Write a Story!
So you want to write a story? But where do you start? Sitting waiting for an idea is not a good idea. Developing the characters first is often best, then you can let the story grow out of them.
BEGINNING
First, you need a character. Pick a gender, a name, age. Then give your characters three fears, three traits, and three dreams. Here is an example.
Name: Cathy Clark
Gender: girl
Age: 11 years
Fear 1: spiders
Fear 2: thunderstorms
Fear 3: getting lost
Trait 1: chews on her bottom lip when thinking
Trait 2: likes to doodle when talking on the phone
Trait 3: loves to hike
Dream 1: being an explorer
Dream 2: having a best friend
Dream 3: paddling a canoe around the world
You can add a physical description if you would like. Our character is coming to you with her own strengths, weaknesses, and motivations. Hint: Be specific and add details to the Fears, Traits, and Dreams.
Now create a second character. Follow the same procedure as above. Hint: To create conflict, you can give your second character the same dream as the first character, or make your second character want something your first character is afraid of. Example.
Name: Bob Matthews
Gender: Boy
Age: 9 years
Fear 1: spider webs
Fear 2: bad grades
Fear 3: roaming in the woods
Trait 1: chews gum while talking
Trait 2: likes to talk on the phone
Trait 3: loves to ride his bike
Dream 1: being a scientist
Dream 2: having a best friend
Dream 3: travel in a submarine
Now you need a setting. Anywhere will do, but you must be able to picture it in your imagination. So, school, a classroom, the corner store, the mall, the forest, a farm, all settings will work with this writing practice. But, try to select a location our two characters can come together.
Imagine the place. Use all five senses. What can you see? Hear? Smell? Taste? Touch?
Conflict. The plot of your story is the ribbon that holds your story together, and conflict is an important part of the plot. What do your characters both want that they will need to be competitive?
Increase Conflict. Perhaps your characters are classmates. Friends. Enemies. Maybe they grew up together, next-door neighbors, or related. Don’t feel sorry for your characters, make life as difficult as possible. Maybe Cathy has a crush on Bob. Now put your two characters into a conversation. One wants to tell the other something; the other is trying not to say something. For example, Cathy wants to tell Bob that she saw him cheat on a test. He doesn’t want to tell her that he’s scared of failing a class, so he tried to cover it up, blocking her off when she tried to speak. Maybe she walks off angry, maybe he yells at her; imagine it for yourself.
MIDDLE
This is the tough part of the story. You have to keep throwing things in your character’s path, and each obstacle must be harder to overcome than the last. The story must build, build, build to the middle. The most exciting parts happen in the middle of your story. Can you name three really exciting things that might happen to your characters as the story builds?
You should give your characters, at least, three obstacles to build to the middle and three solutions to those obstacles.
END
Now your character must face the hardest obstacle, the impossible choice. The problem must be BIG.
The obvious solution to the problem is not always the best. Keep writing until your characters discover the end of the story. Don’t be tempted to take a short cut and end the story before the story makes sense.
By the end, your characters must have changed in some way. Maybe he/she is more cardigan, or less grumpy, or less afraid. Maybe he/she has a new point of view on life.
Congratulations, you did it! You’ve written the first draft of a short story filled with conflict and emotions.
So you want to write a story? But where do you start? Sitting waiting for an idea is not a good idea. Developing the characters first is often best, then you can let the story grow out of them.
BEGINNING
First, you need a character. Pick a gender, a name, age. Then give your characters three fears, three traits, and three dreams. Here is an example.
Name: Cathy Clark
Gender: girl
Age: 11 years
Fear 1: spiders
Fear 2: thunderstorms
Fear 3: getting lost
Trait 1: chews on her bottom lip when thinking
Trait 2: likes to doodle when talking on the phone
Trait 3: loves to hike
Dream 1: being an explorer
Dream 2: having a best friend
Dream 3: paddling a canoe around the world
You can add a physical description if you would like. Our character is coming to you with her own strengths, weaknesses, and motivations. Hint: Be specific and add details to the Fears, Traits, and Dreams.
Now create a second character. Follow the same procedure as above. Hint: To create conflict, you can give your second character the same dream as the first character, or make your second character want something your first character is afraid of. Example.
Name: Bob Matthews
Gender: Boy
Age: 9 years
Fear 1: spider webs
Fear 2: bad grades
Fear 3: roaming in the woods
Trait 1: chews gum while talking
Trait 2: likes to talk on the phone
Trait 3: loves to ride his bike
Dream 1: being a scientist
Dream 2: having a best friend
Dream 3: travel in a submarine
Now you need a setting. Anywhere will do, but you must be able to picture it in your imagination. So, school, a classroom, the corner store, the mall, the forest, a farm, all settings will work with this writing practice. But, try to select a location our two characters can come together.
Imagine the place. Use all five senses. What can you see? Hear? Smell? Taste? Touch?
Conflict. The plot of your story is the ribbon that holds your story together, and conflict is an important part of the plot. What do your characters both want that they will need to be competitive?
Increase Conflict. Perhaps your characters are classmates. Friends. Enemies. Maybe they grew up together, next-door neighbors, or related. Don’t feel sorry for your characters, make life as difficult as possible. Maybe Cathy has a crush on Bob. Now put your two characters into a conversation. One wants to tell the other something; the other is trying not to say something. For example, Cathy wants to tell Bob that she saw him cheat on a test. He doesn’t want to tell her that he’s scared of failing a class, so he tried to cover it up, blocking her off when she tried to speak. Maybe she walks off angry, maybe he yells at her; imagine it for yourself.
MIDDLE
This is the tough part of the story. You have to keep throwing things in your character’s path, and each obstacle must be harder to overcome than the last. The story must build, build, build to the middle. The most exciting parts happen in the middle of your story. Can you name three really exciting things that might happen to your characters as the story builds?
You should give your characters, at least, three obstacles to build to the middle and three solutions to those obstacles.
END
Now your character must face the hardest obstacle, the impossible choice. The problem must be BIG.
The obvious solution to the problem is not always the best. Keep writing until your characters discover the end of the story. Don’t be tempted to take a short cut and end the story before the story makes sense.
By the end, your characters must have changed in some way. Maybe he/she is more cardigan, or less grumpy, or less afraid. Maybe he/she has a new point of view on life.
Congratulations, you did it! You’ve written the first draft of a short story filled with conflict and emotions.
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