Novel Writing in 5 Posts - Day 3

Read Day 2 and Day 1 to get caught up ... now for Day 3!

Post #3: Not in Kansas Anymore

Settings, the third ingredient, are extremely important. Plunge your reader into the story by breathing life into your settings. Who can forget Wonderland, Narnia, Hogwarts Castle, or Oz?

Beef up your settings with vivid sensory details: sights, smells, tastes, touches, and sounds. Close your eyes, pretend you're there, and let your imagination run wild!

Stories feature two major settings: the Ordinary World and the Extraordinary World. The Ordinary World is where the story starts. The Main Character enters the Extraordinary World because their driving desire leads them there. The Extraordinary World ‘promises’ them what they want, though they will have to fight for it.

Examples:
Kansas / Oz
The Dursleys / Hogwarts School

Stories feature plenty of obstacles, the fourth and final ingredient. This is down-and-dirty conflict, the harder the better! Without obstacles, stories would be pretty boring. Obstacles come in three major forms: Self, Man, Nature. Self Obstacles are internal or spiritual, like conflicting feelings. Man Obstacles are with other people, either singly or in groups. Nature Obstacles are animals, creatures, and landscapes, like weather or a dragon. As the story progresses, the obstacles get harder and harder. The hardest obstacle of all is the final clash between Main Character and Villain, called the climax.

Joe’s Obstacles:
·Self - feels guilty for conning
·Man - fights against family members, cops, and other con artists
·Nature - has to do a con in a horrible rainstorm

Let’s put our ingredients together in a story recipe. A pie recipe lists the ingredients, then the steps to create a pie. A story recipe lists the four fiction ingredients and creates a novel. Fill in the story recipe at the back of this guide, and refer it while writing.

Now, you've probably noticed that each author you read has a unique style. Lewis Carroll, Charles Dickens, and Ernest Hemingway are distinctly different. Writing style comes from YOUR unique identity! Let your personality come through in your story. Are you funny? Cynical? Romantic? Wacky? Don't try to sound like someone else. Just be yourself.

Describe people, places and things exactly as they appear in your imagination. When writing dialogue, write the way people talk. Each person has their own patterns of speech. Read your writing out loud and listen to yourself. I ‘talk’ my way through my story as I’m writing it. Practice your dialogue with a partner. It's got to sound REAL.

Use the simplest, most powerful words. “Omit needless words” is my favorite Strunk & White rule. Delete boring parts and anything that meanders from the central story. State the obvious. Be stupidly clear. Entertain your reader with interesting, concise language. Pretty simple!