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Fictional Narrative Basics - Beginning
Completion Date: End of Week 1 |
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One of the most common questions asked by new writers--and especially by audience members at readings by published authors--is: Where do stories come from? For a new writer, the idea of coming up with a story that will carry a reader for ten or twelve pages can be intimidating, and really the first step in learning to write fiction is learning to put pen to paper (or fingers to computer) despite the nagging doubt that you will have anything worthwhile to say.
Stephen King's book, On Writing, will disappoint his fans, I think, because he gives no sure-fire secret to becoming a successful writer beyond the following: Put yourself behind a closed door for three hours a day and write. It's not a very impressive thing to say, and of course not all of us live lives that allow for three hours a day. But if you want to become a good fiction writer, there isn't any better advice out there, and any harder to follow. Write as much as you can, as often as you can. Set up a schedule and try to stick to it as much as possible. Be gentle with yourself when you can't, and strict with yourself about getting back to it.
A large part of your writing in this class will be the story you write. Ten or twelve pages might seem a long assignment, especially if you are used to writing academic essays. In my freshman composition course, I assign one short narrative paper, usually four to six pages, at the end of the semester. Those students, who all term have complained to me that they don't have enough ideas to fill a ten page expository essay, invariably tell me that four or six pages is not enough space to write a story, that they could easily have written twice as much.
Good stories have a life of their own. They start in small ways--a memory, something overheard on the train, a person you pass on the street, a newspaper article--and you begin to write. You have a character, and you need to put her somewhere, so you take a moment to sketch out the scene. Something you've written into the scene, something imagined or remembered, catches your character's attention, and suddenly she is taking actions, speaking. Writing a story is entering into a world you didn't know you could imagine, and being surprised by what you find there.
Different writers get their story ideas from different places, but there are a number of exercises you can do to help generate stories. These range from memory exercises, to tools for inventing fictional situations, to approaches to writing first sentences. Keep a number of these exercises handy, and you will never find yourself without at least one good idea to work on.
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