From MacGuffin to Cliffhanger: 25 Narrative Tools from the Screenwriter's Toolkit

Learning how to use narrative devices is the ultimate hack for writing interesting stories

What narrative techniques help to surprise and interest the viewer?

How can we unblock a plot that does not flow?

How do you create suspense when the audience has already seen it all?

How do resources such as Flebotinum, Rabbit Hole, or Red Herring work?


Since humans emerged from caves, they have learned to tell stories to communicate and evoke emotions in others. While some do it monotonously, others manage to capture the attention of their audience and hold their interest until the end. How do they do it? What tropes and narrative devices do they use?

This book reveals 25 narrative devices and plot tropes that you can incorporate into

your stories to make them more interesting. Here I will share with you:

• The steps to find a surprising plot twist ending.

• What is the cliffhanger theorem and why is it important.

• What is the anti-Chekhov and why to use it.

• How to use in medias res narration to generate mystery and curiosity.

• What is the difference between the circular story, the frame story and the bookend.

• What are the different types of MacGuffin and how to use them.

• How to integrate Chandler's Law into a screenplay to unblock the plot.

• How to use Occam's razor to simplify the structure of a screenplay.

• How to use a ticking clock to generate tension.

• How to add a red herring to your script to mislead your viewer.

David Esteban Cubero is a screenwriter known for his work on successful films like Explota Explota and television programs such as Caiga Quien Caiga, Saturday Night Live (spanish version), and El Gran Juego de la Oca. He has become one of the leading Spanish-speaking references in screenwriting education, thanks to his podcast Guiones y guionistas, which has surpassed 1 million listens, and the platform cursosdeguion.com, an online academy for hundreds of aspiring professional screenwriters. David is also the author of several books, including Ser guionista: cómo ganarte la vida escribiendo guiones, El formato de guion: guía para escribir como un guionista profesional, and Dominando Final Draft.