any tips for creating a story.

[huxley]

any tips for creating a story from scratch. tips or links. creating a story and starting a out line for it.

 

[Joel007]

The common advice is "write what you know." Form the story around your experiences, or your daydreams.
What kind of genre are you planning to write? A funny story, an action story, a sad story? Tell me more!

 

[Winters_Sorrow]

I tend to focus on an idea and then expand upon it to try and form a story.
It's not a great approach but can be fun.
e.g. What if cats could talk to humans?
Then make a short story about it - either humorous, horror or whatever strikes your fancy. The downside with that idea is that you have to come up with an ending! That's always the hardest part of a story for me

 

[saul hudson]

I tend to focus on an idea and then expand upon it to try and form a story.
It's not a great approach but can be fun.
e.g. What if cats could talk to humans?
Then make a short story about it - either humorous, horror or whatever strikes your fancy. The downside with that idea is that you have to come up with an ending! That's always the hardest part of a story for me

I have that problem, but i just keep on writing until it finds an end then revise what i have and hopefully make it all fit.

 

[Sapheron]

Start with an idea.This can be a religion, a place, a person or group of people; anything. Mine was an idea about fate. Build on this, and create characters that revolve around this. Then, and this is the most important bit, you must let the characters write the story. Don't make them do what you want; let them do what they want.

 

[huxley]

i think links on how to plot an idea would be good. i would like to create a adventure story with two main protaganist, a boy and a girl with some fun side characters by their side.

i think i'm looking for more the tools of the trade on how to create structured stories. examples of what i've learned "the redhering" (that character or object or thing is the distraction from the real antagonist or the holy grail. )
example of when it's used: law and order= they alway interveiw that firt guy cause they think he's the killer but it turns out his not.

the way i create a story is by thinking of the "inciting moment" "the point were you know what the story is about" "the conflict"

then i think of a climactic end to the story.

but i think i made this post to see if you guys could tell me of the tricks you've seen or learn. basicaly the writers tool box.

 

[Lenny]

For me it's just a case of an idea hitting me. Usually it's dreams, but occasionally I will look at an every day object, or situation, and start imagining it in other ways and a basic idea will form.

A list of plot devices was posted in another thread somewhere. That might help. I'll try and find it for you.

One of the best things to do is just read read read read read. The more you read, the better an idea you'll get on how to keep a reader reading.

 

[j d worthington]

For me, each story has its own sort of beginning: it can be an odd line that goes through my head, an image, a thought, an idea, a piece of music, a song lyric... any of these can set off that flare that illuminates things, and the next thing I know, I'm pounding away (or scribbling away, if I'm not around a typewriter or computer). Unless you're working with a collaborator, it really does have to come from within you. You have to have the ideas and have the lines, generally speaking, or it simply doesn't work. But remember ... it's an old adage, but it's quite true: Everything is grist for the mill for a writer; and I mean everything! Any experience, any thought, any dream, any fancy, anything you've seen, heard, smelt, felt, tasted... everything is a possible germ for a story. As I've heard it said, "Moby Dick is a story about a big fish." Well, yeah... sort of..... But what a story!

Just be open. Keep journals. Write down random thoughts, images, ideas. If any of them spark something, write that out, see where it takes you. And read. A lot. No writer worth their salt doesn't read, usually voraciously. Those things together are really the best advice I can give you on how to get ideas going. Ideas given to you, or lines given to you, are likely to simply lead to dead ends....

 

[Talysia]

Much like most people on here, just about anything gives me ideas for my stories. I keep a notebook and pen with me at all times, just in case. Ideas come from many sources for me, and once the I've put the idea down on paper, the rest seems to follow naturally.
When I get an idea for a story, I first try to find characters that fit. Once that's done, I find it easy to write. Whatever storyline you pick, if you have well fleshed out characters and a good idea of how they would react to the situations you put them in, the story will evolve. The plot twists and the eventual ending should come quite easily, as it will seem like the natural evolution of the story.

 

[j d worthington]

i think links on how to plot an idea would be good. i would like to create a adventure story with two main protaganist, a boy and a girl with some fun side characters by their side.

i think i'm looking for more the tools of the trade on how to create structured stories. examples of what i've learned "the redhering" (that character or object or thing is the distraction from the real antagonist or the holy grail. )
example of when it's used: law and order= they alway interveiw that firt guy cause they think he's the killer but it turns out his not.

the way i create a story is by thinking of the "inciting moment" "the point were you know what the story is about" "the conflict"

then i think of a climactic end to the story.

but i think i made this post to see if you guys could tell me of the tricks you've seen or learn. basicaly the writers tool box.

Perhaps I should add something to my post above. Don't worry about the "tricks of the trade" in the sense of having them classified. Taxonomy isn't what you need. The best way to get this sort of thing where it will work for you? Read and write. But read closely, not casually. Read where you are darned near going over the thing with a microscope. Not on an initial read; there you should read it and see how successful the story/novel/essay/etc. is, how it captures the imagination, carries you along, and so forth -- then go back for another reading, to see the techniques there that work toward that effect. Pay close attention to how different writers do it, to how they structure their work. And read. A LOT. Vary what you read -- the broader the better, as it also gives you more varied perspectives, and the more you read and experience, the more likely it will be that things will "click" for you.

Other than that -- write. Again, A LOT. Essentially, that's the writer's tool box -- read or listen to any interviews or essays by writers, and you'll find these are the things they stress, over and over again: Read, write, live (the order may vary). All the "tricks" and technical grammatical rules, the "rules" of plotting... these are things you learn by studying those successful at the craft; and that's really the only way to learn them -- by studying them and by learning your own voice. (Did you know that at different points they've had "plot boxes" and "plotting games" for writers, each dealing with a particular genre, holding all the different elements of plot, to be randomly mixed to structure various plots ... and nearly always such devices have been a flop. They're too stereotyped, too narrow. A good writer doesn't even have a box to think inside --or outside -- of....)

However, if you feel you must have something like this... get a copy of Charles Platt's Dream Makers, which interviews several of the better-known and more successful writers in the sff fields (there are two volumes of this); find a copy of H. P. Lovecraft's essay "Notes on Writing Weird Fiction", which has some excellent pointers on how to write fiction in general, not just the weird; or look up things like the Museum of Radio, Television and Film's symposium on writing science fiction and fantasy for the screen -- again, the various writers there (D. C. Fontana, Harlan Ellison, Richard Matheson, Ron Moore, etc.) give some wonderful pointers not only on writing for the visual media, but writing in general. You might write to them, or check around to see if it's available for purchase; I know it's something that's supposed to be available for those interested (I caught it on a public access channel a couple of times). Basically, go to source; find books by writers on the subject. Those will be of more help than anything else....

 

[dustinzgirl]

Depends on what kind of story you are looking for.

Orson Scott Card has some very helpful story writing advice in his books, which as far as books on writing books goes have been my favorite......

How to Write Science Fiction & Fantasy (Writer's Digest Books, 90) Hugo Award 91

Character and Viewpoint (Writer's Digest Books, Aug 88)

While older, they have good ways to work through the tale......I've read so many books on how to write, it basically boils down to this:

1. Write an outline if you want too. Or don't.
2. Write something.
3. Ask yourself who, what, when, why, how.
4. Then write more.
5. Then edit it.
6. Then write more.
7. Wash and repeat as necessary.

I know, not very helpful is it? But at its essense, that is what every book on writing I have ever read says to do.

For me, I am a very, very chaotic and undisciplined writer. Half of what I write doesn't make any sense, but people seem to like it anyways. Most of it isn't even good English, but could pass for a 7th grade essay.

I don't know if you are like me and you have great visions with impossible paper realizations, in which case, I just write and ignore all the other bs ppl tell you to do.

However, that is also why I tend to give up and as of yet am horribly unpublished. Everything I have sent away to mags for publication has come back with 'great but...would like to see more but..." blah blah blah. I'm just going to start my own e-zine and let ppl write whatever the heck they want.

So my final advice on how to write a story:

Do it for you the way you want it. Writing is not about wanting to get published, its about the art of writing, and thus, as with all art, there are no absolutes.


PS: I have tried to write outlines. They irritate me to no end. Most of my friends (IRL and here) who have read my writing can easily see why I don't do outlines, my work, like me, is definetly not linear and usually doesn't make any sense until you reach a certain point in the story.......If I write an outline, it confuses me. I have tried it and they are impossible. Although I have kept little character, scene, world and so forth snippets so that I can keep track of what is going on, I just can't focus with an outline.

PPS: (Dear God dusty needs to stop already!) Anyways, I actually kinda do write outlines but nobody would take them as oultines. They don't really make any sense. Usually I take a big piece of paper without out any lines on it. I write something in the middle. A name of a person, for instance.....or a place....or both. Then I draw little pictures and then write other names and play like, connect the dots with myself......usually it winds up being a big picture that looks like my 7 year old drew it...but it solidifies my thoughts.

 

[Leonida]

Know what happens in the end. That's the most important bit - most people start out with an idea, a great beginning and never finish their book cos the middle bit just goes on and on and on, and then they run out of steam and have a better idea about something else, and then they start that with it's great beginning, but the middle bit just goes on and on and on, then they have a better idea....

Like the person above says Write and outline or dont - but you need to have an objective. Once you have that, srategey and tactics are up to you.

Cheers

L

 

[SpaceShip]

Write what you are passionate about even if you think it's not fashionable at the moment. Your passion will come through in your story and will inflame the reader. If you are not passionate about what you are writing you will not inflame your reader.

 

[huxley]

do you guys have any tips on creating strong main character or even strong antagonist.

 

[Thadlerian]

Give them faults, although beware. Doing it right is harder than it sounds.

Many writers tend to give their protagonists "faults-that-are-virtues-in-disguise", like being too trusting or friendly or merciful in the face of an all-evil enemy, and get into a lot of trouble (read: plot) that way.

Or ignorance about matters that there's no sane reason the protagonist should be knowledgeable about anyway.

Or the very cheap and clichéd "I think everything is just what it seems" fault, which is capable of producing endless amounts of trou... um, plot, when the hero approaches something that turns out to be dangerous.

Also, note the difference between "strong" and "powerful". Strong doesn't just mean the capability to jaw or beat someone up. For some inexplicable reason, very many writers seem to miss this difference when creating female protagonists.


Back to faults: You might want to make some of them possible to lose throughout the story, though they shouldn't just disappear by themselves, it should be a process involving story events, and, most importantly, character interaction.

 

[Joel007]

Base a character loosely on a person you know or a type of person, it will help you develop a complexity before you start to create any from scratch. It will also help you when you try and add complexity, since people you know aren't always predictable