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 you want to get across and you need to seek out a situation that will throw it into stark relief.
You need contrast. You need conflict.
A useful tool can be a story map. Find some big sheets of paper draw the biggest circle it will take. This is your situation. Then mark out the names of your character and right out how you think their story moves, how they interact or avoid each other and where they end up. This is especially helpful for remembering detail along the way. It can also help you see where your distinct chapters ought to be.
A story map is useful, but don't be bound by it, don't be afraid to bin it and start again. Maybe you shouldn't bin it, though. That story map might be worth a fortune if you story takes off. It might also be useful for sequels.
Decide before you start who is telling your story and stick to that! You might have more than one story teller. Make sure they tell it all the way through. It's easy to imagine how one character might tell the beginning of a story and an other character tells the end, but publishers don't like that.
Also, don't confuse the issue with two many points of view. One perspective is ideal, two are fine. Three is only really recommended if the third has a highly unusual point of view. Don't go with any more than three.
How the story is told will have a big bearing on what kind of story it is. It may be seen from the author's p.o.v. and have lot's of scope for introspection and description; painting a picture in effect. Or it may be a crash, bang, wallop adventure. In which case descriptions tent to be short and dramatic, with most of the story consisting of action.
Pick a style before you start. It isn't really advisable to try and mix styles.
When it comes to characters, if you want them to be believable then make sure you know where they come from. Invest some time in giving them a back story. This can be as complicated as you want to make it. Most of that back-story will never make it onto the page but it will dictate how your character behaves.
Back-story might seem like unnecessary work, but it will give your characters depth and believability. Remember, they lived before the story begins and they need to be able to go on in the reader's mind after the finale.
Make you characters distinctly different. This widens the scope for conflict and confusion. It also increases the chances that your reader will identify with one of them. Your reader isn't you and won't automatically identify with the same character traits you do.
It helps if your characters have lived a life your readers are unlikely to have experienced. That way even if the storyline isn't gripping the details of their lives might be.
Of course, most of the above involves research. The internet is a fantastic research tool and it may be all you need for your story, but nothing beats face to face contact. If at all possible talk to people who have experienced what you are writing about. It's the little details, the little memories they might pass on, the kind of things that never make it to history books, that will bring your story to life.
Once you know who is going to do what in your story, then pick a beginning. Bring the reader right into the story at the beginning. Have something happening right from the start, even if you have to explain it later.
Don't explain too much. "Show, don't tell," is a very useful writing mantra.
Keep the story active. Make sure something is always happening, so that if the reader puts it down he or she will be keen to pick it back up again to see what happened next.
Make your ending believable, but be sure and tie up all the story lines. There is no easy way doing this. It's hard work sometimes.
After all that hard work is done it is so tempting to push the manuscript, or laptop, aside with a sigh of relief. Okay, you can, but not for long. There will be editing needing done, mistakes correcting. You may have written something at the beginning that doesn't fit in with how the story ended up.
And it will almost always be too wordy. Prune it, tighten it, get it down to fighting weight.
Then give it to two or three other people to read. Take their comments seriously. You might be able to argue with your friends and explain why this should be that way and tell them what something else means but you won't get that chance with the reader, so don't rely on it here.
Writing a story isn't easy, but it can be great fun and incredibly fulfilling. At the lest it will be a challenge, at best it will be a blockbuster.
So, what are you waiting for? Write!