Chris Hansen has over a decade of experience training professional filmmakers and storytellers in creativity. He was the executive director of the Piko Fellowship in Screenwriting, a long term residency program for film and television writers. As a founding member and senior advisor to the Wedgwood Circle, he has been a creative partner among a team of award-winning artists. With the expertise and knowledge Hansen gained from this background, he started Wondertale, a company that encourages people of all ages to find and tell their stories. A published author of both novels and creative writing resources, he enjoys speaking to parents about ways they can nurture imagination in their kids. He and his wife homeschooled their three children and make their home in the gold country of California, where Chris spends his days mining for the treasures that can be found in wonder-filled stories.
Chris Hansen is a wonderful teacher and mentor with an incredibly deep understanding of how story works. He has a true gift for communicating complicated concepts and ideas in a way that is easy to understand and, most importantly, implement. He taught me everything I needed to know to write my first book, Through the Door. Several books later, I still rely on the lessons and principles he shared with me. If you are fortunate enough to have the chance to work with Chris, do it. – Jodi McIsaac, author
Chris Hansen is an incredibly mindful teacher and an impressive researcher of story elements and development. In my time with his mentorship I found him to be highly conscientious of the different learning styles and needs of different students. His ability to speak into several different ways of learning with grace, made him effective in translating some of the more nuanced moments of story development. He never ceases learning, and because of that, is quite generous in passing along elements most authors would keep to themselves. I treasured my time learning from him and always look forward to the unique conversations we have as we scour, push and pull the wonderful machinations that create Story. – Shannon Baur, author/illustrator
A long time ago I named Chris the Obi Wan Kenobi of story. I first met him face to face over a decade ago. I'd heard about the work he was doing training writers and I knew I had to meet him. So I invited him to my annual symposium of artists in my field of story, and we've worked together professionally ever since.
He was instrumental is helping me develop the screenplay for my feature film. Because he knows story so well he knew how to ask me the right questions. They were good questions and they made my movie better. Moreover, they were such good questions that they have stuck with me for the stories I've written since.
I can't think of a better trainer in story skills than Chris. The problem has always been that he only takes on a very small number of clients at a time. But as there are a lot of people who would greatly benefit from his instruction, his clients have been begging him for years to write a book. Now, he finally has.
To my surprise, he didn't write a book for professionals, he wrote a book apparently for kids. I say apparently, because while what he wrote is certainly meant for kids, the material is a hidden jackpot for seasoned writers. The power in Chris' training has always been in his ability to break down very complex concepts into very simple ideas. Thus, this workbook - on the surface - seems very simplistic. All it attempts to do is familiarize a student with the most basic elements of story, what he calls the ‘grammar of story.’ His brilliance is in how he's made something as complicated as story easy enough for a middle school student to understand. And, as these simple elements are the very building blocks of story, once you come to recognize and understand them, you will be standing on a solid foundation when you go to write a story of your own.
I've long thought Chris' wisdom with story is too valuable to remain limited to a handful of people, so I'm glad he finally wrote a book so others can get a taste of what I've learned from him. – Bryan Coley, Chief Creative Office, Art Within & Reel
