Thursday 19 May 2011

Finding Balance in Your Story

Tell Me A Story

I don't really like saying there are rules to writing, because someone somewhere, will prove me wrong. However, every now and then a convention in writing becomes so accepted that it almost becomes a rule. For instance - All stories must have form and proportion. 

A plot must have balance. Stories that are in balance are things of beauty, get the balance wrong and they start to feel ugly.
    1. A plot should never consist of continuous desolation and emotional anguish. Readers soon tire of it, they become emotionally exhausted.
    2. Readers should always associate with your characters. Make this connection by ensuring that incidents are feasible for the situation and genre.
    3. The tempo of the story should vary - some scenes must be calmer than others.
    4. After writing a chapter containing a significant episode, give readers time to recover by writing a more leisurely scene - not a boring scene of course, but one with fewer disparities, fewer ups and downs.
    5. Make your story congruent with, yet larger than, life. Everyday life is mostly boring - readers of fiction want entertainment, not a documentary - and they certainly don't want lecturing.
    Give your readers interesting and believable variation and if you're lucky, they’ll give you time.