Image Credits:-
Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos. AI images avoided. Screenshots were taken by me, Allison Symes.
The essentials for any story are to have a proper beginning, middle and end. This conveniently helps with this post as it automatically gives me three sections to write about. But the following thoughts will apply to any fiction, regardless of length, and, as writers, we will always be looking to improve our skills. For a story to grip a reader, there has to be something for the reader to be gripped by!
The basic structure of the story is the first essential. Interesting characters are the second essential. What are we looking for in the proverbial beginning, middle and end, the classic structure, to decide whether a story works or not?
Story Beginning
The opening lines, especially the first one, need to intrigue you enough to want to find out more. This can be done via interesting dialogue (which I’d also take to include internal dialogue), a character who grabs your attention in another way, or it is clear the story is set in a world and/or time other than this one/the current day.
From there, I’d want to see an early hint at the likely problem(s) the characters are going to face and maybe a nod towards the obstacles likely to get in their way. It should be clear this dilemma matters to the characters. They have no choice but to overcome the issues they’re up against.
I’ll then want to read on to find out what the characters do, the mistakes they’ll inevitably make along the way to the outcome. I like characters making mistakes. Fiction does reflect life. We make mistakes. I expect characters to do the same.
It should also be clear early on who the major players are going to be and whose story it is. The Lord of the Rings is whose story? Frodo’s? Sam’s? Gollum’s even? I’d say Frodo but the story wouldn’t be the same without the others, especially Gollum. It should then also be clear the secondary characters have major roles to play either in league with the main character or deliberately working against them. For the latter, I will want to read on to find out who wins out in the end.
There can sometimes be a hint at the likely ending of the story early on too. For Tolkien’s classic work, it is clear what has to happen to the ring and why Frodo is involved. It’s then a question of seeing what Frodo then has to do and the full details of the obstacles in his way.
Story Middle
This is often the part of the story the writer dreads most. We’ve all heard of saggy middles. None of us want to write them!
Even for the shortest of flash fiction pieces, this is where I find having a rough outline pays dividends. I know roughly (and I stress that) what will happen in the middle, what has to lead up to it, and what must come from it to reach the grand finale. Having that outline helps me to avoid the saggy middle. I often don’t know all of the details in my outline, I like this as it gives my imagination room to work, but I know enough to trigger that imagination.
Also, I’m aware there has to be a turning point in the middle of the story which must lead on to the conclusion, so naturally I want that to be as gripping as what came before it and what will come after it. So I put work into ensuring that middle point has to grip a reader or intrigue them in some way, which definitely avoids the saggy middle issue.
I’ve long found having a rough outline gives me a good foundation on which to work and I think it is the middle of the story which benefits the most from having that foundation at all because the middle can make or break a story. If it doesn’t follow through on the promising beginning, readers will never complete reading the tale to find out what your enthralling ending was. So planning, even if the thought of that makes you wince a little, does pay off for this, I think.
Story Ending
For my twist in the tale stories, I do know the ending first, I have to, but that then helps me plot backwards to get to a strong middle and strong opening. So there is a good case to be made for working out a rough ending first and then working out what must lead to it. The good thing with any outline/plan is it isn’t set in stone. I often find better ideas occur as I’m writing my first draft and I just note down these thoughts and assess whether they’re going to work or not.
For the ending, I ensure it delivers on the promise of the story set out at the beginning. It has to be satisfying, if not necessarily a happy one. It mustn’t seem to be an unreasonable ending given the character and the circumstances. I always prefer the happier kind of ending but do want to know the character(s) deserve it. I think that’s a legacy from my life long love of the classic fairytales.
Characters – What Makes Them Interesting
I like characters who are:-
Different; (I’ve written from the viewpoint of a mother dragon).
Easy to identify with; (I understood the mother dragon’s wish to defend her unborn young).
Have problems I can identify with; (thanks to the legendary David Attenborough’s wildlife programmes, I know just what mothers of all species including our own are prepared to do to defend their young and I can understand why they do it).
Have no choice but to resolve their problems (not necessarily life or death though, of course, it can be, and in the case of my mother dragon story, she thought it was and then made sure it couldn’t be).
Characters are the key ingredient for any story for me. I need to be able to root for them. To do that, I have to care about them, understand the issue(s) they’re facing and want them to do well.
Having said that, I have occasionally written stories from the viewpoints of characters I loathe (am not saying which ones!). Why? I wanted to understand what would make those characters act in the way they have as there can be interesting tales from that. Generally though, there has to be something about the character(s) I like and can get behind.
I’m also aware the place for a “cardboard cut out” pantomime villain is on the stage at pantomime time. I definitely don’t want them in my tales, thank you.
Conclusion
Character motivations and attitudes are key to creating characters readers are likely to care about. Scrooge couldn’t stay the way he was at the beginning of A Christmas Carol with no change, no prospect of redemption. You’d just switch off but make him face something he cannot deny and where change has to come, you have to find out what happens, don’t you?
The want to find out what happens is the single thing I think which makes a story stand or fall.
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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