How
to write a good story
Steps
- First decide whether to write
your story in first person (we, I) or in third person (they, he, she),
Since second person can be very tricky, stick to the first two if you want
an easier time!
- Write what you know and care
about. This
doesn’t mean writing non-fiction or realistic fiction; it means taking
lessons and experiences from your own life and channeling them into
another form. Finding story ideas that are relevant to your own life will
make you an instant authority on your subject. In addition to facts and
experiences, don't be afraid to dig into what you know emotionally.
- Push your feelings into the
main character.
Grief, love, joy, how to overcome obstacles, and fear are all things we
“know” and form the basis of the universal human experiences at the heart
of great stories. Intriguing details can draw the reader in and make
him/her want to read more. If they don't feel anything for your character
or they think the sentences provide no emotion, they will not have as
much interest to continue. Characters are genuinely always realistic,
everyone wants a character they can relate to, a character that they can
trust.
- Keeping the story relevant to
your own experience will make you more passionate about writing it, and passion
translates to inspiration.
- Decide what audience you
envision for your work. Having a clear audience in mind will help you
frame your ideas. Maybe you're writing for teens, for people who are
familiar with a particular place, or even for yourself alone. If you can’t
decide, write down a few reasons that you are telling this story and then
think about who might be interested in them. Also, read to your family the
first chapter to get the feel of a sort of audience.
- Get inspiration in your
everyday life. For
example, if you want to write a children's book, observe children. See how
they act, see the world through their eyes, and then write about something
that fascinates them. Listen to the news: maybe there’s a story just
waiting to be written about something that’s happening in your community
or country. Ask "What If?" about everything that interests you.
- Write down dreams. You might make a story out
of one or more of them. A good way to capture dreams is to set your alarm
clock about an hour earlier than you intend to wake up, then let yourself
drift into a light sleep for the last hour. Always have a notebook
within hands' reach so that the first thing you can do is write the dream
down. Dreams evaporate from conscious memory very quickly, so get it down
at once!
- Keep a journal. This doesn’t have to be an
elaborate, diary-style project chronicling your everyday life; just carry
a notepad with you all the time and jot down anything big or small that
occurs to you – even if it’s an unfinished thought that doesn't make sense
yet.
- If you're on the bus, at work,
or anywhere else and something piques your interest, write it down so you won't
forget. Trust yourself. Read How to Keep a Journal
for more guidance.
- Gain insight into subjects you
aren’t as familiar with. Once you start making headway in your story,
you’ll probably find that you want to incorporate unfamiliar elements to
make your story-world more interesting. Spend time observing people and
imagining what the world looks like from their point of view. Practice
empathy and accumulate experiences that make the facts you read about have
context and meaning.
- If necessary, research actual
events, items, and activities to make your story more realistic. (If, for
example, you have a surfer character in your story, research surfing.
Learn about the moves and techniques. If you have the opportunity,
interview a surfer about the experience. Try to take a surfing lesson.)
- Develop your main character. If you come up with a convincing character that fascinates you or that
you really identify with, it becomes much easier to envision the kinds of
struggles and situations they might end up in. Sometimes, all you need to
get the ball rolling is a unique character name.
Read How to Develop a Character for a Story
for more ideas. Remember that the main character is the one you
write most about, so the reader is meant to look foward to reading about
them, don't over-develop secondary characters and under-develop your main
character.
- Follow a story arc. Knowing when and how to throw
bumps and hurdles in your character's path will make the story not only
easier to plan, but also more compelling. A good idea would be to plan.
- Beginning: introduce the problem. What
does your character want...or not want? What is in her way? What troubles
him? (Examples: divorce, being the new kid at school, making the grade, a
place in life). Or, start out with something that brings the reader
'into' the book; something that makes the reader read further (examples:
a coming event, a national spelling bee, an exciting event in the
streets).
- Middle: add bumps along the way that
make the character rise to the challenge. (Examples: selling their house,
finding a place to sit at lunch, pop quiz, getting fired, bad love
break). Start with small, distant, or manageable problems; you don’t want
your story to peak too soon.
- The darkest moment: this is the moment where it
looks like your character is not going to achieve their goal or learn
their lesson. It happens sometimes after failing to overcome the biggest
hurdle (see below) or when first realizing what the hurdle is.
- The biggest hurdle: this is the moment of the
greatest conflict. It is the point in the story when your character has
to deal with or overcome the big problem that you set up at the beginning
or middle of the story. (Examples: Dad gets remarried, new friends ditch
you, big test, someone important to you dies.)
- End: the conflict is solved. Your
character either gets what s/he wants or doesn't. Whatever the case is,
your character has changed or learned. (Examples: two families are better
than one, a true friend forever, A on a test, illusions shattered.)
Remember: the seed of your ending is always already in your beginning;
don’t write an ending that comes out of nowhere or solve the problem
through sudden intervention, as this cheapens the plot.
- Stories don't always have to
end happily, especially if the writer thinks they might write another
story to continue the previous one. Mixing up the stereotypical
expectations of a story usually creates a more edgy story. It all depends
on what would make the most sense for the story. If you're planning to
write a sequel, maybe end it with the reader asking "What? It's
over? What happened to...? I need to buy the next book"
- Find someone else to read your
story and give you feedback. Tell him/her not to be afraid to be honest and
be honest with yourself when you say it. You need someone to really tell
you how good your story is (or isn't). Everything can be improved.
- Don't get offended, and don't
give up if you get bad feedback. You need it to go beyond your own creative
limits, and constructive criticism is a great help towards that. Ask your
reader to be very honest and accurate.
- Revise your story. Instead of becoming
overwhelmed by a huge list of tiny details, look for patterns in feedback
and focus your editing on a common thread; if all five of your editors
stumbled at the same point, there's a good chance you need to change that
point.
- Don't change your vision of
the story out for someone else's ideas. Then again, if you hear a
great idea, don’t be afraid to substitute it for your own.
- Have a good imagination. Readers want to read about
things that are out of the world and that happens only with the support of
good imagination. So think- every Sunday, instead of bombarding your
senses with loud, noisy video games, sit in one place with a piece of
paper and a pen and imagine things you would love to have in your story.
- Write whatever you would like
to read. What
would you prefer on your bookshelf? A story full of exciting details and
anything that will make you fell full of pleasure. So, in the same way,
you have to write things you would like to read. No grim, boring stuff at
all!
- Enroll for creative writing
workshops. Such
workshops always have best-selling authors taking up creative writing.
These workshops can be of a lot of help. You can get to write your own
stories, with the help of an author.
- Research is vital. Don't be lazy. You must
always do research before putting your pen to the paper. Go to the
library, talk to experts or simply read on the internet.
- Read. To write your own story, you
must read a lot too. It will also improve your vocabulary ( DUH!) and
better your grammar.
- Make a notebook full of
characters and settings. Make a habit of making a profile for each
character and also a description of each setting.
- Write down the sequence or
important parts of your story in the notebook.
- Once the idea is in your mind,
with the profiles and descriptions, start writing or hammer away on the
keyboard.
- Have fun! If you don't have fun, there would be no point in writing all of that work.
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar