Image Credit: Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos.
I use questions a lot in my storytelling and, to a certain extent, for blogs like this. How? Well, it is appropriate I set a question to start this piece!
Questions as Structures
I will often use a question to help me structure a story/blog post. I set the question at the beginning and by the end I must have answered it satisfactorily. For fiction, the outcome does not have to be a happy one but it does have to be appropriate for the character as I have portrayed them. And the question does have to be answered in some way else the reader will feel cheated.
Having a structure to a piece is useful. I see it as a road map. I know I’m going from A to B. Sometimes when I know the ending of a piece, I work from B to A especially for my twist ending stories. But again the question set by the piece is answered. It’s just that sometimes I know the answer first and then work back to what the question could be. That often gives me a good idea for a title too.
Questions as Themes and Titles
I often use random generators to trigger story ideas and there is such a thing as a random question generator. See the link as an example. (I have no idea why they have a cute duck on here but the questions generated are useful!).
I can use the generated question to give me my theme for the piece and/or my title. Where I use it as a theme, by the end of my piece, I need to have demonstrated I have shown what the theme is and, for a title, my story needs to justify why I’ve used that title.
Questions for Characters
I need to know my characters well enough to be able to write their stories up so I have a simple template I use to help me work things out.
I need to know my character type (they don’t necessarily need to be human). I need to know the mood of my story. I sometimes know this immediately (especially if there’s a story competition I’ve got my eye on). I need to know the story theme. With my characters, I need to know their major trait as all sorts of things can come from that.
If, for example, I know my character is brave, I have a few options for their story.
- I can write a story proving their courage.
- I can write a story where, for once, their courage fails them.
- I can write a story where the character believes they’re brave but those around them know differently. They think the character is reckless.
So a few options crop up immediately then just from working out what the major trait is (and minor traits feed into this too. For a courageous character, they’re likely to be truthful, prepared to stand up to evil and so on).
I have “interviewed” potential characters before now when I need to work out what their major trait might be. Thinking about questions such as what is your favourite book/film, what do you dislike the most, what one thing could you not live without etc will reveal a great deal about my potential character. I find I only to ask one or two questions like that to know enough about my character to then start writing their story up.
Once I’ve got the major trait sorted out, I know the direction my story is going to go in. I then need to work out what the story mood will be. For my courageous character above, I can play this one “straight” or I can put them in a humorous situation where they have to show courage in a different way.
(One example of this would be my hapless character finally plucking up the courage to tell another character who has been badgering them to join a group just what they can do with that idea and to come up with something that stumps that character but makes us, the reader, laugh).
So questions then are useful for a writer to work out who their characters are and potential stories then come from that.
Questions for Non-Fiction Work
I used the above generator to come up with the following question: what’s your earliest memory?
Now, for fiction, I can get my character to answer that one and show how it is bearing on their behaviour for this tale.
For non-fiction, I can obviously answer the question directly, inviting you to comment in the CFT comments box with your earliest memories and so on. I can also take this initial idea, answer it myself, and then expand on the topic by discussing why I think memories are important and the tragedy of dementia. Another way of tackling this topic would be to look at the nation’s memories, the importance of records and archaeology etc.
Questions then can be a starting point for developing ideas further. Often in writing it is working out where to start that can be the issue. I know I find, once I am “away” on a piece, whether it is fiction or non-fiction, I can just keep going on it until I reach the appropriate ending. I can “umm” and “ahh” a bit until I have got my starting point (and this is where and why I find all random generators so helpful).
Finishing Questions
Once I’ve written a piece, I then ask myself some questions, mainly to check I have fulfilled the “brief” set by the question I am writing about. I see this as part of the editing process. I also ask what I think my Ideal Reader would make of the piece. Regardless of what I am writing, I do have an Ideal Reader in mind and this is a good thing. It means I am thinking of a potential audience immediately and it helps me cut any tendency to waffle. Why? Because I am seeking to please that Ideal Reader and they will want me to get to the point!
Conclusion
Every writer has their own way into writing a piece. I’ve found questions to be a useful way to make me think deeper about my characters and I think I write my stories up with more conviction as a result. For my blogs, such as this one, I find questions so useful as a structure. Again I can’t waffle. I do have to answer the question set and focus on that alone. (It also helps keep word count down!).
I hope you have fun with the random question generator. Why not pick one or two things that come up from it and see if you can write a story or a non-fiction post on it? As ever with these things, once you’ve completed the draft, you need to edit and then find the right market for it but that is true for all forms of writing. I’ve found the generators, and I use the question one a lot, have helped me produce more work.
Related Posts:-
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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