In the next few lines, I want to show you how Leonardo Dicaprio, the DeLorean from “Back to the Future,” Emma Watson, and my aunt’s apartment helped me to memorize a list of plot points using the Memory Palace Method.
Last week, I created my first repertoire of Memory Palaces. Now it’s time to get to work. Initially, I wanted to test one of the memory palaces by memorizing something that would help me enhance my English skills; however, through my research I realized that achieving that goal would require deeper knowledge. I decided to try an easier exercise: memorizing a list of plot points to lay the foundation for memorizing stories.
In this article, I’m going to share my mental and creative process to memorize these ten plot points following the Memory Palace technique.
Two Ways to Remember Stories
There are two main approaches to memorizing a story. The first is verbatim –memorizing word by word. The second, which Anthony Metivier calls “Story DNA,” consists of learning some formulas that help you recall the sequence of stories.
When we take the verbatim approach, we need to follow a sequence of steps that requires additional mnemonic techniques beyond the Method of Loci, such as the Pegword Method, recall rehearsal, and spaced repetition.
The second approach requires that we focus on the story structure, plot formulas and psychological tension. Story structure is the architecture of narrative –the plot points and the Hero's Journey. The formulas are abstract sequences that explain each of the plot points. Psychological tension refers to the internal conflict arising from a character’s conscious desires versus their unconscious needs.
When following a new story for the first time, having memorized plot points helps us recall the narrative more easily later. This reduces the cognitive load when memorizing other important information about the story and characters.
Plot Points
I’m going to share the nine plot points that Anthony Metivier suggests, plus one more that Google Gemini added:
Ghost from the past: The character is haunted by a ghost from their past.
World in flux: The world is in some kind of flux or state of change.
Inciting incident: The character encounters a problem that must be solved; a specific event disrupts their normal life.
Driving ambition vs. unconscious need: The character has a driving ambition that is in conflict with an unconscious need.
Resistance/delay: There is a period of delay as the character resists the dilemma or explores multiple avenues of action.
Midpoint shift: A revelation, reversal, or false victory that changes the stakes.
Crisis (forced action): A crisis forces the character to take action (usually the least desirable option)
Allies/training: Along the way, the character either gathers allies who help or undergoes a training sequence
Climax + self-revelation: During the battle, the character experiences a self-revelation that resolves both the “ghost” and the conflict between ambition and need.
Resolution/restored order: Following the resolution, the “world in flux” settles into a stable state.
Since in the future I want to memorize stories like a pro, this is an awesome challenge to test the Memory Palace technique I shared in my last article. I will use a specific palace –my aunt’s apartment – to memorize these ten plot points.
Memorizing Ten Plot Points: Project Two
While setting up this exercise, I wondered if it was a good idea to mix my native language (Spanish) and English to visualize the stored images in my palace. According to Metivier, this is possible, but it is considered an advanced technique. I leaned towards memorizing only with English associations, so that I could strengthen my English skills in a deeper way.
I started this project by selecting my aunt’s apartment as the memory palace. Initially, this apartment had only eight spaces. So, I added some magnetic stations, which created four more spaces. I divided the living room into four spaces and used furniture as the magnetic stations.
Following the memory principle – that only what is understood can be memorized – and before using the Method of Loci, I studied to understand each of the plot points – what they are and what they mean.
Once I studied each of the plot points, I started mentally walking through the apartment. At each magnetic station, I came up with visualizations and built a mental story associating them with the plot point. I needed help from AI to create associations in English for some words and ideas — I will let you know which ones.
This was my creative process, station by station. In the next image, you can see the digital sketch of my Memory Palace — my aunt's apartment —with its stations.
Station one: Leonardo DiCaprio finished his scene in the sea of Titanic. The director says "Cut", he comes out of the water, and suddenly the Back to the Future car appears on one wall and crashes the Actor into the other wall. Then Casper the Ghost jumps out of a pasta dish and haunts Leonardo DiCaprio.
Plot Point one: The Character is haunted by a ghost from the past.
Help from ChatGpt: Character = car +actor (Leonardo Dicaprio)
Station two: The world is on a living “X” in the kitchen, and the X is sneezing into a handkerchief.
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Help from ChatGpt: Flux = "Flu" (sneezing) + X
Station three: Leonardo DiCaprio arrives in a car at a Holiday Inn and is sitting in a chair; suddenly, fire falls from the ceiling and his hair catches fire. I call 911 and tell the operator, "There is a dire incident!"
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Station four: Leonardo Dicaprio is driving a car with a ham on its roof, heading toward a huge, golden Oscar statue holding a bright sun. The car is being pulled by a bee (like a horse-drawn carriage). Suddenly, he falls unconscious from the car and lands on his right knee.
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Station five: Leonardo DiCaprio lands on the couch in his car, there is a huge Pi symbol with the brand “Riot” on it. Hanging from the left side of Pi is a double D track, and on the right hangs a bag of Lay’s chips. Next to that is a huge red poster with the word “Races.” Immediately behind it are 3 green tents, which mark the start of the tracks. Standing at the start is “The Emma” Watson, pointing toward the available cars.
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Help from ChatGpt: Resistance = Races + tents. Delay = Lays chips.
Station six: On the computer monitor, there is a circle with a point in the center, Leonardo DiCaprio is jumping on a giant Shift key. He continues jumping several times and suddenly, Apostle John appears on the monitor on the island of Patmos writing Revelations. A river flows out of the monitor, but the current reverses and flows backward into a bag of salt on the ceiling. This mixture takes the shape of a hundred-dollar bill, which Leonardo takes and starts copying. As the copies fall through the air, they turn into water and land on Victoria Justice, who is playing poker with Leonardo. She’s rapidly changing the position of two wooden stakes in a continuous loop.
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Station seven: There are six Leonardo DiCaprios Crying at the table. In the center of the table there is a sculpture of the number four, and four of the Leonardos are having a wrestling match. Suddenly, a giant Leonardo shouts with a clapperboard in hand: “Take number 7, Action!”
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Station eight: Victoria gathers many cats and puts them in a bag, which she later gives to Leonardo. Leonardo shakes hands with Osama and now they are allies, both cry out “Allah!” as they board the train from Back to the Future. The train breaks through the floor and goes under the apartment hallway. As the train moves away, it leaves a trail of coins with a living sea moving inside them.
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Help from ChatGpt: Gather = cat + her. Sequence = sea + coins.
Station nine: Leonardo DiCaprio arrives in the bathroom in the DeLorean and starts clicking several times on a giant mouse. Maxwell appears in the mirror with each click. Next to him, Apostle John is using the toilet as a seat, taking a selfie while writing Revelations. In the shower, there’s a Rubik’s cube that is solving a casper-shaped cube over and over again.
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| The cube and Casper ghost is more like this. |
Station ten: In the bedroom, a Rubik’s cube is singing the note “RE” while looking at a sheet of paper with its own solution. With its right hand, it is on the computer at the Rubik’s Store, clicking “Order Now”. In the window, the world of flux is displayed, solving the Rubik’s cube over and over. Next to it stands a huge letter “S” holding a table in the left hand and (Andrew) Tate in its right.
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I memorized new words easily, since they were linked to vivid images and fun phonetic associations, for instance: ham, dire, flu, and Inn.
Application practice: This week, I started actively recognizing some of these plot points while watching movies.
After two weeks without reviewing the plot points, I was able to retrieve 80% of the content. Considering I am a beginner using this method, I consider it a fantastic outcome.
I will explore memorizing some short and familiar stories in English in future projects. Also, it is important to study other ways to memorize stories besides using the Memory Palace Method.
Final Thoughts
With this short project, I have actively used my imagination and visualization skills. I realized that through this exercise, I can also memorize English vocabulary. This is a starting point for setting up mnemonic tools to memorize stories and improve my storytelling skills.
Share in the comments: what is the craziest story you’ve come up with to memorize plot points? Would you add another plot point? Let me know in the comments!
In the next article, I will delve into another foundational mnemonic device for remembering lists of information: the Pegword System.
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