The narrative flow

These are some more of the handy hints from our free writers’ toolkit . We’ll be running a few more over the weeks to come but the full guide can be downloaded from the home page of our website at www.inscribemedia.co.uk

　





Where do ideas come from?

For some writers, stories always start with a place, somewhere that strikes them so forcibly that the story unfolds around them.

Other writers start with a character, someone so interesting, so intriguing that they can almost tell the story on their own.

Other writers begin with the story itself, an idea inspired by a newspaper snippet, something someone says, a sudden sense of ’what if?’

Some write for additional reasons, to get a point over, to add to our knowledge of the world or to make us think about an issue in a different way.

Whatever your motivation - and there will be many others - one thing is certain: if it drives you to sit down in front of that computer or lift up that pen, it’s got to be worth writing about.

　


Creating the triangle
Good story writing depends on many things but can be boiled down to three factors, the triangle.

At the top is the narrative, a strong story, plenty of pace, a tale that enthrals the readers.

At one bottom corner is a sense of place, a strong sense of where the action is taking place.

At the other corner is a sense of being, the creation of characters strong and interesting enough to carry the story.

Get the triangle right and the rest flows from it.


THE NARRATIVE

Structuring the short story
Some writers opt for the beginning, middle, end approach, a traditional and proven format which has served short story writers well down the decades.
Others go for deliberately confusing the reader, creating stories which are
not clear at the start but which slowly reveal themselves. They may do it by
concealing where the action takes place, or perhaps who the central
characters are. Or keeping back the salient piece of information the reader
needs to make sense of everything.

Some writers go for the flashback approach, beginning the story with an
incident then working backwards to explain how we arrived at this moment. Knowing what happens at the end can make the events that unfold that little
but more poignant.
John Dean