Now that you have your great idea, it’s time to take those two sentences and turn them into a story. First I recommend you procrastinate and play some video games and, hey, wait a minute, that’s not right. I could tell it wasn’t right when I started the sentence. See how I’m rambling? It’s easy to avoid getting down to work. So, step 1 is to rein in your brain. Remain seated, stay calm and shake out your hands a few times. You won’t get published if you don’t write the story first.
Summary
To begin, write a summary of the overall story, usually a page or two. This can take you from two sentences to about two pages. Not too shabby. You already doubled your investment. Sometimes, the idea is solid enough that I can write it out in a few hours. Other times, I’ll play with the idea and try to flush it out over the next few days. Occasionally, it takes even longer because I’m thinking through as many plot twists as possible. I usually hash it out with Suzy (my co-writer) to see where we can take things and avoid any inconsistencies or plot holes, as well as flush out the characters.
Plot + Characters
For us, knowing the characters and how they would behave in a specific circumstance helps to develop a plausible plot, so the main characters are developed concurrently with the story. Not all of the characters need to be written, just the main ones, especially the protagonist and antagonist. You’ll think of rest of the characters along the way as the plot develops. In writing both, each play off of the other and the plot moves into different directions in a natural way. For example, a particular character trait (weakness or strength) might push the story in an unexpected direction. Always be open to the flow of the story. There shouldn’t be anything jarring that takes the reader out of the story. Never get a character to do anything that contradicts their personality (causes confusion), never write a plot that is boring (seems obvious), or that breaks the rules you set up for your world. What rules am I talking about? Something I mentioned in a previous post called, “Creating Worlds,” which mentioned George MacDonald’s essay, “The Fantastic Imagination.” If you’ve never heard of George MacDonald, he’s the guy J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis looked to for inspiration. Once you’ve established a rule, don’t break it. Here are a couple of excerpts:
“The natural world has its laws, and no man must interfere with them in the way of presentment any more than in the way of use; but they themselves may suggest laws of other kinds, and man may, if he pleases, invent a little world of his own, with its own laws; for there is that in him which delights in calling up new forms--which is the nearest, perhaps, he can come to creation…”
“A man's inventions may be stupid or clever, but if he does not hold by the laws of them, or if he makes one law jar with another, he contradicts himself as an inventor, he is no artist.”
Viewpoint
Some might say the most crucial character is the protagonist. You may have a protagonist in mind with your initial idea or you may find the protagonist as you develop the story. Both are fine since this character usually has the most important role in driving your plot. Let’s make up a story about a vegetarian vampire. From whose viewpoint is the story told? A vampire (heroic or heinous) a human, a wily cat or mischievous ghost? The sky’s the limit. This will radically change your story. Next think of what you want to say with the story? Do you want it to be a comedy, challenge people’s stereotypes, stick to well established rules or break them and enlighten your readers in the end?
If you take the vampire route, you may get to show more about their world, how they relate and live amongst the humans, their hierarchy or lack thereof, where they live, etc. If you tell the story from a human point of view, the reader perhaps feels a natural kinship and learns about this new world with fresh eyes. All of this helps you to create the story or summary, an overall breakdown with a beginning, middle and end.
Don’t Muzzle Your Idea
Write down all of the details of the story as you go. These will all help you to flush the summary into a full story and script later on. Don’t edit yourself too soon! Ideas are different that a final script. This is where you can go crazy and write out anything. You can decide what to keep or discard later on. If you think of a story arch with a character, write down what you’re thinking. If you think of something else, write that down too. When you’re done you can map the plot points, which we’ll cover in a later post.
Where to Begin?
Where will your story begin? Is it chronological, does it begin with a flashback? Do you start at the end and then tell the story from the beginning? This affects the tone and mood of your story. You can change your mind along the way. If you have a well thought out story, telling it from someone else’s viewpoint or starting it at a different point for impact won’t be so hard because you know where you want to end up.
Just remember it’s a creative process. Start with your ideas and then let them progress. Don’t get caught up in the method. Method and formatting are tools to help you structure things later on, once you have a solid grasp of your story. In the end, what matters is that you fully explore an idea like the eye of a tornado where everything else is dependent on. Once you’re happy with your summary/story it’s time to start plotting out the story. We’ll talk about this in our next post.
Post by Miguel & Suzy
