix. All rights reserved.
Stranger Things
Created by The Duffer Brothers
© 2016 Netflix. All rights reserved.
Stranger Things (Season 3)
Created by The Duffing Brothers © 2019 Netflix. All rights reserved.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 1
Directed by David Yates @ 2010 Warner Bros. Pictures. All rights reserved
Avengers: Infinity War
Directed by Anthony & Joel Russo © 2018 Marvel Studios. All rights reserved.
The Mandalorian
Created by Jon Favreau © 2007 Lucasfilm and Disney+. All rights reserved.
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Directed by Steven Spielberg © 1981 Lucasfilm Ltd. All rights reserved.
Squid Game
Directed by Hwang Dong-hyuk © 2021 Netflix. All rights reserved.
Back to the Future
Directed by Robert Zemeckis © 1985 Universal Pictures. All rights reserved
Titanic
Directed by James Cameron © 1997 20th Century Fox and Paramount Pictures. All rights reserved
The Matrix
Directed by The Wachowskis © 1999 Warner Bros. Pictures. All rights reserved
Breaking Bad
Created by Vince Gilligan © 2008-2013 AMC Networks. All rights reserved.
Titanic
Directed by James Cameron © 1997 20th Century Fox and Paramount Pictures. All rights reserved
Joker
Directed by Todd Phillips © 2019 Warner Bros. Pictures. All rights reserved.
Alien
Directed by Ridley Scott © 1979 20th Century Fox.
All rights reserved.
Barbie
Directed by Greta Gerwig © 2023 Warner Bros. Pictures. All rights reserved.
John Wick: Chapter 2
Directed by Chad Stahelski, © 2017 Summit Entertainment. All rights reserved.
The Queen Gambit
Created by Scott Frank & Allan Scott © 2020 Netflix. All rights reserved.
Our methodology cracks the code of storytelling and works for all types of stories—whether you’re a screenwriter, novelist, playwright, game writer, or content creator.
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Our writing tool is a perfect match for screenwriters, writers’ rooms, and studios, helping you create, collaborate, and evaluate your story with ease
Great buddy to unlock your story
Spark collaboration and fresh ideas
Streamline evaluations and decisions
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Only 1% of our clients have ever asked for it, but if you don’t like something, just send us an email to get a refund—no questions, no hassle 😊
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Simply choose your deck, no tricks 😊
We are all ears if needed. Just drop us a line at hello@storytricks.cards
No, we’ve simply curated the most useful writing techniques from over 20 years of screenwriting and script doctoring. The cards distill the best books and theories on narratology, psychology, and neuroscience, giving you the best of all available knowledge about writing in one place.
Great! You don’t need to change your writing habits. StoryTricks is an additional tool that helps you build, evaluate, and fix your story more easily. It works perfectly alongside index cards and screenwriting apps.
No, our universal methodology cracks the code of storytelling and works for all types of stories, whether you’re a screenwriter, novelist, playwright, game writer, or content creator.
Yes. While StoryTricks is designed to guide you through your entire writing process, the decks can also be used individually to focus on specific parts of your story. In some cases, a card may refer to another deck, but it won’t hinder your progress.
We don’t have cards for dialogue just yet, but we’re working on it! 😊 Dialogue issues often come from gaps in character development, plot structure, or the overall concept. Strengthening these foundations with our decks can make writing dialogue much easier.
1. FRAMING DECK
Whether writing a novel, film, TV series, comic book, or video game, the key to success is knowing where to start. The Framing deck clarifies your creative intentions and helps you maintain a steady direction throughout the writing process.
Get this deck for freeTutorial Cards x12
Craft a compelling and professional logline that drives your writing and cuts through executive barriers by focusing on razor-sharp elements.
Tutorial Cards x9
Clarify your intentions, highlight your theme, define your unique concept, and package a captivating narrative that sparks emotions.
Tutorial Cards x6
Meet people’s needs, curiosities, and motivations. Engage, inspire, and drive action with the latest audience modeling techniques.
Tutorial Cards x26
Animal symbolism fortifies traits, guides characters, and enhances themes, adding depth and subtlety to your story.
2. GENRES DECK
What sets your original work apart from everyone else’s? With millions of great stories, finding a fresh angle on classic genres can be tough. But not with the Genres deck, which offers a perfect method of genre blending that does the trick every time!
Get this deck for freeTutorial Cards x4
The secret sauce for mixing original stories in audience-comforting pots. Follow simple rules to blend genres and keep your work fresh and marketable.
Tutorial Cards x10
Statistically, the favorites! Tap into the time-tested appeal of main genres to harness their must-haves while avoiding the pitfalls of stereotypes.
Tutorial Cards x36
Genre modifiers add layers to main genres for more refined storytelling. They help tailor stories to your vision, theme, industry trends and niches.
3. CHARACTERS DECK
Struggling with characters who should engage your audience from introduction to conclusion? The Characters deck offers a versatile assembly process that is both simple and thorough, ideal for creating memorable protagonists and antagonists.
Get this deck for freeTutorial Cards x20
Say goodbye to cardboard characters. Make them more realistic and relatable by adding contradictions, psychological flaws, quirks, love languages, flexible beliefs, and more.
Tutorial Cards x5
The SCARF model is a neuroscientific framework that identifies five social factors impacting emotional responses and acting as natural conflict-generating triggers.
Tutorial Cards x13
Leverage Jungian psychology adapted for storytelling to ensure consistent character development and authentic personalities throughout your narrative.
Tutorial Cards x10
Callings are inner drivers and adversaries emerging from traumas. These subconscious forces shape fictional characters, empowering or weakening them in believable ways.
Tutorial Card x1
Antagonists are the protagonists of their own story. They use flawed arguments to justify their actions, such as utilitarianism, cognitive dissonance, and twisted comparisons.
Tutorial Card x1
Single out the main protagonist among an extended cast of characters with these tools, inspired by the work of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and Carol S. Pearson.
4. STRUCTURE DECK
Do you know what IMDb’s, Rotten Tomatoes’, and your personal Top 50 of all time have in common? They all feature stories that share the same narrative frequency. The Structure deck helps you write at 45 BPS (beats per story), the perfect tempo to pace your next masterpiece.
Get this deck for freeTutorial Cards x5
The M.I.C.E. Quotient helps you maintain narrative balance while prioritizing the most important aspects of your story and refining your sense of closure.
Tutorial Cards x13
Introduce the protagonist’s everyday life and setting. Highlight what’s missing or broken, creating empathy and setting up the need for change.
Tutorial Cards x6
Protagonists discover new rules and challenges outside their comfort zone, encounter trials and errors while uncovering an emotional subplot that impacts the main storyline.
Tutorial Cards x5
Five middle components tilt the balance, bringing the protagonists closer to or further from their goal, raising the stakes, and ensuring the story shifts from reactive to active mode.
Tutorial Cards x10
Newly gained knowledge eases the path but also opens the door to critical internal and external conflicts, ultimately leading them to lose everything in an apparent defeat.
Tutorial Cards x11
Protagonists must rise from the pit of despair and unlock the truth in the climactic resolution of the story. As reborn heroes, they have the power to transform their world—and so do you.
5. EMPATHY DECK
How do you communicate the emotional journey of your characters? While likability and sympathy may help sugar coat them, empathy is the absolute must for any successful story. The Empathy deck speaks directly to your audience’s heart, regardless of your protagonists’ or antagonists’ moral compass.
Get this deck for freeTutorial Cards x2
Neuroscientists have identified an objective formula that triggers empathy for characters in our brains without any conscious deliberation. When applied carefully, it simply works!
Tutorial Cards x6
You don’t have to use them all, but none will hurt your story, and each of these 6 tips adds up nicely to build an emotional bond between your audience and characters.
Tutorial Cards x10
Ten dramatic situations to make the audience feel what your characters feel. The Empathy formula is incomplete without them, but how you combine them is entirely up to you!
Tutorial Cards x31
These dramatic set-ups strengthen empathy and concern, stimulating feelings and engagement for the characters.
Tutorial Cards x2
Identification, transportation, and universal blueprints to delve into problems we all share as human beings.
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Simply choose your deck, no tricks 😊