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HOW TO WRITE A STORY

We all have stories in us. Life experiences, or things we read, that the little voice in our head sees and says, "What if " Or it may be a real life story you think deserves a wider audience. But moving from appreciation to actually getting that story down on paper is a big step for a professional: a huge step for someone who hasn't written before!

But how do you do it?

Well, paradoxically, the best way to write well is to read! And read in the genre you want to write. Stories have structures. Different genres work in different ways. If you read enough of the stuff you want to write then your mind subconsciously sets up a template. It remembers just how long the introductions usually last, how many characters fit, how in depth stories go, how much "afterglow" is expected, and so on.

So, when you come to write your story, whatever it might be, your mind already has a shape to fit it into. And the chances of getting published are greatly increased if your story fits the format the publisher is familiar with.

Then you actually have to write! This mind sound stupidly obvious, but many a great story (I imagine) has never been put onto paper because the writer wanted to get it just right in his or head before starting.

It's a real trap! The process of imagining your story in your head can be quite seductive. It can also be a frustrating mess. Putting words on paper tames the imagination somewhat, it a way that makes it work for you.

Amazingly, you often find that once you start putting words on paper they take on a life of their own. The story you end up with may not be the one you started. Sometimes stories are "born rather than "created."

But what to write about? Find a passion. It might be a historical period, it might be a hobby, it might be something you have experience. If you are not passionate about it, the words wont flow (unless you are an experienced hack, used to churning them out for deadlines. He or she is a different creature from the amateur writer all together. But one grows into the other.)

So, take your premise and reduce it to the human level. How would that have felt for the man, woman, child living through it? (You might even see it from an animal perspective!)

It may be such a dramatic even that a straight re-telling will do. But, in most instances, you will have a slant; a perspective. You might be putting ordinary people in an extra-ordinary situation; seeing an ordinary situation from an unusual perspective. There may be a message

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