John's Writing Tips.
<home> <back> <travel
writing> <write
what you think> <writing
life into your characters>
<elements of a story>
ELEMENTS OF A STORY
Lets take the basics for granted:
You write fluently with a good command of English.
You are writing about a subject you know about or can at least empathize
with.
The story has a strong narrative thread with a logical chain of events.
There is an emotional crisis to be dealt with.
Everything is crafted to form an coherent plot.
If you can do all that you’re ninety percent there.
The character is experiencing an emotional crisis. They have an obstacle to overcome or a conflict to resolve, and by the end of the story either their attitude and / or their circumstances should have changed.
The reader should always be clear in their mind what’s at stake for the main character, and you need create an empathy between them so that the reader wants the character to achieve their goal, and is both curious as to how they will achieve their objective and the effect this journey of discovery will have on them.
When you have finished the writing, and even as you go along, read the words out as if you were giving a Royal Command performance. If the tongue twists, its probably the fault of convoluted language which has to be simplified.
Write the way you speak and you can’t go far wrong because then you are likely to be writing from the heart. And that’s the best writing of all.
© John McAllister, 2006
<home> <back> <travel
writing> <write
what you think> <writing
life into your characters>
<elements of a story>