Writing - 16 Rules | Being The Hero - Story Writing Strategies and Techniques

« « The 3rd film in the Subculture story | Writing Romance Novels Can Be Fun & Entertaining » »

Writing - 16 Rules

Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009 Subscribe To Our Feed

Normal 0

Stories may differ in message, content and characters, but each one is required to have these 16 different elements. This is the checklist that will equip you to write either a story or article - keep it for future reference.

Your story must have a theme. It is the thread that runs seamlessly from beginning to end telling what the general story is about.
It must also have a plot, which is usually encased in the central climax, or possibly in a series of events.
An arc is in every story. This is the gradual increase that gathers momentum, builds to a fever pitch, and finally reaches a resolution.
Whether a story moves fast or slow, it will have some rate of speed. Pacing is the name of the game.
Storytelling usually requires some sort of outlining, whether proper, or just making notes in your head.
The resolutions at the end of the story sum up the questions raised within.
Plant the hook in the first or second paragraph if you want to keep your reader.
All stories are told from a point of view; either first person, second person, third person limited or third person omniscient. At this time, editors are buying third person, past tense.
The story will always center around characters and their problems, and how they resolve those problems.
And stories also have this tricky little thing called dialog. The trick is to write dialog that actually sounds natural. Writers who want to learn to write believable dialog must learn to eavesdrop every chance they get.
All stories have characters, and they all come with their own bag and baggage of physical, mental and emotional disturbances.
It would be challenging to write any story without a little research. Sometimes it is only defining how insane a person can be, how irate parents can be, or how irresponsible children can be – but it is research, nonetheless.
A timeline will rise to the surface in every story. There is no definite timeframe except what you set in your own story - you can skip years in one sentence if you want to.
Stories have settings, and if you know how to do it, a scenery will turn into imagery.
And every story has verbiage – like it or not. For every 2,500 words you write, you can edit out 300-500.
Not all stories have show, don't tell, but they absolutely should. Show, Don't Tell is another lesson (or course), all by itself. I'll save that for later.