|
The biggest problem most beginning writers have is structuring their stories. If you can learn how to create a sturdy structure you will be well on your way to a compelling story. There are five elements to story structure: opening, conflict, development, climax and consequences. We will look at each segment.
You can open by exposition: “They were a large family, used to living by their wits and at the edge of starvation.” Or open with a scene:
Jerry opened the cupboard, hoping to find some of the sardines his mother had bought last week, but found only a can of cranberry preserves donated, no doubt, by some musty charity woman last thanksgiving. “Mom! I’m going to eat dinner with Jimmy’s family,” he yelled into the living room.
It is almost always preferable to open with a scene. The attention of your reader is more likely to be grabbed with visual images.
The next piece is the conflict. The conflict is what drives the story and what keeps the reader coming back for more. Your conflict should be something large and something that can be seen. Try to picture a character finding his identity. You can’t. Try picturing a character on a trip to find Guru Panche in the back hills of India. Easy isn’t it?
If your protagonist wants success, have her work towards becoming the first female CEO of her company. If your character wants happiness, he should long for the woman who lives across the hall. By forcing your characters to run after a specific, concrete goal you create drama.
Once you have established the driving desire of your main character, you need to develop obstacles. The complications should be increasingly difficult. Your story will have less tension if a character that wants to buy an expensive necklace steals money to get the necklace, and then when this doesn’t work, gets a part time job. Build the tension by making each obstacle more difficult. That way, readers will never know if the protagonist has what it takes to overcome the new complication. This curiosity is what makes readers come back to the novel, or keep reading to the end of the short story. Approximately 80% of your story should be the character overcoming obstacles in order to reach his or her goal. If your story lacks force, it is a good chance that you have not placed enough obstacles in the way of the protagonist.
The climax comes when the conflict is resolved. It is not necessarily the high point or most exciting part of the story. But it is when we see whether or not the character reaches his or her goal. In the example of the young man looking for his identity by searching for an Indian guru, the climax would be when he finds the guru or when he realizes that finding himself does not involve the guru.
The last segment is the part where you show the consequences of the story. It is important that we don’t just read exposition that describes the effects of the story: “Mr. Smith went on to become a wonderful father and a marvelous friend.” We need to see the difference. In Dickens’s A Christmas Carol we see Scrooge the day after his meeting with the spirits of Christmas past, present and future. We are able to compare this ecstatically happy, generous and friendly version of Scrooge with the man we met at the beginning of the story. We feel and see the difference, which leads to a much more satisfying ending.
|
