Image Credit: Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos
Breaking down why a story works may seem a strange thing to do. Surely you just want to read an enjoyable tale and move on to the next one, ideally having a good mix of genres, classic and contemporary works as part of your “reading diet”?
Well, yes, but if you want to write your own stories, it does pay you to work out what it is you love about those you enjoy reading. You will learn a great deal from this, some of which at least you will be able to apply to your own writing.
Why I Break Down Stories
How do I know I can apply what I learn from reading specifically to help me improve my own writing? Simply because I have done this (and continue to do it) and know this helps me a lot. I can see what works. I can also, sometimes, come across things which I feel do not work so well so I question myself as to why I think this is (and it can be down to personal tastes in reading, but that’s okay. It means I can eliminate obvious writing errors in those cases).
I do think fiction writers have more than one creative enjoyment. Most of us, certainly all of the ones I know, have long had a love of reading which inspired us to write our own tales. I think, once you’ve started writing, you do look at stories in a slightly different light as you can spot things the author has done (such as ensuring you can tell their characters apart just via the way they speak in the story).
Taking In The Basics
You also take in, as you read, the basics of story layout, how dialogue is shown on the page, and much more besides. This is perhaps an underrated thing. If you want to submit your work somewhere, you should know the formats expected from you. And you can literally see them laid out on the page. It is especially helpful for things like punctuation – do you put the full stop or question mark inside speech marks or outside them? (I’ve seen that question asked).
Compelling Characters
For me the important thing is wanting to follow the characters’ journeys, especially the lead one. If I’m not gripped by who they are and what is happening to them, why should I read on? But that in turn is an excellent challenge to me to make sure my characters are compelling.
So, given the author has created wonderful characters for me to follow, once I’ve enjoyed the story, I will look back at it again and work out what especially struck me about their portrayal. Often I will spot little telling details which helped make the character seem more real to me.
Believability, I think, is key to a successful story even if it is set in the most outlandish world imaginable. It will be the characters in it which would make it seem plausible if somehow that outlandish world could exist somewhere. (Possibly in a galaxy far, far away?!).
Building On The Past
Every writer builds on what has gone before. None of us are going to be reinventing the wheel here and why would we want to even if we could? We know what we like in stories. We seek to reproduce that in our own work.
So I would say studying other stories is the way to take in how things are done. Without that knowledge, how can you know what you want to see in your own work? The lovely thing here is you can and do learn from the best.
You have various ways of doing this from buying books, borrowing from the libraries, and, for the short forms, buying magazines in which shorter works are published. Plus there are the ebooks and emagazines available now. Audio books are useful for hearing how a story works, especially dialogue.
I’ve mentioned before you can legitimately say you are researching when you reading but it bears repeating because you are researching. You are looking for what you think made the editor select this story for their magazine for one thing, for example, and you can learn just from that aspect.
Inspiration Encouraging Your Imagination
Most writers are inspired by books and stories they’ve loved. I’m inspired by the classic fairytales, Austen, Wodehouse, Pratchett, Tolkien, Lewis (my wardrobe still shows no signs of being a gateway to anywhere yet alone Narnia!), Dickens, Shakespeare, and so many more.
Thanks to watching plays staged by the always excellent The Chameleon Theatre Company, I take in stories in another format. As with prose though, I am expecting, and get, a three act structure. I am expecting, and get, dialogue to make sense and move the plot on. Description (in the case of plays this is usually done via setting) is shown as giving the audience what they need to know and no more. Every writer can learn from that.
Yes, you can see over time how stories change. We wouldn’t go into as much description these days as Dickens had to. We know our readers will be able to picture things, having their own frames of reference thanks to the radio, film and TV age. But looking back at Dickens, you can see why he wrote as he did and, most importantly, his characters still grip readers and inspire retellings. The Muppet Christmas Carol for me is the finest retelling of A Christmas Carol.
I also love breaking down why a story works because it gives me the perfect excuse to re-read favourites. Not that I need an excuse but you never know when one might come in handy!
I see reading widely as an important tool in any writer’s tool box. We work with words so we should learn from what other authors have done with theirs. In any case, it’s fun!
Conclusion
Writers also need to be aware of what is out there now in their field and what has been in their field. It helps with working out where your work fits in and agents/publishers will be looking for that. They literally do need to know where to put your work on the book shelves (physical or electronic, such as Amazon’s categories).
Best way to do that?
Reading, of course!
Read interviews with Chandler’s Ford writer Allison Symes: Part 1 and Part 2.
Read blog posts by Allison Symes published on Chandler’s Ford Today.
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