So you want to be a writer. Great! Whether you
write for a career or for fun, it’s a rewarding job or hobby or whatever you
choose it to be. If you’re already a writer, you know this. If you’re just
beginning, I hope it helps you with that first story.
What’s the first thing you need to get started
writing your novel or magazine article?
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An idea, right? Without an idea you have no
story. Okay, but where do ideas come from?
Everywhere. Family, friends, home,
school, hobbies. Ideas are all around you. A walking tour of the historic
Charleston, SC, neighborhoods sparked the idea for one of my early novels
Listen to the Ghost. Since I knew very little about ghosts, I read several
books on the subject, too, and took lots of pictures of supposedly haunted
houses and graveyards, and my story began to form.
After you have your idea your story needs
characters. (A note here. Sometimes a character may come to you before the
idea, and that’s fine.) You let the character tell you his/her idea for a
story.
A book has three types of characters:
1. Protagonist: The main character, the person
telling the story.
2. Antagonist: The character making trouble for
the protagonist
3. Secondary Characters: Other people in the
story, family, friends, pets. Yes, our furry friends make great characters.
You need to know your characters as well as you
know your own family. A good way to do this is to make character sketches,
which usually have things like their name, age, hair color, and other
characteristics.
Next, you need a setting, where your story takes
place. It can be in the present, the past, the future. It can be a real place
or a fantasy place. The setting tells you where and when this story takes place. It can also be an antagonist for the
main character to face. In Karen Hesse’s Out of the Dust, the dust storms and
depression era are antagonists against which the main character struggles.
Your story must have conflict. Bruce Colville,
the author of My Teacher is an Alien and many other books, says, “Take somebody
you really like and get them in trouble.”
Something must be at stake for your main
character. There must be obstacles for her/him to overcome.
Then there’s the Story climax: This is where the
conflict is solved. The climax answers the question, “What forces the character
to either succeed or fail.” The turning point in your story. Does he character
get what he/she wants?
The last is the Resolution, end of story. How
has the main character changed or grown? Endings are not always happy, but they
should give hope.
You should ask yourself “What is the Plot of the
story?” The plot is everything that happens. It is what your main character
goes through to solve the conflict. The plot has three major parts:
1. Beginning: The first page or two should tell
the reader who the story is about, when and where it takes place, and the main
conflict of the major character.
2. Middle: A series of scenes where the
character attempts to solve the problem.
3. Ending: Here you have the climax, whre the
character either succeeds of fails in solving the conflict.
Ask
yourself, “What is my story about?” If you can answer it in one or two
sentences, you understand your plot.
Now, you’re ready to write. Don’t worry about
spelling, punctuation, grammar at this point. Just write.
Then revise and edit and those are other
stories.
Good luck.
Most of
the time, you’ll find Award-Winning Author Beverly Stowe McClure at her
computer, typing stories young voices whisper in her ears. When she’s not
writing, she’s snapping pictures of wildlife, flowers, and clouds. She’s
affectionately known as the “Bug Lady.” She’s not telling why. To relax she
plays the piano. Her fur babies don’t appreciate good music and hide when she
tickles the ivories.
Beverly
is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. She
also teaches a women’s Sunday school class at her church.
For
more on Beverly and her writing visit her at her:
Twitter
@beverlymcclure
Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/beverlysmcclure
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