Sta.sh
10 Second Tip:
Stuck on a SHORT Story?
Stuck on what to put in your story?
-- This is the list of things I check off when I create a story:
Do you have a Setting in mind?
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- Sci-fi
- Historical
- Modern day
- Fantasy
Do you have ONE big main event for the story to focus on?
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- A battle
- An escape
- A love scene
- An act of revenge
- A sacrifice
- A treasure to claim
- A magic spell
- A transformation
Do you know what you want to SAY with your story?
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- Love sucks.
- Friendship is forever.
- No good deed goes unpunished.
- A snake can only ever be a snake.
- Sometimes you have to take chances.
- Magic makes things worse, not better.
Do you know where you want to END your story?
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- A wedding?
- A funeral?
- A bloody battlefield?
- An empty street?
- The bottom of an ocean?
Do you have your three central characters ready?
-- Just to make things interesting, any one of these three could be the Hero, the Villain, or the Ally.
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- A main character that personifies what your story is trying to say?
- A main character that personifies an opposing opinion of the same topic?
- A buddy / friend/ love interest of one or both to personify Joe Normal stuck in the Middle?
Why did I mention Characters last?
-- Instead of making a story for my characters, I do the opposite. I make characters for my story.
Some people can come up with a cool character and then build a story around them. Sadly, I am not one of those. I can build a back-story just fine, but my back-stories are never good enough to be the Main Story. A back-story is how a character GOT his Issues. The main story is how they FIXED those Issues. See the difference?
Anyway...
-- When I'm stuck on a story, I try thinking on these questions and often, they'll jog something loose.
Enjoy!
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-- The event that forced the character into adventure.
-- The event where they make their biggest mistake.
-- The event where they face the results of their mistake. Often where Hero confronts Villain AKA: who they Could have been if they hadn't fixed their mistake. This event is normally considered the story's climax.
In Beauty & the Beast:
- Event 1 is where Beauty's father plucks the rose then AGREES to trade his daughter for his own life.
-- Event 2 is where Beauty begs to Go Home.
-- Event 3 is where Beauty faces the results of leaving: a dying Beast.
Checklists are just plain easier to use.
-- I try to keep the BS to a minimum, but sometimes my personal frustrations do leak in.
Which, not using those in writing is pretty senseful. Unless you're the writer of My Immortal. Then nothing makes sense. ^^