Hey all,
Here's a lesson that I typed up for the USU Creative Writing Club that I wanted to share with you guys, hopefully it's helpful.
How to start a Story
What does a beginning need? (Not necessarily in order.)
1.Set the scene: establish the setting. What’s familiar about it? What’s different? What are “the rules”?
2. Establish the conflict: in other words what drives the story/what is the story about?
3. Introduce the characters: show who our narrator(s) is/are. Who’s our main cast? Who are the secondary characters of note? What are they like? How does the conflict drive them or not? Most importantly: what makes them different?
Overall: you need to prove that your story is worth it. You need to make sure that your story stands apart from the others.
Please don’t start out with:
1. DON’T start with the character waking up: it’s overdone and unoriginal and it puts the reader to sleep. (Rimshot.)
2. A character history: work the back-story into the story through subtext like how it should be.
3. Related to 2: no prologues. Like adverbs and Mary Sue’s kill them with fire!
4. A long time ago, once upon a time, this is based on a true story, legend tells of a...etc: especially don’t try to emulate classic novel openers that Dickens wrote, it’s weak and it shows that you aren’t very creative.
An additional note: I think that “catchy” and “witty” first sentences are overrated and are more of a distraction and a time sink to the author than anything. If you are focusing on making an original, innovative, and creative story you don’t have to worry about the first sentence because every word will captivate and enthrall your reader. A good story is catchy enough.
Thanks for reading, this year I'm going to be trying to update more often.
Questions or comments? Let us know!
-Katie
Showing posts with label Writing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Writing. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Thursday, September 30, 2010
My Vanity Assignment
Hey y'all!
So recently in English 1110 we were given an assignment to write a personal essay. So, I decided to do it on how writing has impacted my life, just so I could post the final draft as a blog post ha ha. So here it is(with only a couple of minor changes):
"How I discovered writing again"
When I was in the second grade, our student teacher read “Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone” to my class and I was transfixed. Even back then I knew how well written and original it was. That Christmas, Nana (My Grandmother) gave me a biography about the author: J.K. Rowling. Rowling brought herself out of rock bottom, by becoming a successful writer. As I kept reading, I learned how much depth and research she put into her work. She was a master because she truly loved the craft. It’s no wonder she came so far. She became my idol, I wanted to write stories and get them published one day. If she could come so far, so could I. Little did I know that through my imitation of J.K. Rowling that I would become pretty good at (and come to love) forming a creative extension of myself through writing. (Thanks to a lot of practice.)
Throughout the rest of grade school, I always looked forward to English. I could put my classmates’ writing to shame since creative thinking came naturally to me. In my spare time I always was coming up with story ideas, reading, and writing. When Middle School came around, I submitted a short story to the Writers and Artists Fest in both the 6th and 7th grades. I was accepted both years. I got to miss a day of school and get my work critiqued by actual writers! I felt that I was well on my way to becoming the next J.K. Rowling.
Then 8th grade came along to take me off my cloud. That year, English seemed like a History class with three times the course work. I faltered in it because it wasn’t a place where creativity was encouraged. I wrote less and less on my own, and began to give into self-doubt; my dream felt far away, more like a fantasy. I think I gave up on it sometime between 8th and 9th grade. I still liked English enough, but I stopped writing entirely.
When I started getting actual writing assignments (ones that asked for more than the standard mass produced answer.) again in 10th grade, I decided to give it one more go. As I started writing again, I was a bit rusty. But it all started coming back to me. I poured my heart into writing about helping a friend collect bugs for a project in the 7th grade. I was so proud of it, the old Katie who wanted to be like J.K. Rowling was back! I turned it in seeing stars. When it was returned to me however, there was a red C+ at the top of the paper next to my name. If I ever had a dream, it died that day.
When it came time to schedule my senior year, I had a slight dilemma. I needed to choose an English course. I’d always imagined taking A.P. English my senior year, but since I believed I wasn’t cut out for that stuff anymore I had narrowed down to three other classes: English 1010, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, and Creative Writing. I chose the latter two since they sounded like fun. It might seem like I took the easy road- maybe I did, but I’m glad I took it. That’s what I needed then, a teacher with a Masters in creative writing (he taught both of those classes), and a place to learn and in some cases relearn the foundations of creative writing. If I didn’t take those classes, I might have never ended up writing again. (Which is frightening, but true.) I was having fun again, and I realized that I was still a pretty good writer. I read voraciously again, started checking out writing advice websites, and I even started a writing critique group (and this blog!) with three of my friends. Somewhere in the middle of all of that, my dream came back to me from the great beyond.
Even after graduation and starting college, I’m still unfazed. I know it will be hard, but I’m seriously considering Majoring in Creative Writing and becoming a freelance writer. I’m preparing myself vigorously for the challenge, because to me, writing is worth it; it keeps me going. I have too much to discover and to share to quit now. The real world can be tough, but so am I. I’m going to give writing the best shot I can become like J.K. Rowling.
And there it is! Any questions or comments? Post a comment here or on our wall, or send us an email at: cliffhanger.hangout@gmail.com.
-Katie
So recently in English 1110 we were given an assignment to write a personal essay. So, I decided to do it on how writing has impacted my life, just so I could post the final draft as a blog post ha ha. So here it is(with only a couple of minor changes):
"How I discovered writing again"
When I was in the second grade, our student teacher read “Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone” to my class and I was transfixed. Even back then I knew how well written and original it was. That Christmas, Nana (My Grandmother) gave me a biography about the author: J.K. Rowling. Rowling brought herself out of rock bottom, by becoming a successful writer. As I kept reading, I learned how much depth and research she put into her work. She was a master because she truly loved the craft. It’s no wonder she came so far. She became my idol, I wanted to write stories and get them published one day. If she could come so far, so could I. Little did I know that through my imitation of J.K. Rowling that I would become pretty good at (and come to love) forming a creative extension of myself through writing. (Thanks to a lot of practice.)
Throughout the rest of grade school, I always looked forward to English. I could put my classmates’ writing to shame since creative thinking came naturally to me. In my spare time I always was coming up with story ideas, reading, and writing. When Middle School came around, I submitted a short story to the Writers and Artists Fest in both the 6th and 7th grades. I was accepted both years. I got to miss a day of school and get my work critiqued by actual writers! I felt that I was well on my way to becoming the next J.K. Rowling.
Then 8th grade came along to take me off my cloud. That year, English seemed like a History class with three times the course work. I faltered in it because it wasn’t a place where creativity was encouraged. I wrote less and less on my own, and began to give into self-doubt; my dream felt far away, more like a fantasy. I think I gave up on it sometime between 8th and 9th grade. I still liked English enough, but I stopped writing entirely.
When I started getting actual writing assignments (ones that asked for more than the standard mass produced answer.) again in 10th grade, I decided to give it one more go. As I started writing again, I was a bit rusty. But it all started coming back to me. I poured my heart into writing about helping a friend collect bugs for a project in the 7th grade. I was so proud of it, the old Katie who wanted to be like J.K. Rowling was back! I turned it in seeing stars. When it was returned to me however, there was a red C+ at the top of the paper next to my name. If I ever had a dream, it died that day.
When it came time to schedule my senior year, I had a slight dilemma. I needed to choose an English course. I’d always imagined taking A.P. English my senior year, but since I believed I wasn’t cut out for that stuff anymore I had narrowed down to three other classes: English 1010, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, and Creative Writing. I chose the latter two since they sounded like fun. It might seem like I took the easy road- maybe I did, but I’m glad I took it. That’s what I needed then, a teacher with a Masters in creative writing (he taught both of those classes), and a place to learn and in some cases relearn the foundations of creative writing. If I didn’t take those classes, I might have never ended up writing again. (Which is frightening, but true.) I was having fun again, and I realized that I was still a pretty good writer. I read voraciously again, started checking out writing advice websites, and I even started a writing critique group (and this blog!) with three of my friends. Somewhere in the middle of all of that, my dream came back to me from the great beyond.
Even after graduation and starting college, I’m still unfazed. I know it will be hard, but I’m seriously considering Majoring in Creative Writing and becoming a freelance writer. I’m preparing myself vigorously for the challenge, because to me, writing is worth it; it keeps me going. I have too much to discover and to share to quit now. The real world can be tough, but so am I. I’m going to give writing the best shot I can become like J.K. Rowling.
And there it is! Any questions or comments? Post a comment here or on our wall, or send us an email at: cliffhanger.hangout@gmail.com.
-Katie
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