Category: How to Write a Story

How to Write a Story

How to Write a Story: Setting Part One

floraj5604

Hello, everyone! How has your week been? Mine has been pretty nice since I had Monday and Tuesday off from school. Good news, we’re almost to the weekend! One more day!

This week, I’m going to continue our series on how to write a story that will captivate your readers and persuade them to keep reading. I will give you some tips on how to decide on your setting.

What is the Setting?

So, basically, the setting is where and when the story takes place. Here are some questions to ask yourself to spark your imagination.

  • When is your story set?
  • Where is your story set?
  • What are the traditions and culture of this place?

When?

The first thing you’ll want to think about for this part is whether your story is going to be in the past, present, or future. Now, you may have some idea of when you want your story to take place since you’ve already done some planning. But if you still need to decide, keep reading!

Take a moment to think about your plot. Is there a particular time it needs to be? Does your story have horse-drawn carriages, or is your main character driving a flying car? The horse-drawn carriage would be in the past (maybe 1800s) while the flying car would obviously be from the future.

Now you should start thinking about what year(s) your story will take place in. After you’ve decided, glance over your plot and make sure it all fits in.

Where?

You probably already have some idea where you want your story to take place. Here are the main categories to choose from.

  • The city or town that you live in
  • A made up fantasy world
  • A different part of the country that you live in
  • A country other than the one you live in.

Now I’ll go ahead and list the pros and cons of each category.

If you chose the city that you live in, great! You won’t have to do much research (unless your story is in the past). You already know what everything looks like, and you can describe it beautifully.

If you made up your own world, that is going to be both easy and hard. Don’t let me discourage you because this is quite the adventure! You get to decide the culture and traditions and the descriptions. This will take you on an amazing journey! You’ll never be bored! But this option is also a little time-consuming and hard. Yes, it takes time to think about everything. You’ll have to think about so many things, and I should know because this is the type of setting that I’m using in my story.

If you chose a different part of the country you’re in, it should be interesting. (For example, I live in the U.S., so I could choose a different state instead of the one I live in.) Since you are still choosing the country you live in, you won’t have to do that much research.

If you chose a completely different country than where you are, you are in for a trip! You’ll get to learn all sorts of new things and get to incorporate them into your writing. But this will also be super time-consuming which isn’t good if you are still in school. Even if you are out of school, but you have a job, this might not be a good idea.

Until Next Time…

Next week (February 21) I will be doing a part two post on what I talked about today. How is your story planning going? Are you having trouble choosing a setting or are you all set? If you have any questions, please leave a comment or send me an email.

Thank you so much for reading! Happy writing!

How to Write a Story

How to Write a Story: Characters

floraj5604

Hello, friends! This week, I’m going to continue our new series on how to write a story by giving you tips on how to create your characters.

For your materials, you will need the following:

  • The notes you took on your plot,
  • More paper,
  • Pen/pencil of your choice,
  • And a quiet place to sit.

Ready? Then let’s go!

Main character

The main character is usually the protagonist. The protagonist is the one character that the story focuses on. I’m guessing that while you were thinking about your plot last week, you kind of got a glimpse of your main character. Right now, I want youto start thinking about these details:

  • Gender
  • Age
  • Appearance

For your gender, you have two choices (obviously), but make it appropriate for your story. Remember that as you’re thinking about the ages as well.

For the appearance of your character, be creative! Here aresome things to ponder:

  • Hair color
  • Hair style
  • Eye color
  • Skin color
  • Clothing
  • Body type

Now it’s time to think of details. Think about your character and how he/she fits into the story. Will he/she need to be brave? How about bold? I’ll give you another method to try for coming up with characteristics at the end of this post.

Now, try to make a sketch of your character, even if it’s just a stick figure. As you’re doing this, start thinking about names (gender appropriate, of course!). Make a list of names that you might like to try. Lookup the meanings and see if they could be relevant to your storyline. Also, you need to make sure that you really know your character; that’ll help you write easily.

Other Characters

Now, to do this, you will need to refer to your plot. Go through your story, thinking about what other characters will be needed. When you’ve decided, make a list of the necessary characters, and then fill out their characteristics just like you did with your main character.

Getting to Know Your Characters

This is a tip that I got from another author that I love (Nancy Rue). Hang in there, because this may sound a little weird. For this project, you’ll need only two things:

  • An empty journal,
  • And a pen/pencil of your choice.

You are going to use this empty journal to write letters to your characters. This is so you can really get to know them. Your first entry should look like something like this:

          Dear (your character’s name),

I really want to get to know you so I can write you the correct way. I want to know everything that might help me get to know you, so we can be friends. Thanks for helping me!

                   (Your name)

And then, write yourself back as your character. The first time I did this, I totally thought I was crazy to try it. But, surprisingly, it actually helped. It’s an awesome way to get to know your characters. By the time you’re done, you’ll be BFFs!

Well, that’s all for this week. Next week I’ll be doing my Monthly Recap. If you have a request for a post in this series, let me know in the comments, and I will definitely consider it. Thanks for reading!