Choosing the right character to narrate this smaller story is critical to its success.

A good romance author will tell you that kissing and even sex are not markers of intimacy.

This is the second thing the writers did really well: the writers gave us a really, really powerful distraction.

Which all begs the question: Why are they selling themselves to this one specific lawyer so hard?

This week, we’re talking about closeness and how these storylines demonstrate that these characters are now closer than ever.

To get a story, you have to dig. Either dig into the past, asking “but why?” or “but how?” or dig into the future by asking “so what?”.

They focused on the emotional impact, not the specifics. Barney loses money, the friend group holds their tradition a day late.

This week, we “plop” you right into the episode without giving you any backstory. This is a concept that writers refer to as “in media...

This episode opens up with Lily and Marshall rushing to book their dream wedding venue. They have this really funny scene where they are...

This episode starts on Marshall as a kid, reading a book about an anthropologist studying gorillas. Then he takes her seminar and she...

This "Yes, but... No, and..." trick is a good way to check your Try/Fail cycles and keep tension in your story.

Ted starts doing shots of something mysterious and then remembers nothing. He wakes up with a pineapple.

So our lesson this week is a What Not To Do lesson.