Levels of Writing: Stories

In my terms, the story is the actual events that happen. Although story is one of the highest levels of writing, it is usually the first thing we think about. When we are staring at a blank page, we all shout at the same thing: "I don't know what to write about."

In the big picture, there are two main components to writing stories. There is coming up with a story and there is continuing a story. I think most people will tell you that it is coming up with a story that is harder.

I would usually agree with those people, but you have to ask yourself why. The reason it is hard to come up with a story is that people are trying to come up with a complete story. Of course it is more difficult to come up with a novel than it is to come up with part of a novel. Break it down. Instead of coming up with an idea, just come up with a scene.

Scene's usually aren't too difficult to come up with. Sometimes you can come up with something crazy, sometimes you come up with something boring. If you think your scene is too boring, then try something to randomize it. Shout out words, anything, the first thing that comes to your mouth, and write those down. Put them into the scene.

Once you have come up with a scene, you move on to creating a story from that scene. Since every moment has events that led up to it and events that follow it, you can figure out what has happened and what will happen logically. Get into your characters' heads and understand their personality. Realize how they would normally react to situations and apply that to the situation occurring within the scene you made.

If all of this sounds familiar, it is because I more thoroughly explained how to create scenes and continue stories in a previous post. Although I am proud of this method, I have always found it to be a little dry. Sure, I could make an interesting story using this method, but I could also make a boring one with it. The interest is coming from elsewhere.

So what is the point of the story? Surely it has to be more than that, right? If you ask me, no. A story is a tool. It is a medium through which we deliver our plot. The primary duty of a story is to be realistic. We need something human that readers can connect to. We need conflict to deal with. We need surprises, twists and turns, but nothing so strange that it breaks our suspension of disbelief.

Good storytelling is important. That is why you learn every level of writing that comes before stories. Learning how to choose words, craft phrases and sentences, join them in paragraphs, collect those in sections and chapters, all of that is part of good storytelling. The final piece of the puzzle is making sure that it all makes sense. At this level of writing, making sense from point A to point B is your main goal.