The first sentence turns a potential reader into a concentrating reader. Stephen King’s first sentences hook the reader with tension and introduce his voice. If the first sentence doesn’t do its job, later sentences won’t be read. King says, ‘to…
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Greater Minds: Stephen King’s opening sentences
Tagged with: beginning, First sentence, horror, Outline, Planning, Stephen King, Story development, Tension
Posted in Greater minds, Wednesday Pontification
Posted in Greater minds, Wednesday Pontification
Setting 2: Invented places
You need to know more about the setting than you will use in the story. It’s harder to invent a setting than to research a historical setting. A map of the setting keeps it consistent. Using places I’ve been is…
Tagged with: Cliché detector, Outline, Planning, Setting, Story development, Tripod
Posted in Story development, Wednesday Pontification, Writing
Posted in Story development, Wednesday Pontification, Writing
Setting 1: Real places
Plausible settings help readers suspend their disbelief. Choose a setting that is distinctive and illustrates the theme of the story. Describe the setting through a few details. Collect places where a story can be set and consider which details to…
Tagged with: Cliché detector, Outline, Planning, Setting, Story development, Tripod
Posted in Story development, Wednesday Pontification, Writing
Posted in Story development, Wednesday Pontification, Writing
The First Draft
Now for the fun part. This is where the tripod and the robots fade away as we discard torturous analogies and let the creativity flow free. There are still a few things to consider, so beware, this will be a…
Tagged with: draft, Outline, Planning, short story, Story development, Tripod
Posted in Story development, Writing
Posted in Story development, Writing
Outline: the story skeleton
We’re getting very close to the first draft now. There’s one more thing to do and one more choice to make. The thing we need to do is to convert the chronology into an outline. As I said a few…
Tagged with: Cliché detector, Outline, Planning, Plot, Story development, structure
Posted in Story development, Writing
Posted in Story development, Writing
Building a Chronology
By now, we know roughly who and what the story is going to be about, and where it’s going to take place. Now we need to work out who is going to do what, and in what order. It’s important…
Tagged with: Chronology, John Cleese, Outline, Planning, Story development, Tripod
Posted in Story development, Writing
Posted in Story development, Writing
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