Write a Story!
Would you like to write a story? But where do you start? Sitting and 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 comes to you with her 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, this writing practice will work with the school, a classroom, the corner store, the mall, the forest, a farm, and all settings. But, try to select a location where 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, were next-door neighbors, or are 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 she saw him cheat on a test. He doesn’t want to tell her he’s scared of failing a class, so he tries to cover it up, blocking her off when she speaks. Maybe she walks off angry; maybe he yells at her; imagine it for yourself.
MIDDLE
This is the tricky part of the story. You must keep throwing things in your character’s path, and each obstacle must be more challenging than the last. The story must build, build, build to the middle. The most exciting parts happen in the middle of your story. Name three fascinating things that might happen to your characters as the story builds?
Give your characters at least three obstacles to build to the middle and three solutions to those obstacles.
END
Your character must face the most challenging 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 shortcut 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 understanding, less grumpy, or less afraid. Perhaps 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.
Would you like to write a story? But where do you start? Sitting and 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 comes to you with her 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, this writing practice will work with the school, a classroom, the corner store, the mall, the forest, a farm, and all settings. But, try to select a location where 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, were next-door neighbors, or are 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 she saw him cheat on a test. He doesn’t want to tell her he’s scared of failing a class, so he tries to cover it up, blocking her off when she speaks. Maybe she walks off angry; maybe he yells at her; imagine it for yourself.
MIDDLE
This is the tricky part of the story. You must keep throwing things in your character’s path, and each obstacle must be more challenging than the last. The story must build, build, build to the middle. The most exciting parts happen in the middle of your story. Name three fascinating things that might happen to your characters as the story builds?
Give your characters at least three obstacles to build to the middle and three solutions to those obstacles.
END
Your character must face the most challenging 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 shortcut 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 understanding, less grumpy, or less afraid. Perhaps 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.