Next Story Drafted & Some Craft Talk (11 Rules for Writing Stories) · 3:22am Jan 31st, 2013
First bit of business is that in spite of my alarming radio silence aside from the occasional jib post, I've been hard at work on my next story! And studying. But mostly.. uh, mostly studying. I'll be a little more proactive after my examination, which incidentally is a full day of testing that starts about 2 hours after the season finale airs. Hurrah?
Anyway this next story is... pretty screwed up. Also it's drafted. It's Mature, and it's Dark. For people who were suggesting I use the Dark tag on Dream of Dawn, and are wondering what I think Dark should look like, this story is probably it. I'll post a more thorough symposium on it when it's actually ready for release. But I want to give fair warning that it's not for the easily disturbed or faint of heart or people that don't like this sort of thing. I don't want to scar any readers who dive in just because they like my adventure stuff. There will be mention of sex but very little in the way of description. There's no gore whatsoever. There will be....
well, I'll stop yammering about this and move on. In bringing Dream of Dawn to a finish I always thought about what I expected out of a story and my own sort of rules for writing. I'd be interested in seeing other people's rules for this, or just discussing. It's neat to hear a variety of opinions! So here, for all to see...
Starsong's 11 Rules for Writing Stories
1. A story should contain a beginning, middle, and end. Where the writing starts is open to discussion.
This is probably the most important thing to respect your readers. If you're presenting an narrative, give it a conclusion. That conclusion can be mysterious or ambiguous as long as it gives the reader room to figure out what happened and actually contains an end-point to the conflict. You usually should start at the beginning, but there's some fun in posting an ending scene first, then telling the story in a way that later revisits that scene in a new light. I'll try to think of some good examples of this-- maybe you can in the comments?
2. A story should have at least one protagonist or point of view character, who experiences change throughout the story.
Change is the impetus of a story. If there's no change, there's no story. Sure, you COULD say that the world is the character and what changes and the characters are just plowing through it without allowing any sort of stimulus or revelation to penetrate them. But how relatable is that? The most classic and probably the most valuable story is the one where the character is faced with a challenge (internal, external, etc) which they approach and try and fail and try and fail and the course of the journey changes them. The most relatable protagonists are when they change for the better in ways that we can understand. The course of the story changes them and allows them to succeed. Or it doesn't, which typically leads you into Tragedy territory. Sometimes what changes in them is realizing that they didn't want what they were trying to achieve to begin with. (Little Miss Sunshine is a wonderful movie for so many of these things.)
3. A story should not undo itself by its own end. This is disrespectful for the reader and the time they were willing to invest in your work.
Unless the point of the story is preserving a timeline, which ultimately carries its change from the world and into the characters, then you shouldn't undo your story. If everything simply snaps back to the way it was by the end--the 'it was a dream!' or the 'magical reset button' kind of thing--it means that all that occurs has had no consequence and you have wasted your readers time. Fortunately, it's not too late to go back and write an ending that doesn't suck. (I'm thinking of The Dark Tower here.)
4. A story should utilize suspense, but also give the reader answers.
This one's harder to quantify, and the easiest way to do this is through your point of view characters. The story will probably revolve around what they want to achieve or what they need to know. Their actions will drive this plot forward, often giving clues but revealing twists and adding more and more questions to the story. The most important ones will be answered by the end. It's okay to leave certain things out, if you know what you're doing. Make the character want to know more, and make the reader want to know more.
5. A story should leave room for imagination.
Often times I see a temptation to explain every detail of a world and every little thing happening. Or maybe even explain certain things that happened away from the point of view. This is handy but I feel like I want to give more opportunities for the reader. Give them crucial details that form the keystones of a scene. Give them anything they need. Use language to show the way and let them paint the rest of the world in their head. It's not cheap, it's immersion. Also, don't feel compelled to explain everything. But do show the consequences of everything else happening in the world. If it's important to the story, let the character notice it and pontificate it.
6. A story should use specific detail whenever possible.
I'm guilty of breaking this a lot. Instead of flowers, say irises. Instead of colors, say blue and pink. Even decent details are an opportunity to expand and really give solid imagery to the story. And that's one of the ways to invite a reader into your work. Make a world interesting and worth going into. Instead of describing someone was gruff, talk about their appearance, the way they speak. Apply metaphor and simile. Use all five senses, not just sight. Show don't tell kind of falls into place here. Do a little research if you have to. You can be surprised how much depth just doing a wikipedia search on a flower can expand your story and your life.
7. A story should be paced as appropriate to the action.
Fast scenes should read fast. Action scenes should utilize powerful verbs. Short sentences and paragraphs. Pay attention to the rhythm of your prose, and use that to your advantage. But there's a time and a place to breathe, when the story has a moment of calm and the characters spend more time in their head and less time reacting. Here you'll see one of the counter-arguments to 'never use passive voice.' What passive voice does is weaken the force of the prose and slow down the pace. It can be used to actually slow the story down, give the story more room to breathe, and create a contrast with the most important moments of the story. Think of it as the softer colors in a painting, and the more active moments as the darker shades. You need both to really give a picture dimension. No, that doesn't mean you should over-utilize either voice. And in either case, if a sentence sounds awkward, always go for something that reads naturally as opposed to what seems more active.
8. You should have faith in your readers. Challenge them, but also encourage and reward them.
This one I'm still learning. You don't want to spoon-feed your readers interpretations to every revelation in the story. You don't want to tell them what's going to happen in a more overt way. You want to believe that they're smart enough to figure things out on their own! You want to push them to think about what's happening in the world of your story, and they do this by feeling what your characters feel. They do this by putting themselves in that narrative and soaking in everything you have to offer.
But don't leave them hanging. Reward the characters and you reward the reader. When the character makes a successful investigation or action, give them some affirmation. Give them some sensation. Let the reader know that they were right all along without explaining it to them.
9. A story begins when something changes, upsetting the world, and ends when a new stability is reached.
Look at a thousand movies and stories and you'll see that this is almost always the case. Think of your fandom favorites, or your favorite movies, or your favorite stories outside of this. Sure, there might be some framing on either side of it. But the story itself is like this. Neil Gaiman's Stardust begins when Yvaine is knocked from the heavens and crash-lands in the magical world on the other side of the wall, setting in motion the events that lead to Tristan's eventual victory and their reuniting. Actually, the story begins WHERE it does because the destabilization is much earlier. The story begins when Tristan's mother is kidnapped by a witch and missing from the royal family. Tristan's father sneaks into the magical world beyond Wall and ends up, erm, bringing Tristan into being. These two acts create a cascade of events that collide with Yvaine's destiny, the destiny of the royal family, and the story ends when the last consequence occurs, when the last challenge is met and there is no more momentum. No more conflicts or displacements. The two protagonists have a new equilibrium at the end.
Try it with some stories you like, and I'm betting it holds up. This admittedly plays back into the earlier idea of 'a story needs a beginning, middle, and end' I suppose. But it's more an elaboration of what makes a story than the brute mechanics of it.
10. The author should know what they're saying. All writing tells the reader something, even if it's just 'this story is funny and you are entertained.'
If you don't know what you're trying to convey, you won't know how to write it. If you write comedy, 'I want to make this audience laugh,' you need funny situations and a sense of timing. If you write horror, 'I want to scare this audience,' you need to create atmosphere and a sense of danger. Even erotica has a purpose. And these are just the genre tags, really. Maybe you're like 'I want to write a love story about Twilight and Rainbow Dash.' Okay, what's the conflict? Is it about Rainbow working up the courage to do more dorky things, to be more of herself around Twilight that she wouldn't be in front of other ponies? If your resolution is her eventually showing more of herself to Twilight, what you're saying is something like 'your friends will love and respect you, even if you're scared to show those sides of yourself.' Or something to that effect.
And I'm not saying to have an agenda. Rather, it's that your story, your conflict, and your resolution are going to form a message whether you like it or not. It's helpful to think about WHAT you're apparently saying and then use that to make the story stronger. Find out what conflicts really play into that inevitable conflict. And be careful. If you don't think too much about what you're writing, and you later discover the meaning in your pages... you might not like what you see staring back at you.
Yeah, gotta love the human subconscious.
11. Before all else, a story should be fun and enjoyable.
You can break every single rule and suggestion as long as your work manages to fulfill two objectives: the reader feels respected (and IS respected), and the reader has fun.
And that's not just for the readers, too. The writer should have fun, too. Because ultimately it's not about fulfilling some sort of criteria, it's about writing a story that you like writing and that people love reading. And be damned anything that stands in the way of that. Any rule and any guide that you have under your wing should be working to help you create, not making it harder. Take what works for you and throw the rest aside. As long as you understand the difference between freedom and laziness.
.... that about covers it, I think. I'll go back and touch this up over time, but as it is that was pretty enjoyable. o/'
What a wonderful list!!! While I have yet to review (or even finish honestly) Dream of Dawn, I was happy to read this blog post....Writing is something I honestly haven't been able to return too, unfortunately - You really need to be in "the right place" to write....the time to be able to work on your story without too many real-life distractions, the drive to finish the story to the end without losing it for whatever reason (boredom, lack of motivation etc)....Unfortunately, I haven't personally gotten these things yet, but I have personally grown in my writing skills over the years and love whenever I get the chance to beta for people. My personal hope is that I'll get to a point in the near-future where I feel confident, have a firm vision in my head that I truly love and feel is worth telling, and truly ready to delve back into writing....and until that happens, I continue to read, learn, and beta for people if I can get the chance.....editing and having a good amiable relationship with authors is fun, and in some sense, I find it more enjoyable then I do writing...but it would be good if I can get myself to write again; I'm hoping, overtime, if possible, I can get my name out there enough to beta for people so I, not just better myself, but eventually get some help if I do decide to start writing again.
Their's so much to say on a list like this....I feel it's important to remember that Writing is a skill like anything else, and you only grow better through persistance and time; every story can be seen as a stepping-stone for you, and their is no reason to feel ashamed or embarrassed over a previous story you wrote, because it meant something, even if they were just lessons on what not to do next time. In that regard, Writing is just like so much else in life, and I feel it's important to remember that if you ever get discouraged.
I don't want to start creating my own list, but this was very enjoyable to read; I hope to review Dream of Dawn as soon as I can
I wholeheartedly agree with this one. I would even go so far as to say that this is even more important than originality. An original story can still be boring if done improperly, while an idea that's been done a thousand times can still be fun if done in an interesting manner.