The Voices in the Dark
I had been trying to save my marriage for months, but nothing seemed to work. Mark and I had grown distant and resentful, and I…
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I had been trying to save my marriage for months, but nothing seemed to work. Mark and I had grown distant and resentful, and I…
Photo by Lisa Fotios from Pexels Writing short fiction stories is a rewarding experience & life skill. It will help you develop your story telling…
Photo by Lisa Fotios from Pexels
Writing short fiction stories is a rewarding experience & life skill. It will help you develop your story telling muscle and better convey your message when speaking. Excellent story tellers are often the people who hold the attention of a room and are excellent at sales without ever making feel like you're being sold to.
In order to plan your first fiction short story you will need to identify some key parts of your story. I don't try to title my story first. The title usually is birthed from the story as it unfolds. Same with the chapter titles. I like to start with a theme. I get out a notebook and start jotting some ideas down. Some themes might be gothic, renaissance, western, modern day, cyberpunk. I start very broad. I think about elements of other stories I've heard and can reimagine or possibly ideas that have come to me in the past. Sometimes it's something from a dream I remember.
After a theme is chosen, I start thinking about the setting.
The setting is going to be a lot of description. I like to brainstorm these out and begin to develop a visual representation of the stage the story will take place on within my mind. Will the story be about a dark and stormy night, does it take place in a park under a tree, at a crowded event with loud music? I describe how the air feels. The sounds around me as from the narrators perspective or the main character's perspective. I like to use these descriptions as part of the opening scene in the first paragraph. You don't have to, but I find it really sets the mood for the story right away for the readers.
The next set of questions I ask myself is about the characters. This just gets my creativity flowing to come up with ideas for the story.
Create a rough character profile for each of your major characters, paying particular attention to your protagonist. Make a list of anything you know about them, from their appearance to their primary personality traits to their family history.
This data might not be included in the narrative, but it's critical for you as the author to understand your people inside and out so that you can write them successfully and realistically.
You'll need to analyze the arc for each character: the transformation or journey they will take throughout the series. Character development is critical to any story. Most of your characters (particularly your protagonist) should not be the same people at the end of the tale as they were at the beginning.
To start developing the character's arc, jot down a few answers to the following questions:
What does each figure want? What are their aims, objectives, and underlying motives?
What do you want readers to learn or discover about the main characters by the conclusion of the story? What changes and growths will they experience during the course of the series? Will their desires change? What effect will this have on them as individuals and as a society?
What are the key turning points in each character's story?
Is it possible to hold back any information about a character, in order to pull the rug from under the audience's feet later in the plot?
What will happen to the relationships between various characters as the story progresses?
Once you've addressed these questions, you should notice patterns of change taking shape. These will go hand in hand with your story's construction to create the groundwork for your narrative.
While your characters must undergo a change, they must also be consistent in their depiction. You can't accelerate their development through frequent changes; and you can't advance the plot via actions that are unrealistic or plainly out-of-character.
Consistency will be something you check most often during the revision process, but it's not a bad idea to keep it in mind while you write. It might save you some time and effort at the end of the day.
Now let's start thinking more about the plot. I write down all of the key events I have in mind so far and put them into chronological order on paper. I'm not to worried about the order of events, these tend to change, but for now a rough guess of how it should play out. You'll likely add more events or change the starting ones as your story forms.
The most important part of plot planning is the inciting incident that will begin the series of events and the ending which will need to tie up all your story's threads. Don't expect to know exactly how your story will end, everything starts to morph as you write the story since you're adding and changing the original ideas so they fit your narrative.
You'll need to ask yourself a few questions about your plot. Does it raise enough questions? Does it answer all of the questions. If it's not answering the questions, why not? Will readers be disappointed or will they understand the purpose behind the open-ended aspects?
Does the plot have potential for creating tension? The tension is the most important part in fiction. Without it your story will likely fall flat and readers will become disinterested.
The plot should be driven by the characters' actions. Consider how they interact with each other and how it's going to tie into the end of the story.
Last but not least, you'll want to give your story a structure. Most stories follow a three-act structure. The beginning introduces the characters and sets up the problem or conflict, the middle is where the action takes place as the characters try to solve the problem, and the end is where the resolution takes place. There are variations of course, but this is a good starting point for most stories.
If you're story is going to be a series, the setting is of vital importance. For now, with short stories, stick to descriptions to enhance how the reader visualizes as they progress through the story.
You've written down your ideas, fleshed them out into an order of events, & elaborated enough to begin your story. Make sure to hit save OFTEN! I find doing pomodoro sessions keep burn out at bay. Every 25 minutes I refill my drink, stretch, & ponder what ifs about my narrative. When I return for the next 25 minutes of writing I might have some fresh ideas to keep it exciting for the readers!
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