PLOT
Ah, the plot. The plot and the main character(s) are the most important parts of your story. A bad or nonexistent plot can break your story, so you want to make sure before you begin that you have a firm plot in mind.
Development
Accuracy
Continuity
Repetition
Gratuitous Fill-In-The-Blank
Development:
Most plots have the following parts in some way, shape, or form,
though they have different names:
A beginning or introduction: here you give the readers the basic of your story. Characters, settings, time periods or worlds...all that your reader will have to know to be able to fall into your world should be set up (or begun to set up) here. Here is where you will either disinterest your reader or suck him into your story. Here is where your reader either begins to hate or love your character. Here is where you begin to spin a tale your reader can't resist. Solid characterization and setting are a must here, and a good attention getter doesn't hurt either. (Be careful with story-starters--they should catch your reader's attention and interest, but not be cliché, or annoying...unless of course that's the whole point. (Such as parodies and the like))
Rising Action: The story begins to build here, developing the character and putting into place the events that will lead up to the climax. Here there will be conflicts, obstacles, all kinds of things for the main character to deal with in order to bring him to the main event of the story. This is where most of the plot development happens. Here is most of the mood-setting, the descriptions of action, the intricate connections between all parts of your plot start to come together.
Climax: The climax is the height of the story, usually towards the end. Everything has been building up to this moment--it's the final game of the championship, the big battle between good and evil, the moment of truth when he finds out he won the lottery, the final exams of the senior year at high school... Whatever your plot has built up towards, this is where it all comes to a head. The resolution, whatever the resolution will be, happens here. This is it--it should be exciting, it should keep your reader eagerly turning pages to find out more. If you've built up tension, suspense, a wonderful story thus far then let it fall at the climax your reader will be sorely disappointed.
Conclusion: This is the part of the story when you recover from the climax--wounds are healed, or euphoria at passing your exams dies down...loose ends are tied up. Do not treat this part of the story casually--you must keep your readers' interest to the very end. Remember, this is the last thing your reader will see of your story, make sure they go away with a [positive feeling about your story instead of saying "What a lame ending."
Accuracy:
When you are writing a story, no matter what kind, make sure that
your information is accurate. If you're writing about
pirates, read up on them, so you can write realistically.
Research ships and nautical terms so you can write about them and
not risk someone who knows their way around a ship saying
"What the heck is this person talking about? Starboard
is right, not left!" You get the idea.
If you write about Russia, make sure you know a little bit about the country. I wrote a story that took place in Scotland some years back, and while it's basically a good plot and has good characterization, some of the information it not correct. I got the climate wrong, got some of the jargon and geography wrong. I didn't do enough research, and as a result, it seems a pretty amateur attempt.
If you write about something taking place in the sixties, make sure you learn about that era. Look up the slang, the styles, and current events. If you write about a black man trying to get the bus companies to stop segregating the busses, make sure you read about the events that happened during that particular struggle. Write what kinds of things the black people did to try and change this, and what happened as a result. Make sure you have your dates right. If you have a person going to Woodstock, your story needs to be set in 1969, instead of, say, 1966. Know who is president, and who the teen idols were. Know what was acceptable for dress on the street, and what you might see on TV.
If you're writing about animals, check the Internet for information on this animal, its mannerisms and physical appearance, it will make your animal character that much more believable. This is also useful for animal-like beings--if you have cat anthros, give them some cat-like ways.
If you write about fantasy or science fiction, you still need to research, even though you're technically writing about things that never happened, perhaps some things that are impossible in our world. If you write about a fantasy realm of swords and sorcery, read up on kinds of swords. Read up on how a blade is forged, and what happens when a person kills another with a sword. Read some of the classic fantasy to see the general ideas on magic, perhaps check out books on witches and the like from the library. You will want your story to sound plausible and believable. Even in a science fiction story (unless it's a spoof) you won't want to write about scientific discoveries that are impossible, that will take credibility from your tale.
In short, make sure that you write about something that you know, or have researched.
Continuity
Continuity is one of the more important things in a story.
If you say that a character is an only child at the beginning of
your story, and he suddenly has a sister or a brother later on,
it tends to take credibility from your story. This is
another reason that you should have your characters fairly well
developed before you start writing, at the very least his past
and his current status (where he lives, who's his family and
friends, etc.) or you could end up making this mistake.
Many's the time I have said something late in a story, forgetting
I had already established it earlier in the story, and the two
did not coincide.
I read a book once where a character's little sister had been named Selena Dean, but later on in the story (actually, the next book in the story), the author quotes the sister's name as Gloria Dean. Granted, this was a very small thing, as the character was a VERY minor one and it took me a couple of times to catch it, but once I did, it was always the smallest distraction from the story. It always bugged me just the slightest bit every time I came to it.
Some writers do not like to use outlines, timelines, and profiles when they write, preferring to write in a freer format, but I've found that sometimes they are useful. Make a profile of your characters. Write down everything about them, what they can do, who they are, their past and family. For long or complicated stories, draw out a timeline; start with the earliest time period of the story and write down the major events, even if it's just part of a character's past. For the main plot, outline it by section or chapter, write down what happens that contribute to the main plot, what will bring it to its conclusion. This helps keep things organized.
Repetition
This first is something I am often guilty of. In my desire
to convey something about a character or his circumstances, I
will mention it several times within the story, until the readers
get sick of reading how innocent a person was, or how abusive his
life was. (Sometimes I simply forget I have already
mentioned it.) If you want to keep bringing home an aspect
of a character or his surroundings, mention it outright once or
twice, but then find different ways of getting the point across.
Writing "he said" too many times. Though you should not go overboard with the different terms for "said", you should try to vary it at least a bit. Put in a "he declared" or "she fumed". You can write "I hope that there's no ghosts in this house," she said nervously. or you can write, Her hands trembled as she peered nervously around the corner. "I hope there's no ghosts in this house." Find ways of varying the dialogue. Read it aloud, see if it sounds awkward or choppy. Read books and stories, get ideas from those.
Don't write "he" too many times. Especially in a scene with many people in it, you will need to specify who is doing or saying what. (This is another thing I am very guilty of!) Use the character's name once in a while. Refer to a character by what he is, such as, "The science teacher scowled down at the little boy." Be careful with this last, however, as using descriptive words instead of the character's name can get awkward. Referring to one thing eight different ways in one paragraph get get quite burdensome.
Don't describe the house as "creepy and eerie". These mean the same thing, and using them both gets redundant and repetitive. (I know, old joke...seems I'm full of those lately!)
This may look a bit odd, but it is an important section. "Gratuitous" means simply "unwarranted" or "for no good reason". For the heck of it, in other words.
Many writers (though I seem to notice it more in fanfiction than original writing) will often put something into their story "just for the heck of it" or because they enjoy writing it. A lot of angst and torture is put into a story because the writer enjoys writing it. A romance or a sex scene can be gratuitous.
There is a fine line sometimes between whether a scene will add flavor and mood to your story, or have the reader asking, "Where the heck did that come from? it was totally pointless!" Anything that you write must have a good, solid connection to your story. To use some Hardy Boys fanfiction as an example: a lot of writers for some reason like to pick on joe Hardy. (Sometimes Frank but mostly Joe.) Poor Joe gets put into loads of horrible situations from the bad guys, usually involving getting the heck kicked out of him or similar. This is fine, if it makes sense to the story. It must make sense for the character to hurt him, whether it be in revenge, as bait to lure Frank to rescue him, or any other good reason. "For the heck of it" tells the reader that you don't really have a reason, you just wanted to write a torture scene. (I am guilty of this!)
Be careful, though, that your reason is not clichéd or contrived. If Joe is being hurt by a raving lunatic, make sure the lunatic is believable, and not just a cheap justification to write some torment. If the case is revenge, again take care not to cliché the revenge or make your antagonist (main bad guy) a shallow, paper cut-out character. Give it some believability, build the character and his or her reasons up in your story.
If you must have sex in your story (and it's not a steamy romance) there should be a reason for it, at least story wise. (The characters don't have to have a reason if the scene makes sense to the story.) It should illustrate the relationship (whatever that may be) between the two characters or add to the mood and scene of the plot.
This goes for anything that you might enjoy writing--it must add to the plot!--if it doesn't give us insight to a character, add to the plot, give the reader important information, add a little comic relief to a long period of tension...or any of that important stuff you may need to consider removing the scene.
(Thanks to my cuz (Felina from my links page) for the inspiration for this section.)
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