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Mar 20, 2021 · Today we’ll look at the event story: how it starts, how it ends, and how it creates and resolves tension. (A note of caution before we begin: We will, as always, be drawing our examples from well-known books, films, and television shows, so be wary of spoilers.)
Mar 4, 2024 · You'll never believe the simple tricks screenwriters use to avoid getting SUED when basing films on real people and events! Learn how to legally and ethically adapt incredible true stories into powerful scripts - without ending up in court!
- The Sequence of Events in A Story Makes A Difference
- The Reader as An Active Participant
- Before A Sequence Comes A Scene
- Suspense, Surprise, and Curiosity
- Don’T Withhold Important Information
- The Standard Murder Mystery
- Two Exercises to Study Sequence of Events in A Story
- More Ways Than One
- Suspense, The Renewable Resource
The chronological order of events in a story is not always the best way to deliver the information to the reader. I remember reading passages in William Faulkner’s A Rose for Emilyin a college literature course. I felt struck by the way Faulkner moved his narrative around in time, creating a complex, multi-dimensional reading experience. Faulkner w...
Readers get the most satisfaction from reading a story when they are engaged as active participants. Many factors go into making this happen. One of the most critical components is information flow—when a writer delivers everything the reader needs to know, in a timely fashion. Given the right information, at the right time, readers should be able ...
Before we get into the sequence of events in a story, however, it's worth taking a pause to review what a scene is. In order for story structures to work, writers need to learn the craft of writing a scene. Once they can do this, they strengthen their skill of sequencing scenes in order to form acts, or other units of story. A logical sequence will...
How a writer orders the events in a scene can determine a reader's response to the story. There are three main responses a reader could feel: suspense, surprise, or curiosity. Let’s examine this by changing around the order of the following four events in a scene: Suspensedepends upon providing something for the reader to worry about and delaying t...
Lisa Cron’s book Wired for Story,is structured on a Myth/Reality basis. Here’s one of the Myths she puts forth: And here’s the Reality: She follows up by warning, “If we don’t know there’s intrigue afoot, then there is no intrigue afoot.” To get a better idea of what this means, let’s try an experiment. First, I’ll sketch out a scene where I’ve wit...
As writers, we get to choose which events to include, and how to order them. In a standard murder mystery, the main events might unfold like this: Writers can present events in that order, but it’s often more interesting to mix them up. Choosing to reveal the origin of the motive toward the end of the story will build suspense and keep the reader g...
Let's look at two exercises that will help you understand more about how to order events in a story to achieve the effect you want. One of the exercises—the study of chronologyversus presentation—examines the overall big picture. The other exercise—dealing with theflow of details—focuses on the micro view.
Suspense works best when you set up multiple possibilities for your character. The reader needs to be able to identify more than one potential outcome, ideally at least one positive and one negative. Worry increases when the negative outcome seems the more likely, especially as you raise the stakes,increasing the odds against your hero. Readers are...
There is an emotional factor in anticipating an outcome—either dread or excitement. That’s what makes it possible for us to read, watch, or listen to the retelling of a story more than once and again enjoy it. The elements of suspense are still at work, sparking the emotions of anticipation, because the reader is an active participant. Whether you'...
- Begin with the truth. Truth is stranger than fiction, so there is certainly much to mine. Each of my contemporary novels sprang off the pages of my own life.
- Get permission. Are others involved and do you want to stay close to the facts? If you know this is the case, run and get permission. Do your best to describe that this will be a work of fiction with strands of truth woven through it.
- Take pause. Whether you’ve written a first draft of the facts or are simmering on what truly happened in your mind, take a step back. Once the story is caught in your net, as a writer you have an opportunity to now ask: how could it be made better?
- Let go. Let the story run, bettering the facts or leaving them completely behind. This is the draft where you open your hand and let go. You are able to silence the voice saying, “That’s not what happened!”
Aug 13, 2019 · Lawyer and crime novelist Stephanie Kane delves into the complications and rewards of using real-life events as inspiration for writing compelling fiction.
Feb 2, 2023 · No matter what kinds of stories you’re hoping to write, there are certain storytelling principles that can help you communicate your tale in a powerful and convincing way. In this article, we’ll give you our top ten tips for how to write a story that resonates with readers.
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Jan 15, 2024 · As an author, you are the god of your novel. You can write whatever you want. But it can be a real downer, wanting to write a story based on real life events, especially when they involve your family or people you care about.
