|
From Joy Cowley
|
|
|
Being an Author
1. The idea comes first. A story may begin with one idea or several. Look for ideas that are original, different. If you can't think of anything, try the library of ideas that come from your own
life. That is probably your richest resource. Focus on a specific memory. Was there a family celebration at which something funny happened? Was there a time when you were very frightened? What was
your best holiday - and what made it the best? Was there a time when you had to be brave? Have you ever been lost? What was your most exciting discovery or achievement? Your memory is full of
material for stories.
2. Expand your idea. An idea is not a story but merely the seed of a story. Develop your characters, make your story come alive with details. Ask yourself questions about the characters and the
action until you know all the answers. If you are working from a real-life incident and have a beginning and middle but no satisfactory ending, make one up. Most stories are a mixture of fact and
fiction. When you know the shape of your story from beginning to end, then you are ready to write it.
3. Don't worry about putting a title first. It's often easier to think of a title once you've written your story.
4. Write on draft paper, not in your book, and enjoy the writing. Don't stop to check spelling or punctuation and don't worry about words missed or crossed out, or changes of direction. Simply get
your story down on paper as best you can. Most stories have an energy that can be lost if we leave them, to look at a dictionary or if we get distracted by mistakes.
5. When you have finished your story, take a deep breath, and then read it through a couple of times. Your "author" role is finished and now it is time to be an editor.
Being an Editor
1. Does your story make sense? Sometimes we neglect to put down all the information we have in our heads.
2. Is the information in the correct order? Or do you need to move some of it around?
3. Check your spelling and punctuation.
4. What "voice" have you used to tell the story? Is the way of telling interesting? Does it have fast and slow movements like music? How have you balanced dialogue and narrative? Look at the action
in your story. You can make it sound fast by reducing adjectives and using short sentences with bare nouns and verbs. Or, in the quieter moments, you can slow down your story by using longer
sentences and more description.
5. Have you used your own words to describe things? Or have you used cliches, old descriptions used by everyone else. Look at the beginnings of your sentences. Do they grab the reader? If you are not
sure how to edit to make your writing sound fresh and exciting, read authors you admire and take note of the way they deal with language. Readers enjoy words that are like fresh juicy fruit, not
words that seem old, dry and stale.
6. How have you dealt with the main dramatic moment? Usually, a story has a plot and that plot concerns some kind of problem or challenge that gets solved. Often the main dramatic moment, the most
exciting part of the story, occurs just before the problem is solved. When we get to the main dramatic moment, we should slow down and give the reader all the details. If we skip over the main part
of the story in a sentence or two, we cheat the reader.
7. Do you have an interesting beginning? No matter how interesting your story is, if your beginning doesn't catch the eye, the reader is not going to go on. You have about two sentences to grab the
reader. The best way to do this is to start with action or dialogue.
8. Where have you ended the story? Some young authors occasionally have a problem with endings. They don't know where to finish a story. Chances are, they have gone past the right ending. A story is
a bit like a running race. It takes us a while to warm up but once we get going, we don't always stop at the finishing tape, but run on. The right ending for any story is usually soon after the
problem gets solved. If you don't know where or how to end your story, stop and look back a few sentences. Chances are you'll find the correct ending already written.
9. Okay, so now you are ready to rewrite your story. Some people find editorial rewriting a bore and a chore. I find it very exciting - like the cutting of a diamond. Good luck!
10.Enjoy the finished product and share it with your friends.
A Few General Hints for Authors
1. A tired mind doesn't produce a good story. Successful creative work comes from the top 25% of our energy. If your story isn't working, have an early night and come back to your story with fresh
energy.
2. Seek solitude to develop your ideas. Friends are useful for helping you to generate ideas but you need to be on your own to develop and craft the story.
3. Don't tell people your story before you write it. Each story has a certain energy. You can get rid of that energy by telling the story to someone, then, when you come to write it, the story will
seem flat and lifeless.
4. Above all, enjoy every part of the process. Writing can seem like hard work but it is very satisfying. It also empowers us.
|
|
|
