by Gordon Hamilton

Created on: June 08, 2009

School children are, at a very early age, introduced to the concept of how to write a story. It may be called composition, essay writing or story writing; the effect is the same in that the teacher is attempting to develop their imaginations as well as their writing skills.

At this formative age, children will be taught of course only the very basics regarding how to write a story. Their punctuation, grammar and sentence structure will be a big part of what their teacher is looking to develop but they may also be taught that every story should have a beginning, a middle and an end. The importance of having interesting characters and interesting plot is also likely to be introduced to them to some extent.

As these children grow older, however, and some of them perhaps turn their hand - however briefly - to creative writing, they will find out that there is more to writing a story than what they learned at school. They will learn that it is important to fully develop the characters within the story and not fill it with stereotypes which their readers are likely to have encountered a thousand times before. They will learn the pitfalls regarding clichs in the plot and how to avoid same. They may even - if they persevere with the practise long enough - learn the importance of developing their own unique style as a writer and ensuring that this impacts upon the stories which they choose to write.

The most important part of writing any story is in the planning. The plot has to be effectively developed and then structured. It is never a good idea to begin writing any story prior to having determined - at least provisionally - how it is going to end. The same is true of developing characters. In order to avoid those dreaded stereotypes, all who feature in the story should be given specific and unique characteristics, noted down on paper, which can be added to or developed as the story progresses.

It is imperative when writing a story that the author be aware of their target audience and what these readers will be hoping to get from the story. Brutal murders in fairy tales or excessive hilarity in horror stories are not likely to be conducive to favourable reviews or reader satisfaction. Supply and demand applies as much to writing a story as it does in any other walk of life.

The final point a writer should bear in mind when writing a story is that their mission in doing so is to entertain. They are not writing the story to educate the reader but rather to transport them to a make-believe land for relaxation and escapism. They should therefore not be overly descriptive or analytical in the story - rather they should concentrate on the events and the people who participate in them.

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