If you are interested in writing a story then it is important that you keep in mind the key elements that all books should have. I have been writing myself for some years now and what I love most about writing is the absolute freedom which it gives you and the fact that you can write about just about anything. In the past I have written short stories about scammers, fraud, love stories, broken families, cancer victims and even a crime story with an FBI and RICO probe, there literally are no limits!
I met a guy last month called Blake Rubin Facebook put us in touch and he was asking me about basic elements for stories. With this in mind I thought I would share with you the same thing as I told Blake regarding the core elements that every story needs.
School Lessons
Your teachers weren’t wrong at school and every story really does need a beginning a middle and an ending. Whilst this may sound simple enough, the key is to really focus on each of these parts and treat them as though they were stories within themselves. If you can focus on ensuring that each part has a solid structure, you are on your way to writing a great story.
Characters
The characters are the absolute key to the story and whichever way you plan on telling it, it is their experiences and their views that push the storyline to its completion. When you are creating your characters it is important that you give them all a solid backstory which is both credible and explanatory. The characters are what drives the storyline and yours should have a motivation, strong emotions, a reason for being in the story and as well as a goal for what they are trying to achieve within your story, good or bad.
Locations
Think hard about the locations within the story and where the story will take place. If you plan on having multiple locations, ask yourself why, what is it that these locations do to serve the story. Remember that every decision that you take throughout the storytelling process should have a motivation and you need to keep this in mind when you are writing it. Whether it is the location or the activity, everything should have a point that is relative to the story itself.
Style
You must think about what kind of style you are going to write with and how this affects the story. For example, if you are wiring about your take on the world as we know it, you could write this from a narrative perspective to help make it sound more credible. Equally, if you are looking to portray strong emotions and an ‘on the ground’ look at what is going on, you could write this in the first person so that the audience gets a sense of actually being there. Deciding on your style should be done early on so that it can help you mould how the story will play out.