How to Write a Story
There are as many stories, more even, than there are people who tell them. Many people would like to know how to write a story. This is in fact either a simple thing, or something not so simple. Almost anyone who can figure out writing can come up with a story. How good your story is will depend on how much work you put into it.
Perhaps the first thing you need for a story is a character. Your main character can be anyone. Often, when we tell stories to our friends, the main character is ourselves. This is what’s known as writing in the first person. It is easy in that the main character is a person called “I.” I did this. I did that. First person gives a story a sense of immediacy and familiarity. What you want to be aware of is that a reader will come to identify with this character fairly quickly. When reading stories we often put ourselves in the place of the main character. This is one thing that makes reading such a personal experience.
If you write in the third person, he did this, she did that, you will need to come up with a name for your character. This also applies to first person. Character names can be tricky. Names carry connotations. A character named Dillard Mudthump will have a different feel than one named Daisy Softwhistle. Be aware of names when you are creating your characters and get a feel for what the name conveys to the reader.
Stories all happen in some kind of setting. This can be a room, a field, a cave, a city. Just about any place that is accessible to the human mind can be the setting of a story. Give some thought to where things happen in your story. Flesh out the setting and scenes with good, yet short description. A colorful setting goes a long way toward making a scene memorable.
Stories are about change and action. Something about a character should change in the course of your story. It makes no sense to have characters remain always the same in a story. A story moves along as one situation or conflict after another. If there is no conflict between characters or characters and the environment there is no story. A good story presents a problem and then attempts to solve the problem. Stories used to be categorized as tragedy or comedy. In a tragedy, characters encounter problems and lose. In a comedy, characters find a problem and then solve the problem. There are many modern stories that stretch the definitions of tragedy and comedy, but in general, they can all be categorized this way.
To write a good story you will need to think about plot. Plot is the action that moves the story along. Plot is not just a bunch of stuff that happens. Actions in a plot move from one situation to another and the story unfolds. A character checking his watch and noting that it’s 3:27 is not a plot element unless the fact that it’s this time means he has missed the bus that would have taken him to an important meeting. Actions in a plot have meaning to a story. In the past, one of the most overused fillers in stories was the cigarette. The fact that a character lights up a smoke means nothing to a story unless it conveys a sense of anxiety or impatience on the part of the smoker. You can use metaphor like this to show things about your characters, but unless it moves the story forward it is not a plot element.
It is not hard to write a story. It takes a lot of practice to write a good story. If you want to write fiction, you should set aside a time every day to do your writing. Try to arrange a block of time when you will not be disturbed. Allow yourself to experiment, but do not go off on pointless tangents. If you are at a loss for what to write next, set aside your story and start another one. What is important is that you spend time actually writing something. Thinking about what you want to write is good for getting ideas, but you can think while you are writing words. Once you have a rough draft, you will be able to edit and revise. A story is written many times. You make a start and then go over what you’ve written and make changes. It takes a lot of time to write a decent story. Put in the time and you will see results.
