One thing I’ve learned over the years is everyone tells a story differently. Writers build their stories differently, too.
My stories come to me in a flash of an idea. A quick sketch.
Something that intrigues me whether it’s and idea from something I’ve read,
heard on the news, a snippet of conversation, and a scenario develops in mind.
And I should say, I always have some daydream situation going on in my
mind. Once it reaches a certain point I have to get it out of my mind and on
paper.
I tend to be spare when
I’m starting a story or a scene. It’s a quick sketch of what I’m seeing in my
head. I don’t have the time to layer every sensory bit I see and feel.
This used to be a big
wall for me and certainly frustrating. What I saw, heard, and felt wasn’t
always there—the bare bones were. The fluid movements, the echoes of emotion
were there. I’d get to feeling like, oh my god this is such crap. Why? Because
I wasn’t looking at it properly and forgot that as I wrote the scene it was my mind providing all the layers, but I
wrote only the actions. For the reader to see it I had to add the layers I saw
and felt.
I’ve learned a few
tricks along the way. For me, it very
similar to building a picture. It starts with an base outline and each pass I
add more details until it matches what’s in my head. I need to get it on paper
but I can’t let it go without going back and shading in and smudging the bare
sketch.
With my story, I have to go back and add reaction/emotions/description and adding all the fun and tantalizing details. Even when the scenes are good initially I’m still going have to go back and shade in more sensory details.
With my story, I have to go back and add reaction/emotions/description and adding all the fun and tantalizing details. Even when the scenes are good initially I’m still going have to go back and shade in more sensory details.
I’ve also learned I’m
going to have to do that over and over as I write each chapter.
Each
of my scenes has to have a goal and a reason exist. I have to ask questions of
myself. Is there enough conflict internally or externally? Especially in the
opening. Is there enough to put my reader in the scene and make them want to
read more? Am I getting them involved or are they on the sidelines? Am I using
settings and dialog that showcase my characters strengths and weaknesses or
foreshadow actions to come?
- What about you? How do you build a story? What tricks have you learned?
