Category Archives: story arc

Giving Context to Structure

Content, structure, and language work together

No one element can make a story work. Many writers use a series of steps—brainstorming, outlining, drafting, revision, editing, and proofreading—to juggle content, structure, and language. The order of each step is a matter of choice and fluctuates with story ideas. Here is my preference:

To create content: brainstorm, free-write, draft a first draft
To apply structure: outline first draft, then draft second draft
To perfect language: revise, edit, and proofread

Content refers to the subject matter of a story

Allow the story to blossom

The who, what, when, where, and how of a specific idea.

A character (the protagonist) finds himself in a difficult situation at a certain time and place and must deal with that situation.

How the protagonist deals with the situation depends on the protagonist’s wants, character, and the nature of the obstacles he must overcome.

Content provides the “story question or problem” that propels the protagonist through the plot and ultimately reveals a universal theme, a jolt, an epiphany, some small observance of life.

Content evolves from a premise, notes, a rough draft, research, observation, plus the attitudes and concerns of the writer.

Structure refers to the basic organization of a story

Unfold the story for maximum effect

Just as a play is divided into three acts, most stories have three main segments.

The opening (Act 1) gives a story focus and meaning by providing the premise, setting, and tone of the story as well as hints at the nature of obstacles the protagonist will face.

The main body of the story (Act 2, which I like to split into 2A and 2B) focuses on the protagonist’s actions to resolve the story problem.

The conclusion (Act 3) reveals the results of the protagonist’s struggle and infuses that struggle with meaning.

Each segment of a story has a similar structure: the overall story as well as each chapter, each scene within the chapter, each beat within the scene

Structure also involves other devices such as set-ups and pay-offs, sub-plots, and the shaping of structure specifically to content.

Structure evolves from outlines, note-taking, drafts or a combination of the three.

Language refers the diction and style used to express a story’s idea

Choose precise language

Diction refers the specific words that are chosen.

Style refers to how those words are combined, the order, the length of sentences and includes the use of literary devices such as metaphor, symbolism, and allusion.

Grammar keeps writing clear and understandable.

Language evolves from revision and rhythm.

Process is what brings these three basic components of composition together

The rough draft is about content…making it up.The second draft is about structure…making sense.The third draft is about language…making it clear.The fourth draft is about perfection…making it publishable.

Actually, the steps to the writing process bleed into each other like ink dropped from a leaky pen over one spot. The blotches don’t land in exactly the same place, but they seep beyond each other’s borders, and create a new kind of art.

More EDF good news and a lesson learned from whittling

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MY heart still hip-hops into my throat when I open my Yahoo account and see on the
“From” line of an email, the words “everyone@everydayfiction.com.”

It’s the line that appears when they are sending a rejection, an acceptance…or actually maybe a rewrite. Any which way, I always take a moment before I open it. If I prayed, I guess you’d say that’s what I’m doing. Luckily for me, they like my “Stranger on the Porch” bit and are going to publish it sometime in the future. Hooray!

This is actually a piece I’ve adapted from my novel. As I’ve said before, I’ve been struggling to keep the seat of my pants in the chair. When I’m doing one thing, I’m often distracted by another. In this case, the idea of writing a 1000 words has so much more appeal than rewriting 80,000 words. But I have resisted the lure of flash so far this month even though titles and ideas on how to make those titles work assault me at the sink, in the shower, on my walks. Then one day–mid-anguish/temptation–I had a revelation.

Since I use a dramatic arc in each chapter by opening with conflict, torturing my character, and finally having her take some action–the same dramatic arc that I use for a story as a whole–I wondered if I could cadge something from the novel to satisfy my need to send off a submission to EDF and thereby not get totally out of the world of my novel characters. Write flash but have it benefit the novel too. Maybe chapter 1?

I took a look. Yep the arc was there, but I’d have to whittle it down to fit the 1000 word criterion. Wow. An amazing thing happened during this process.

Because I wanted to flash the chapter, I brought to it a much more critical eye, and suddenly realized how much better it was turning out. The whole experience reinforced my belief that parameters create in a writer the ability to dig deep and come up with something better than if there are no parameters.

What happens in this first chapter of my novel is not straight forward, and I’ve often changed it, edited it, played with it. But this time I knew I had to achieve more clarity for it to stand on its own as flash. The images became sharper, the character more interesting. Whittling worked again. What an incredible lesson I keep learning over and over.

Now my hope is that people like it. That it stands on its own. I hope it’s as good for you guys as it was for me.

Not Knowing Shouldn’t Keep Me from Not Doing

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“The single largest advantage a veteran writer has over the beginner is this tolerance for not knowing.” –Ron Carlson from Ron Carlson Writes a Story.

It’s funny how I’ll read a book about writing or even just a piece of literature and then I go on and on about it for days. This time it’s Ron Carlson. Last week he helped me write a whole story which I’ve submitted to Flash Fiction On-line, a new venue for me. And this week he’s helping me stay in the chair for my novel. I’m bolstering that with keeping track of the time in the chair and how much I accomplish. I started work at 9:13 this morning. BTW, I shouldn’t be typing this right now. I’ve now been distracted for about 10 minutes! Dang, and it’s 10:08 AM. That means I managed to work less than an hour before I figured out a way to goof off. Back to WCB. It’s now 10:09.

It’s 4:28 and I’m three chapters in having done more editing than I would have thought. But I’ve learned a lot writing my flashes this year about what I don’t have to say so I think these chapters are tighter and therefore, better. As for my seat of the pants in the chair, I haven’t been very good. I would be six chapters in if I’d just stayed the course. I tried to work outside away from the phone and internet but it’s been hot here today and the garage isn’t air conditioned so I gave up and came into the chill of the house where there is email and EDF forums to read, food, and HGTV. Yish.

But I am begun really this time. I have to keep up my momentum because I do not want to reread these chapters again until I’m finished. I taped a note on the fridge that says “Aren’t you sick of the first 125 pages and aren’t you curious to see what you wrote after that?” I’m gonna feed my dog now and maybe come back up for chapter 4. I’m going to hold myself accountable to YOU out there.

Okay. I did it. It’s 8:30 and Chapter 4 is in the vault. I’m feeling as if I’m in a rhythm now so hopefully tomorrow with be more of the same.