Structure your stories

To create anything, you need structure. This applies to anything - a garden shed, a cake or a piece of writing. Structure begins with a solid foundation. Added to this comes a sturdy framework on which everything pins. Finally comes the decorating, making it a wonderful piece of work and your very own. Without structure things will collapse. 

SOLID FOUNDATIONS

Your solid foundations when writing include your personal skills as a writer – everything you’ve learned so far. You never stop learning. As writers we know that a story needs characters, a setting, it needs believable dialogue which is there for a purpose, we know not to pad with superfluous words, we understand viewpoint, we know how to set a story out, and how to punctuate correctly particularly around dialogue. We know a story needs conflict. We know not to be satisfied with the first draft. Once these things are second nature to you, then you have solid foundations on which to build, it leaves your mind free to be more creative.

FRAMEWORK

The framework of your story includes (in no particular order):

·       Characters, setting, viewpoint, plot, conflict, dialogue, narrative, tense, theme, editing, presentation. All these aspects are the building blocks of your story. Some of these we will look at closer in a moment.

·         

DECORATION

This is your personal style and flair, your descriptions, the depth of the emotion woven into the story, the depth of emotional reaction between characters, the depth of emotional response you get from readers. Can your writing make them laugh or cry?  The decoration is how you describe the setting and characters, it’s how you build the tension and create the mood and atmosphere for each scene. The decoration is your twists and turns in the plot.

STRUCTURING YOUR PLOT

You don’t need to know exactly where your story is going, nor do you need to know how it’s going to end. Don’t be afraid to plot, you’re not writing in stone, it’s merely a guide. You can use the 3 Act Structure, which is basically the Beginning, the Middle and the End.

The Beginning. Here you introduce the main characters, establish the setting – time and place, and let the reader see there’s some sort of conflict arising. If you don’t have conflict, you don’t have a story.

The Middle. The development of the story, the development of relationships, more difficulties, more obstacles hindering the protagonist. Here’s where you weave in sub plots and story threads. You can make the story as straight forward, or as complex as you want.  Here’s where tensions increase, rising constantly towards the climax of the story – the blackest moment of the story, where it looks like your protagonist will fail in their endeavours.

The Ending. Your loose ends and sub plots should all have been tied up. At the climax of the story allow the protagonist to overcome their problems through an action of their own. Ie. Don’t send in the cavalry! This ending is where all the strands of the plot come together, matters are explained and resolved. Once all that is done, finish. Don’t drag your story on longer than needed.

STRUCTURE THE CHARACTERS.

Characters need structure too. They need: appearance, personality, a background, family/friends, relationships, fears and weaknesses, beliefs, opinions etc. Take time in developing your characters if only in your mind. And for this story give them something important to strive towards. The difficulties they are facing in your story are crucial to that character.

STRUCTURE THE SETTING.

Don’t be vague or ambiguous about the setting. Bring it alive in the reader’s mind. Describe each location using the sights, sounds and smells of a place. Be specific about time and place.

STRUCTURE THE PLOT.

• Make your opening really grab the reader.
• Introduce your protagonist in such a way that the reader will instantly be interested in him/her.
• Create a setting that conjures up a picture in the reader’s mind. And make it an intriguing picture.
• As your story progresses, let it be full of high and low spots, rising tension and calmer scenes. Contrast light and shade.
• Balance the ratio of narrative and dialogue so it’s a comfortable read, i.e. no long boring passages! Don’t have pages of dialogue without interaction from characters.
• Keep the tension rising, create unexpected twists and turns. At the climax, let it appear that the protagonist is about to fail. Let them succeed or fail through their own actions and choices.
• Make sure the protagonist has learned something along the way.
• When the story has concluded, end it as quickly as you can – don’t let it drag on.
• The ending is hugely important, because the lasting impression you leave on the reader will impact upon the way they regard your story or book, and you as the writer.

STRUCTURE THE CONFLICT.

Conflict can be external or internal – or both. So, the protagonist is facing problems beyond their control (external conflict); or their own inner fears, phobias and beliefs (internal conflict). One can trigger off the other for an even more emotional journey. Let each problem be worse than the last, so the tension is continually rising.

STRUCTURE THE VIEWPOINT.

If you’re having more than one viewpoint character, structure the scene/chapter/viewpoint changes carefully. Do so to add more drama and suspense to your story.  Never ‘head hop’.

WITHOUT STRUCTURE

Without structure, things will unravel and fall apart. However, we all know that once we get an idea for a story, we jump right in and start writing. See where it will go. See where it takes us. This generally works fine – for a time. Then you find you’ve written yourself into a blind alley. Or things aren’t believable or logical. Or you can’t remember certain points about certain characters. Or your main character is coming across as weak, or his problems are solved too quickly – and who cares anyway? Maybe you’re getting bored through lack of action or emotion. When your story starts to fall apart, then you’ll probably find the fault lies in its structure – or lack of it.

Happy writing everyone.