3 comments/ 27622 views/ 9 favorites Practical Writing / Story Telling 01 By: The Avenger Hi. I am really grateful for the platform that Lit provided me to use and abuse. This is my way of giving back. This is intended for new Writers/Authors who are interested in learning a practical, technical method of developing their stories. Since I am posting this on Lit, the article focuses on Authors wishing to write and post on Lit and similar forums. If you use your head however, you might be able to apply the contents to writing in general. I have divided it into three parts. The first part is a broad introduction to some aspects of writing, the second is a look at classical story structures and the third is a description of a method which I find to be practical and effective for developing ideas into stories. I am an experienced writer of motion picture fiction and give creative writing workshops from time to time. I developed this method by piecing together what I learned in Art School and from my experiences writing and teaching. May I add though that I do not use this method when writing what I submit on Lit (it was never my intention to post for a broad porn audience). If you do read my other submissions, allow me to quote well in advance the Man from Nazareth, who once said, "Do as I say, not as I do." When I attended Art School, I was rebellious. I chose to become an artist because I wanted to be free in my creativity. I did not want to be limited by so called "established" rules and conventions. I was like, "I wanna do my own thing, I don't wanna imitate this or that person..." I was not the only student with this opinion (artists, right?). However, a favorite Professor said something very interesting to us. He said, "There is nothing wrong with breaking rules, but you gotta know them first, so you know why you are breaking them." I hope you will find something of use for yourself in these 3 submissions. What is a story?: Looking at it from an Author's point of view, a story is an artificial construction, created by a story teller to give a convincing illusion of reality. Though you might feel emotional attraction or attachment to characters, events or dialog in a story, these are all really artificial, abstract constructions that only exist in the head of the storyteller, in our case, the Author. This definition applies even to a story based on real persons and/or events. First and foremost, everyone's memory is selective and subjective. Though we all tend to say, "This is the way it happened," what we should actually say is, "This is the way I (choose to) remember it." Even when an author models a character on a real person, he/she can never write everything about that person, without easily reaching a million pages. What you do (or should do) is select aspects of that person's character that are relevant to the story you would like to tell, and leave out the rest. The same applies to any events, places, objects and so forth, that you include in your story. You might equate a story to a map of a city. A map is drawn to a scale and shows a two dimensional plan of a city. You can find real places on it, you can use it to navigate accurately from one point to another, but the map and the city are not the same. Writing a good story is like marking a route on a map, that gives you the easiest, most direct way to get you from your starting point to your destination. What constitutes a good story (generally speaking): Correct English (or whatever language you are using, smart Aleck): The first and most basic components of a well written story are correct spellings, grammar and punctuation (except within quotation marks). Errors tend to irritate readers, therefore, it is advisable to use Spell-check and proof read your work. Disciplined Writing: Disciplined writing as opposed to carefree waffling gives you a focused story with a clear structure that is easy for a reader to follow. Waffling and aimless, uninspired meandering tend to distract, bore and irritate readers. A skilled Author may like to constantly confuse his/her readers and force them to keep on their toes and use their heads, as Tarantino did in Pulp Fiction. I remember a mate of mine going, "How come Travolta got shot but he was still alive at the end?" I responded with, "Use your head, fool!" (Pulp Fiction is made up of three plots, and Tarantino or his Editor moved some stuff around the "time-lines", so they are not told chronologically.) Style: Readers with taste tend to appreciate an author with style, as in, a wide vocabulary, vivid imagery, a clever way with words, usage of puns and well, all those little things that differentiate and elevate a word smith from just another writer, and give him his/her own particular signature. Be assured though that you do not have to be a wordmeister in order to write a good story. And beautiful, superfluous language alone doth not of a boring story an interesting one make. (You may try to aid a limited, dull, redundant vocabulary by consulting a Thesaurus though.) Emotional involvement: A story which has impact does not happen in the readers' heads but in their hearts. Readers become emotionally involved if they either sympathize with or despise a character's personality, ethics, goals and actions. The Author has to get the readers to a point where they wish the main characters ill or well. Needless to say, if the readers do not care either way about any of the characters and events in a story, then they will be bored and the story will just breeze past them. They will probably just stop reading way before they reach your carefully planned climax. For example, I will watch Miami Heat because I like them and want them to win. I will watch the Knicks because I don't like them and hope to see them lose. But I don't care about The Pistons, win or lose, so I wont bother watching any of their games. ZAPP!!! BYE! Tension Tension is created and heightened through conflicts. The more and the bigger the opposing forces you have in your story, the higher the tension. The opposing forces can come in the form of internal conflicts, whereby a character has to fight against his moral values, beliefs, fears or logic and so forth. Or they can take the form of external forces, as in other people or the environment which make it difficult for a character in a story to achieve their aim. Suspense Suspense is created when the reader wishes for a particular outcome, but is not sure if it will come to pass or not. It is also created when the reader fears for a character who is threatened by something or someone. If the outcome of a story is clear after the first couple of lines, you could equate this to attending a boxing match knowing that the ref has been bought and one of the boxers has accepted a million bucks to take a dive after 30 seconds. Unless you were weird, or had a lot of money riding on it, you would simply be bored and would not bother attending the match. Interesting Plot: The plot is the sequence of events in your story. Obviously, the more interesting the things that happen in your story, the more interested the reader is. However, "interesting" does not that something out of the ordinary or supernatural has to happen in your story. The points in your plot that add to the tension and suspense are "interesting." If your story has superb, unexpected "twists and turns" going off at spectacular tangents, but they do not add to the tension, suspense or the readers' emotional involvement, then they will have no impact. Relevance: The subject matter of your story has to be of some relevance to the reader. You should look at a story like a question and answer session. The question is posed somewhere at the beginning of your story. "Will he/she succeed or fail?" Will he/she be caught or not?" and so forth. If you write about something that is very trivial and carries no weight for the reader, this is like posing a boring, uninteresting question. Its rare if not impossible to have an interesting answer to a boring question. Why should a reader stick around till the end? Convincing Logic Since this seems to a major point of conflict between Authors and readers on Lit, I will devote a fair amount of space to it. Terms like "convincing", "logical" and "realistic" tend to be confusing. Often, readers post comments like, "Your story was very realistic (or convincing)," or , "Not convincing at all..." I have already described a story as an artificial construction. Therefore, how does one give this artificial construction a veneer of realism? A realistic story is one in which your artificial construction makes sense, that is, it has no logical flaws. There has to be congruence between characters you establish, and the setting (physical and social environment) and the plot. In real life, water flows downstream. However, readers of fiction are very lenient and tolerant. They allow Authors to create worlds where water flows upstream, Vampires prowl the nights, Aliens zoom about in space ships, Terminators come from the future and so forth. At the beginning of your story, you as an Author are free to establish any types of characters and societies, abiding in any sorts of fantastic worlds, which follow any sets of rules that you can conjure. However, once you have established the characters and "natural laws" of your story, the readers expect and in fact demand of you to remain bound by them. If you suddenly change any of these, for no apparent reason that can be understood, the readers will sense a flaw in your logic. They will feel annoyed and cheated, like you are playing with loaded dice. As a kid I once watched a Kung Fu movie with a Bruce Lee look alike, aptly named Bruce Li. The title was, "The Third Leg of Bruce Li." Just before the end of the movie, the bad guys had Bruce Li all trussed up on the floor. One of the baddies raised an evil looking machete to hack off Bruce's head. And then, lo and behold, out of the blue, a third leg appeared on Bruce's hip, and kicked all the baddies and killed them. Then it disappeared. Everybody in the cinema fell over laughing, because this was simply ridiculous. Throughout the whole movie, there had been absolutely nothing to suggest that Bruce Li might have some type of third leg. Mind you, I am not talking about his penis here, I mean a real leg, thigh, knee, and foot in a brand new Chinese shoe. Though we were kids, we just didn't buy that. We thought the film makers were dumb morons and we laughed at them. The same applies to your story. Whilst you do not have to reveal everything at the start, if something of importance, like a third leg, supernatural powers or aliens and stuff is to play a pivotal role later on in your story, you have to at least give the reader some veiled clues. The same applies to characters. If you establish a character as being morose and very vindictive, and then they suddenly become light of spirit and very forgiving, for no apparent reason, the reader will become irritated. In real life, people can suddenly change and do something unexpected, for no apparent reason (or reasons which we are not aware of). That is life. However, in a story, this is simply irritating for readers. I have just checked the Feed Back Portal for examples and I picked out this one randomly. Here is a quotation from a reader. I hope the Author does not mind... (Blue88-A study in scarlet) "JOHN cannot find his soon to be wife at a new years party.... when he does she is face fucking some other guy at the stroke of Midnight.... when John breaks it up the other guy starts a fight... and she slaps JOHN her husband to be in front of EVERYONE... and John decides to marry this cunt? what on earth for? you see this story fails b/c JOHN is given NO motivation about why he decides to forgive her. Does she give great sex? great BJ/s? does she have fantastic tits? is her family fabulously wealthy? WHAT? What is it about her that is SOOOOOO compelling that a street smart guy like John would risk a marriage after that awful Humiliation? Anyone? anyone at all with an answer?" I haven't read the story, but I hope you get the point I am trying to make. The reader is not saying, its not realistic for a guy to catch his wife-to-be blowing some other guy at some New Year's Party, get smacked by both of them and still go off and marry her. What he is saying is, its not realistic for this fictitious character that you have established as being "street smart", to up and do that, for no apparent reason. Selling a story to readers: Obviously, when you post a story, you are ultimately selling something to your readers, unless you are writing to live out your fantasies or piss people off. Any story you write contains some kind of message. This lies in the nature of story telling. In the past, stories were used in all cultures to transport lessons, wisdom and messages to present and future generations. Whilst this may no longer be applicable to all the stories that reach us nowadays, stories are in essence vehicles for transporting something. In other words, selling something. Generally, it is easy to sell an readers a character they can identify with, especially if they sympathize with his/her goal. Conversely, it is difficult to sell an audience characters with thoughts, morals, behavior and fetishes that they find abhorrent and despicable, unless these people are punished or made to change their opinions. (Kind of like how many people used to go and watch Muhammad Ali hoping to see him getting bashed) I know this sounds conservative, but readers are generally conservative. More so on Forums like Lit. People who read stories in a particular Cat are looking for stories with a particular direction and fetish. However, if you write cleverly, you can sell readers almost anything. I mean, the makers of "Pretty Woman" managed to sell the conservative, religious folks in the mid west, the south and the rest of the country the story of a millionaire fornicating with and then marrying a common whore. There are several factors which determine what readers will buy, the most important of which being, Moral Values: To put it briefly, this is their sense of right and wrong. Readers, just like cinema audiences, can be made to accept and support a character doing something they consider wrong, if he/she has plausible extenuating circumstances. A good Author can even make his readers end up supporting something they initially considered to be wrong. For example, many homophobic people were made to feel for the gay guy played by Forrest Gump, I mean, Tom Hanks, in Philadelphia, right? Expectations: What does a reader expect when they read your story? What are they looking for? A readers expectations encompass things like; What type of figure do they want as their main character? What (or maybe who) do they want him/her to do? And how do they wish the story to end? Literotica/Porn Site expectations Obviously, on a porn site, the majority of readers want "hot" sex that they can frig or wank to. However, they expect something more. For example, readers of Incest want stories about a protagonist who gives in to their lust for close blood relations. They want their protagonist to have wonderful sex, and probably happily continue it. Therefore, obviously if you write a story in which a character commits incest and is punished severely for it by the law or the society, you are not meeting their expectations. Lesbian and Gay readers generally seem to seek stories about straight people who succumb to their homosexual desires and find hot sex and probably love. They also seem to like stories of straight people that are "raped" by someone of the same sex and love it. Therefore if you write a homophobic story about lecherous gays who are punished for their "gay" desires, you are not meeting their expectations. (I did it on purpose a couple of times and damn were the gays mad!) The people who read the Mature Cat wish for stories where an elderly and a younger person succumb to their attraction for one another and find great sex and probably love. I once came across a story in this category about a lonely, sweet elderly lady that was raped and debased by an uncouth, obnoxious young buck who found her wrinkled flesh and sagging breasts disgusting. She then became his willing slut. Needless to say the writer was bashed by the readers of the category. He failed to meet their expectations completely. I for one do not usually read Non Consent stories because I believe a man who has to force himself on a woman who does not find him at all attractive should be punished (not necessarily coz I am anti sexism, but maybe coz I never had problems getting laid). However, the readers seem to like stories where pretty women are raped and debased and love it, usually for no apparent reason (at least not one that is logical to me). I have only posted once in that Cat. I wrote the story of a teacher who is raping and abusing his students with impunity, until he gets raped and debased himself. I was surprised that the story was well received and rewarded with high scores. I was actually expecting to piss them off. Them readers didn't fulfill my expectations. Therefore, I would suggest that you carefully consider what the expectations in the Cat you intend to post in are, if at least so that you know when to be prepared for some heavy flak. Two problem categories: There are a couple of categories where many Authors seem to fail to meet the readers' moral values and expectations. Loving Wives is a problem Category. It seems like both Authors and readers agree that "Loving Wife" stories should be about cheating wives (Don't ask me why? I mean English is a foreign language from that distant, tiny European Island, right?). However, it seems like most of the readers are interested in stories about wives that cheat on their husbands and end up being punished for it. The writers however, seem more interested in stories where the cheating wives get away with it. Usually the husbands are portrayed as wimps that are physically and mentally inadequate for their wives. They end up as willing cuckolds, who are sometimes even humiliated and made to watch, eat cream pies and perform fellatio on their wives' studs. This usually annoys many readers of this particular Cat, who constantly complain about male humiliation and demand vengeance and retribution. They obviously like cheating wives and vindictive, self righteous, all powerful husbands, but hate cuckolds and wimps. The other problem Cat is IR. Judging from the people who post comments, most of them want stories about White Men and black women. However, they seem to hold Black Man, White Woman sex to be morally wrong and unacceptable. The fantasy of BM WW sex seems to fascinate them, yet they despise the characters. Therefore, they expect the white woman to be portrayed as whore and and the black man as a brute. They "demand" that the IR sexual experience should destroy the white woman, and make her lose everything; divine punishment for a mortal sin, if you will. Stories in IR written by white men tend to satisfy these expectations. Those written by white women who prefer black men or fantasize of having sex with them do not conform to this and are usually met with the wrath of white male readers. The constant outrage from white readers towards romantic IR stories has led to several Authors in the category posting stories that are intentionally very insulting to white men, which in turn provokes more rude comments from the morons. I for one enjoy pissing those morons off too. If you post in IR or Loving Wives, you better have a thick skin. Some terms used in classical writing defined loosely: Practical Writing / Story Telling 01 Protagonist: The main character in a story. This does not necessarily mean the one whose name appears the most, it means the one whose story is told, the one whose aim is defined, whose actions drive the story, and who ultimately fails or succeeds in his aim at the conclusion of the story. Antagonist: The character who tries to hinder the protagonist from achieving his or her aim. Plot: Sequence of events, in other words, the things that happen in a story. In a classical story, the plot is usually instigated or provoked by the protagonist. Sub-Plot: A sequence of events that happen parallel to the main plot. In a classical structure, the sub plot should either aid or hinder the Protagonist in achieving his/her goal. Plot twist: A point in a story when things suddenly move in an unexpected direction, adding to the tension and suspense. Sequence: A series of events in a plot which hang together and are connected, with a beginning, middle and an end or conclusion. For example, lets say you are writing a police detective story, about a detective hunting a criminal. You could have a Sequence where the detective discovers that a guy named Nino who lives in China Town might know where he can find his suspect. The detective then tries to find Nino and extract the information from him. The sequence would start off with someone telling him that he needs to talk to Nino. The detective seeks Nino. He finds him but Nino runs away. The detective chases and catches him. Nino refuses to talk, maybe he hates cops, he is loyal or scared, you know the drill. The detective threatens and maybe beats Nino up (the American way). Finally Nino talks, and tells him all he knows. The detective is now closer to finding his suspect. He says bye to Nino, gives him some money or knocks him out. This is the end of the sequence. The story moves on to the next sequence. Acts: Distinct parts of a plot. Usually, a classical story is divided into three acts, which serve distinct dramatical purposes. Act 1, also called The Beginning, is about the first quarter of a story, Act 2 , The Middle, is about two quarters of the story in length and is in the middle of the story obviously. Act 3, the end is the last quarter of the story. Don't worry too much about these terms yet, we will deal with them later. Practical Writing / Story Telling 02 A Dramatic, Classical Story To reiterate, I defined a story as an artificial construction intended to give the illusion of reality. (What? What?) A dramatic, classic, which is the type I am interested in expounding on, is defined as: "The story of a protagonist who tries to get something which he/she desperately needs that is very difficult to get and succeeds/ fails." To put it in other words, you as an Author have to establish, THE WHO (the protagonist), THE WHAT (the something that he/she tries to get), THE WHY (why does he/she need it desperately and why is it difficult to get), THE HOW (how he tries to get it), and THE RESULT/RESOLUTION (does he/she fail/succeed and how does this affect him/her) Note: It is essential to be DISCIPLINED. This means that every word that you write has to be of relevance to the story. Anything that is not of relevance is simply distracting and time consuming. The Three Acts and their purposes A dramatic, classical story has three parts, a beginning, a middle and an ending. The BEGINNING (Act 1) : (roughly the first quarter of your story in length, however, the shorter the better) Purpose: To set up your story and establish THE WHO, THE WHAT, THE WHY and the setting of your story, as in the physical and social environments in which your story plays. Introducing The Protagonist: The reader must get to know your protagonist. Who and what is he/she? You do not need to write a complete Bio of someone. You restrict yourself to the basics, like name, age, then only the relevant information on his/her character flaws and strengths that will play a role in the story. For example, if your protagonist grew up in a catholic foster home in Wisconsin and hates gay people, but it plays absolutely no role in the story, then just spare the reader all that junk. However, if he/she has to confront homosexuality in your story, then that information would be interesting and essential for your readers. THE SETTING: The Physical Setting: What type of Physical Environment does your story take place in? Is it a small town in the Mid West, a fictitious Alien Planet in some distant Galaxy, a College, a Ghetto, a Law Firm, a Desert, a Jungle? Note: Limit your description only to relevant details. Obviously, if your story is set in some fictitious environment that your readers are not familiar with, you need to give many more details than if your story is set in, say an ordinary town or city that they know. And you should limit yourself to relevant details. For example if your story plays in a skyscraper, you do not need to spend five whole pages describing how the elevators function when they play absolutely no role in your story. The Social Setting: What are the socially accepted or shunned types of behavior in the society where your story plays? Obviously, if your story plays in a social environment that is exotic, futuristic, medieval and so forth, where people do not behave "normally", then you need to "explain" it to your reader. For example, if your story plays in a place and time where people monogamy is out and open sexual promiscuity is common place, then the reader would be curious to know how that functions, they know its not normal. However, if your story is set in the ordinary environment, do not waste time telling the reader something he knows already. THE WHAT: What is it that the Protagonist needs desperately? Your protagonist does not necessarily have to want IT at the start of the story. IT (the need/want) can develop during your story, but the reader should know this by the end of Act 1. For instance, you could start off with a person who is lonely and in need of a lover to share their life with. Or someone who is broke and suddenly has to pay a lot of money for something or get into serious trouble, thus he suddenly has a "need" to get money quickly. Or you could start off with someone who is married and thinks they are happy, then they suddenly meet someone and develop feelings for them, thus developing a "need" to get out of their marriage and woo the new person. Or, you could have a person who is in a monogamous relationship, then they suddenly discover the world of swinging, (through a TV program, a magazine, conversation or an experience) and decide that they would like to try out that "new" type of life with their partner. Therefore, they now have a "need" to convince their partner to try out that lifestyle. Note: Every person wants a thousand different things, but when you write, it is important that your protagonist have one goal/aim/want/need. If he/she wants a dozen things that are very different from one another, this is distracting. Choose one and stick to it. Remember, this is a "Story" not Real Life. THE WHY: Once you have established your protagonist's want/need, then you must show why it is so difficult to get? Remember, if something is easy to get, there is little tension and suspense. However, the greater the difficulty, the more insurmountable the obstacles seem, the higher the tension and the suspense. (You know this from Hollywood Movies, right?) I always make a list of possible difficulties for my protagonists. Using the above examples, a) a person who is lonely and in "need" to find a lover to share their life with: The difficulties could be that he is shy, or unattractive, cant approach potential partners, has no time or opportunity to meet someone new, lives in a small town and has a bad reputation so none of the potential partners will even talk to him/her, or is in love with someone who is not reciprocative of their affection, or someone way above him/her in their social status, or someone much older or younger, or someone of the same sex who has problems with homosexuality, or a close blood relation and so forth. b) a married person who suddenly develops a "need" to get out of their marriage and woo the new person: The difficulties could be that their spouse does not want a divorce, or the new person is best friends with the spouse, or they work for the dad of their spouse, who will fire them if they get divorced, or they live in a religious society where it is not in to get divorced and so forth. c) A person who suddenly discovers the world of swinging and group sex and decides to try out that lifestyle with their partner: The difficulties could be that their partner is religious and prissy, and thinks swingers are decadent perverts, or there are no potential partners in the vicinity, or they live in a society where swingers are shunned and ostracised. d) A person who is broke and suddenly has to come up with some money quickly: The difficulty could be that he has no job, or bad credit, or nobody he can borrow the money from and so forth. NOTE: If your readers sympathize with your protagonist and their goal, the readers will wish him/her success, if not, they will wish him/her failure. Either way, you will have their emotional involvement. However, if they are not emotionally involved, or if they do not understand who and what the hell your story is about, or think that the whole thing is just infantile trash, the majority (of your target readers) might lose interest. The Middle (Act 2): (roughly two quarters of your story in length) Purpose: To show the protagonist's struggle towards achieving his/her goal. This is where you handle THE HOW. How does your protagonist try to achieve their aim? What action do they take to get that which is difficult to get? How do they fight and surmount the obstacles and opposition? Your main character must make an effort to get what he needs. He must fight the forces that are against him. Obviously, you need forces that are against him, or he will simply get what he desires with no effort, and there will be no tension and no suspense. This is the reason why stories where all a man has to do is show a woman his big cock and she simply falls to her knees and starts blowing him and shouting, "fuck me with your huge cock!" are so boring and trite. In real life, we often get things we don't deserve or do not even work for. However, in a story, this is boring and unmotivated. People generally have no problem receiving something for nothing, but they get jealous if that happens to someone else. I mean, in my younger days, I had several "incidents" where "pussy simply fell on my lap" so to speak. When I recounted the adventures to my friends, most thought I was lying or they made stupid comments. However, when I was actively involved in persuing a woman, my friends' reactions were far more pleasing. They would get involved in my "hunt" so to speak. They would give tips, advice and their analysis of the situation. I guess we all originated from "hunters and gatherers" therefore the public generally has much more sympathy with someone who is actively involved in a hunt, as opposed to someone who just gets his/her meat for free, undeservedly, so to speak. The forces that your protagonist faces can take several forms, mainly external and internal forces. External forces: Antagonists: A person or persons who try to hinder the protagonist from achieving his goal. For example, lets say your protagonist is trying to win the heart of a girl, and another guy is also trying to get her, or she has a boyfriend or husband, who is cock blocking and breaking the protagonist's plans like dishes, or she has a dad who does not want him around his daughter, or the girl thinks he is a jerk and tries to avoid him... A hostile physical environment: This could take the form of a storm, hurricane, a hot desert, or any forces of nature that could make it difficult for your protagonist to reach his goal. A hostile social environment: This could be social attitudes that work against your protagonist like racism, homophobia, sexism. Other external forces could take the form of a car that wont start when the protagonist needs to get somewhere fast, an ATM that wont work, a gun that wont fire, an elevator that jams. Internal forces: These lead to an internal conflict that discourages the protagonist from trying to achieve his aim, like fear, an inferiority complex, shyness, moral values that make him/her think that what he wants is wrong and so forth. Depending on the length of your story, you could divide the opposition into several sequences, so that your protagonist conquers them one after the other. In each consecutive sequence, the tension and the suspense must be raised. Your protagonist might start off sort of half heartedly seeking something. But as the story progresses, his efforts must become more determined and clearer. Simultaneously, the opposition must increase. At the end of the Middle, your hero has fought a good fight, and he is now close to achieving his goal or failing. The Middle ends at a point of high suspense, something like seconds before the last, final and deciding round of a grueling boxing match. Your protagonist might have taken a battering and has nothing left but a tiny glimmer of hope, you know, he/she is standing before an abyss, looking defeat in the eye. But he/she has something which makes them say, "No, I wont throw in the towel, I will fight to the last breath." The End: (about a quarter of the story in length) Your protagonist gives it all he/she has got and the last part of our sentence is answered, "Does he/she succeed or fail?" Your protagonist either fails, or succeeds. Going back to our examples... a) a person who is lonely and in "need" of a lover to share their life with: The girl either says, "Yes, I want to be your girl," or she says "I like you, but not in that way." b) a married person suddenly develops a "need" to get out of their marriage and woo a new person: He/she either leaves their spouse and starts off with the new person, or decides to stay in with their spouse. If you are into polygamy, maybe both partners agree to share his/her love. c) A person discovers the world of swinging and group sex and decides to try out that lifestyle with their partner: The spouse either embraces the "new" lifestyle, or he/she rejects it, and says, "if you cant live without it, find yourself someone else." d) A person who is broke and suddenly has to pay for something or get into a lot of trouble: The protagonist either gets the money and pays or fails and gets into the big trouble. The Kiss off: The kiss off is an optional part to a story. Personally, I prefer stories which give me an indication of how the protagonist and other characters are rewarded or punished. Some people prefer an open end where they fill in the details for themselves. If you decide to include a kiss off, then you tell the readers how the protagonist deals with the consequences of his/her success or failure. A happy ending: In a happy ending, the protagonist is successful and lives happily ever after, or they fail, but learn something valuable for life which makes them a better, happier person. A tragic ending: The protagonist fails, loses everything (or something very valuable) and is a broken person. Or, they fight hard to get something and they now realize that it was not worth the effort at all. Therefore, they are left bitter and maybe dejected. The message or moral of your story: The way you end a story determines your "message." For example, if you write one of those typical cheating wife stories which ends with the wife having sex with another man, whilst her small dick husband accepts the role of wimp and cuckold, then you are saying a man with a small penis is a failure and does not deserve a wife. If someone strives to pursue a relationship that general moral values consider to be a despicable taboo and finds joy and happiness, then you are saying, "go after what your heart desires and find true joy." If they end up losing everything, you are saying, "don't think for yourself and feel, be like a cow and stay in the herd." And so on and so forth. Therefore, always look at your story as a whole, and ask yourself, "What am I really saying here?" It is obvious that many Authors on Lit do not do this, and are therefore surprised by the reactions of the readers. DISCIPLINE AND RELEVANCE: This is something that can never be stressed enough. You must look at everything you include in your story, in this way, whatever aids or hinders the protagonist in his aim should be included, whatever doesn't, should be thrown out, whether you think it is cool or not. If you realize that the things that are very important for you do not actually play a role in your story, then you are telling the wrong story. Change your story. Find the right story. In the next part will get into the actual writing. Practical Writing / Story Telling 03 How to start writing: Unless you are very experienced, just sitting and banging away at your computer is like jumping into your car and simply driving without a destination and a map. I know of several experienced, successful Authors that make notes and build the skeleton of their story before they finally sit down and write. When I write professionally (which does not include my Lit postings) I use a method I call "The hunter and gatherer Method." Basically, I make several lists which help me hunt and gather ideas. To reiterate, a dramatic story with a classical structure is about "A protagonist who tries to get something which he/she desperately needs that is very difficult to get and succeeds/ fails." This will now be referred to as our lead sentence. Obviously, people decide to write a story for several different reasons. It could be you read something in the paper, about a person or people who did this and that, or you have experiences or fantasies you want to share, or you are asked to write a story on a particular subject (for money, if you are lucky). It is enough if you have a rough idea of what you want to write about. Your first step is to choose the story you want to write: Choosing your story: Any story which involves more than one person can be told from several different perspectives and angles. You can have several characters who play an important role in a story, but in order to make it dramatic, you have to tell the story of only one of them. That one character is the one you chose to be your protagonist. Several factors play a role in choosing your story and your protagonist. You might choose the character whose perspective you know best, or the one you think your target audience can identify or sympathize with most. I will use a concrete example: Lets say you would like to tell the story of a housewife who cheats on her husband with her gardener. There are at least three different angles here. You can tell the story from the wife's angle, or the husband's or the gardener's. The wife's angle is that of a woman who cheats on her husband and betrays him. The husband's is that of a man who is betrayed by his wife. The gardener's is that of a man who seduces another man's woman. Now, we will go deeper into the possible angles. Remember, we want to put our story in the form of the lead sentence, which is "A protagonist tries to get something which he/she desperately needs that is very difficult to get and succeeds/ fails." The Housewife's Stories: If we want to make the housewife our protagonist, we must look for angles where she actively wants something that is hard to get. If she just wants the gardener's big cock and gets it, just like that, and the husband comes home and immediately says, "Oh, it really turns me on to see you with another man," such a story has no tension and suspense. However, we could try the following angles.... -She could be a woman who is greatly tempted into having sex or an affair with her sexy gardener, but she abhors infidelity and wants to be faithful and loyal to her husband. -Or the gardener could have some kind of power over her and is trying to force her into having sex or an affair against her will. -or she could be a woman who wants to seduce her handsome, young gardener, but he does not want her, for some reason. -or she could be having a secret affair with her gardener and wants to keep this a secret from her husband, who is getting suspicious, and would destroy her if he found out. -Or she could be having a fling with her gardener, with no intention of getting divorced, but the gardener now he wants her to break up with her husband and is putting pressure on her. The Husband's Angle: If we want the husband as our protagonist, what angle could we use so that he actively wants something which is difficult to get? -He could suspect that the gardener is after his wife, and he wants to make sure that the guy does not get her. Therefore, he is a man fighting to keep his woman. -Or, he could suspect that his wife might be cheating, and wants to find out the truth, in other words, he wants to set a trap to catch the cheating wife and gardener. -Or he could be a man who wants to test his wife's fidelity and hires and pays a young, attractive gardener to try and seduce her. -or he could discover that his wife is cheating and tries to get revenge on both. Note: In all examples, he actively wants something. He doesn't just suddenly find out his wife is cheating and that's it. The Gardener's Stories: If we take the gardener as our protagonist, what angle can we take where he is actively trying to get something? -He could be a young man trying to seduce an attractive, married woman who does not want to cheat. -Or he could be a man who has fallen in love with a married woman and wants to convince her to leave her husband for him. -Or he could be trying to keep his affair with her secret from her husband, who is getting suspicious and would destroy him if he found out. -or he could be a young man who is being forced into sex or an affair by a rich, powerful, elder woman against his will, and is trying to get out of it but she wont let him go. Choosing your Protagonist: If you are new to writing, I would suggest you tell the story from the perspective of a character you understand and know best (your gender, social status, age, race and so forth). It is not advisable to make your protagonist a type of person that you do not know or understand. Lets say you are a man who has no idea how housewives think, then do not try to tell her story, unless you are prepared to invest lots of time in research, or you might earn one of those comments one often reads, like, "Author is obviously a man who has no idea how women think." Then do what I did above. Make a list of the possible angles and stories you can tell from your protagonist's point of view. Choose the one you find most interesting, and then start developing it. NOTE: If say, you want to tell the wife's story, but you would also like to give your readers an insight into the feelings and actions of the husband and the gardener, you then incorporate these into your story as sub plots. However, that comes after you have developed your main story, and we will look at that later. Step by Step Plot Development: For the purpose of this exercise, I will take the housewife as my protagonist. And from her possible stories, I will take the first as my story. I will put this in the form of our lead sentence, "A protagonist tries to get something which he/she desperately needs that is very difficult to get and succeeds/ fails." Therefore, my story is about "A housewife who wants to be faithful to her husband, but she is greatly tempted by her gardener, and fails." Therefore, in my story, my protagonist, the housewife will try to resist the temptation of her gardener and end up giving in to him. The reader does not have to know all this from the first page, but I as an Author, must know all these things before I start writing. Contrary to what some Authors like to believe, a writer does not write and let the story take him somewhere. If you do so, you will end up waffling and meandering about aimlessly. You have to be in control of your story. You take the story where you want it to go, not the other way around. Now, I will start developing my story. THE BEGINNING (ACT 1): I will now establish the setting of my story, the main character/protagonist, her need and why it is difficult to get. In other words, THE WHO, THE WHAT and THE WHY. THE WHO: What kind of a person could she be? -Name? -Age? -Physical attributes (I would suggest the type of woman that you find attractive. It is easy to sell the type of woman you find attractive. Though most writers always opt for this, It is so boring to always read about tall, slim blond women with big tits) Character? (make a list of several different types of female characters that you know, but don't make it too detailed as yet) -is she a typical housewife? -or a sophisticated, rich lady? -a spoilt, selfish snob? -a learned lady? -is she confident, vocal, bossy. -shy, demure -optimistic, good natured.. -morose, pessimistic -how long has she been married? -does she have children? THE SETTING: Where does she live? What is the social attitude towards infidelity amongst the people that she is around? (Note: towards infidelity, because that is the theme of my story, not towards Michael Jordan or the war in Iraqi. If our story were about a gay or lesbian relationship, we would want to know how homosexuality is viewed in her social circles. If it were about an IR relationship, we would want to know about the racism or lack thereof in her social circles) -does she have swingers for friends -does she live in a society of holly rollers who would like to stone cheats? -does she live in a big city? -or a small town where everybody knows everybody and everything done in the dark quickly comes to light, especially cheating? -does she have curious neighbors who are always observing her? Her MOTIVATION. THE WHY: Now, I have to establish why she has a need to stay faithful to her husband? Think of all the reasons she could have for not wanting to cheat on her husband and list them. -does she love him very much and cannot imagine having sex with any other man? -is she afraid that if she cheats, she can break up her family, which is the most important thing for her? -is she very religious and does not want to cheat because she thinks its a mortal sin? -does she think people who cheat are despicable? -does she have a friend who cheated and lost everything? -does she find the gardener attractive, but thinks he is below her in social status, or too young, or has the wrong race? THE DIFFICULTIES: Now, we need to answer the question, "Why is it difficult for her to achieve her aim not to cheat?" Make a list of possible reasons why a woman might find it difficult not to cheat. -is she lonely and frustrated because her husband is too busy with work, or has started to ignore her after several years of marriage and she cant stand it anymore? -has she only had one sexual partner in life, her husband, and is very curious about having sex with another man, like the gardener? -is her sex life boring and she wants more than she can get from her husband? -does she have friends who are all cheating on their husbands with their gardeners and having great fun and she feels like she is missing out on something? -does she not find her husband attractive as a sexual partner? -is her husband someone absorbed is his work or sports and has no time for his wife and takes her for granted?? -is her husband a cold character who shows his wife no emotions? -is her husband physically impaired and therefore he cant have sex? -is he a man who fantasizes of seeing his wife making love to another man and is pushing her towards having sex with the gardener? -is the gardener much more handsome and sexier than her husband? (maybe so much so that she constantly admires his body from behind the curtains whilst he is working in the garden) -is the gardener very charming? (maybe he is always making her compliments, whereas her husband doesn't) -is the gardener blackmailing her? -is the gardener dominating her and has the power to bend her will (maybe she is a weak person)? -does he share similar interests with her, which results in them feeling very close and attracted to one another. -is he of an age, nationality or race that she has always felt attracted to? SETTING THE STORY OFF: Now, we need to set off our story. Obviously, something has to happen, which puts her in a conflict situation. If she just feels attracted to the gardener, but he does not make an attempt to get intimate with her, she wont have a problem and aim. So what could this something be? -do they chat over several glasses of wine and end up kissing (and maybe having sex)? -does he hurt himself and she washes and bandages his hand, sparks fly between them and they end up kissing (and maybe having sex)? -does he oil her back at the pool side and her body starts responding? -does she catch him leering at her (again) and then he approaches her and kisses her? -does she flirt harmlessly with him as usual, but this time things get out of hand? -is she upset with her husband and seeks revenge by sleeping with her gardener? -is she curious to have sex with him, and decides to have a one off fling after which she intends to stop things? -are her senses and judgment temporarily impaired and she is taken advantage of, for example he could get her drunk or high and then they have sex, and when she is sober again, she does not want to continue? Or, does her gardener -approach her with some information that can harm her or her husband if exposed and blackmails her with it? -does he threaten to harm her or her husband and family physically? -does he try to simply overpower her with his stronger body or mind? -does she desperately need his help with something and he says he will only help her if she agrees to have sex with him? -is she very close to him (maybe he is her only friend) and he says unless she gives in to him, he will quit his job and she will never see him again. Note: Obviously, she has to go a couple of steps with him and then say no, so the readers know she is tempted but does not want to give in. (Depending on how early you want the sex, she might sleep with him at this stage and then decide that she does not want to repeat it. However, if she does, most moralist readers will hate her) She has to realize that she has a problem on her hands How does she initially react to the new situation? Is she -shocked? -in panic? -angry? -excited? -does she feel guilty and responsible for the situation? -taken advantage of? - stupid? -thrilled to be desired by him? -scared that her husband will find out the truth? -does she feel very tempted against her better judgment, as in her body says yes, and her mind says no? THE MIDDLE, THE HOW? Step 1/Sequence 1: She tries to solve her problem in a half hearted manner and fails, sinking deeper into the conflict. So therefore, what does she do to try to stop things going any further, and how does she fail? -does she try to talk to the gardener and tell him "No, I cant!" but fails to convince him? STEP 2 (Seq 2): Her conflict deepens, and she has to make a more serious attempt to get out of her predicament, and fails. Does she -try to avoid all contact with her gardener, leaving her house when he comes to work? -threaten to tell her husband that he is after her and get him fired? -offer him money so that he leaves her alone? -threaten to tell his girlfriend or wife? (if he has one) Note: Once again she fails, sinking deeper into her predicament. Maybe the sequence ends with her kissing or sleeping with the gardener and then regretting it. Step 3 (Seq 3): Having failed in two attempts, her conflict only deepens, and now she is getting desperate. What does she do now? Does she -seek advice from her best friend? --try to revive her relationship with her husband, so that she will no longer be tempted with the gardener? For example, by seeking conversation or making herself attractive? -try to go for marriage counseling with her husband? -tell her husband the truth and makes it clear that they have to do something, make some changes in order to save their marriage? Step 4 (Seq 4): THE TURNING POINT: remember, at the end of THE MIDDLE, we want her to be in the position of someone who is about to enter the last and final and deciding ring of a bout. Therefore, what happens so that she is at the cross roads? Remember, I already decided at the beginning that she will fail in the end. Therefore, by the end of Seq 4, the reader has to realize that she is really tempted. She has to feel some emotional attachment to the gardener. He has to mean something to her. If all she is interested in is his big cock, the readers will despise her. Therefore, I have to establish that she is very tempted with the gardener now, but does not want to leave her husband. This could be because she -is afraid of breaking up her family. -fears leaving the safety and security of her home. -is afraid that her husband will react with a vengeance. -is afraid that everyone else will laugh at her. -is confused and does not know what to do. -fears that if she leaves her husband for him, he will cease loving and wanting her -is scared of making a huge mistake she will regret forever? ACT 3: Seq 1 We want the RESOLUTION of the protagonist's fight. As an Author, I knew from the start hos my story would end, that is, she will fail in her struggle to resist the gardener's temptation. Now, how does this happen? -does she meet the gardener one final time, with intent to break up, but realizes that she does not want to lose him, and hence decides to divorce her husband? -does she make a final attempt to make things work with her husband, which ends disastrously, and hence decides for the gardener? -does she confront her husband with the truth and he freaks out and threatens to kick her out with nothing if she leaves, but she decides to leave anyway? -does she convince her husband to let her have an affair with the gardener, as in, an open marriage? NOTE: She has to make the active decision to give in to her gardener. If her husband just catches her out and throws her out, then it is not her decision. If the gardener exposes their affair to her husband and gets them to part against her will, it is not her decision. If the gardener somehow manages to chase, threaten or blackmail her husband out of the picture, then it is not her decision. We want her to make a conscious decision, because it is her story. Remember, this is not real life, it is a story about a protagonist. Seq 2: THE Forever after: What happens to her, as a result of her struggle and her final decision? Does she -leave her husband and lives happily and forever after with her new love? -become ostracized and loses everything, but is happy with the gardener? -have a disastrous relationship with the gardener and regrets all that she did? -come back running to her husband (and he takes or doesn't take her back)? -she have a happy, open marriage? -does she turn her husband into a willing cuckold and a wimp, who likes watching her and her lover and eating cream pies? USING THE LISTS TO DRAW UP A SKELETON OF THE STORY: The next step is to simply pick out the things that I like from all my lists and put together the skeleton of my story. For example, it could look like.... THE BEGINNING (ACT 1): Seq 1: THE WHO: -Name? Karen Smith -Age? 36 -Physical attributes: Brunette, pale skin, hour glass shaped body, curvaceous, bootylicious, with thick boobs. Character? -confident, vocal, bossy. -optimistic, good natured.. -how long has she been married? 15 years -does she have children? 2, aged 8 and 5. -she once studied History and is an amateur Anthropologist with a keen interest in old cultures. THE SETTING: -she lives in a small town where everybody knows everybody and everything done in the dark quickly comes to light, especially cheating? Practical Writing / Story Telling 03 Her MOTIVATION. THE WHY: Why does she have a need to stay faithful to her husband? - she loves him very much and cannot imagine having sex with any other man? -is she afraid that if she cheats, she can break up her family, which is the most important thing for her? -she thinks people who cheat are despicable? -she finds the gardener attractive, but thinks he is below her in social status, and too young? THE DIFFICULTIES: "Why is it difficult for her to achieve her aim not to cheat?" -she is lonely and frustrated because her husband is too busy with work, and has started to ignore her after several years of marriage and she cant stand it anymore? -her sex life is boring and she wants more than she can get from her husband? -she and her husband have very few common interests and hardly talk. -the gardener is much more handsome and sexier than her husband and she constantly admires his body from behind the curtains whilst he is working in the garden. -the gardener is very charming and always making her compliments, whereas her husband doesn't -he is a history student and shares her interest in old cultures and holds similar political views, which results in them clicking mentally. They feel very close and attracted to one another and they chat for hours. SETTING THE STORY OFF: -they get carried away, chatting and flirting whilst he is working in the garden -distracted, he hurts himself and she washes and bandages his hand. -Sparks fly between them and there is a high amount of sexual tension. She invites him to stay for a drink. -she gets drunk and her senses and judgment temporarily impaired and she gets carried away. -they have wild, horny sex, the best of her life. How does she initially react to the new situation? She is -shocked, scared in panic... -scared that her husband will find out the truth. -at the same time excited, thrilled to be desired by him. -her body is shouting yes but her mind is screaming no. THE MIDDLE, THE HOW? Step 1/Sequence 1: She tries to solve her problem in a half hearted manner and fails, sinking deeper into the conflict. -she seeks a conversation with her gardener. She tells him "she feels bad about what happened. They cant repeat it again. -he tells her that something that feels so right cant be wrong. -he kisses her. Her body starts responding. -she manages to tear herself loose with all her effort and runs into her house. -she sees him packing his tools, singing happily and realizes its definitely far from over. STEP 2 (Seq 2): Her conflict deepens, and she has to make a more serious attempt to get out of her predicament, and fails. She -tries to avoid all contact with her gardener, hiding indoors or leaving her house when he comes to work? -she is relieved not to see him, but part of her misses him. -She makes an effort to revive her relationship with her husband, so that she will no longer be tempted with the gardener? She makes herself attractive and tries to seduce him. -things look promising. They book a week end in some resort. -the silence between her and her husband is very obvious, so is the distance between them. -she finally tells him she is not satisfied with the way things are going. She would like them to make some changes. -her husband says he is very happy with the way things are going. After all, he is working for her. -he starts getting pissed off. They fight. -as they lie in bed, with her husband snoring, she starts thinking of her gardener, and all the conversations and the warmth and closeness they share. -she becomes restless. Step 3 (Seq 3): Having failed in two attempts, her conflict only deepens, and now she is getting desperate. What does she do now? -desperate, she demands of her husband that they seek marriage counseling but he refuses. -Karen is frustrated and confused. She seeks the advice of her best friend? -her friend tells her she has got only one life to live, and she should try and spend it being happy. -as if on cue, her gardener -he turns up at her house on his off day, surprising her. -she is happy to see him, feels excited. But she makes a resolve to be firm and decisive. -she threatens to tell her husband and get him fired if he does not stop chasing after her. -he tells her she belongs to him. He takes her in his arms and kisses her. Her body betrays her and they have sex. -he sneaks off just as her husband turns up. Step 4 (Seq 4): THE TURNING POINT: Karen starts spending romantic, hot passionate afternoons with her gardener as her husband is at work. She feels very guilty. -the gardener is putting pressure on her, saying he wants her to be his. -Karen is afraid of breaking up her family. -fears leaving the safety and security of her home. -is afraid that her husband will react with a vengeance. -is afraid that everyone else will laugh at her. -is confused and does not know what to do. -is scared that if she follows her heart she might make a huge mistake she will regret forever? -she wants to stay in her indecision forever. -the gardener says she must make up her mind, once and for all, him or her husband. -as she does not respond, he says farewell and leaves. -he quits his job. -Karen panics. ACT 3: Seq 1 -Karen meets the gardener one final time, with intent to say farewell. -she realizes that she does not want to lose him. -he says he wants her to tell her husband the truth. -she is scared. But he wont have it any other way. -Karen tells her husband that she thinks a divorce would be appropriate. -he does not take her seriously until she tells him that she is in love with another man. -then he freaks out. He says she should end her affair, or he will kick her out with nothing. -but she decides to leave anyway? -he declares war on her and kicks her out with the clothes on her back. -she goes to her lover, who welcomes her. Seq 2: THE Forever after: Karen -leaves her husband and lives happily and forever after with her new love. -become ostracized and loses everything, but is happy. -she returns to college as a senior student and pursues her interest in cultures. The above is a rough sketch, a guide of how the story could be. It is not the final story, but it gives me something to work on. I can add things, throw out things, move things around, try this and that. I can think of ways to make it more exciting or hotter. It is a far step from having a hazy idea of a story. THE SUB PLOTS: Obviously, there are three other characters in the story, who play a significant role, The Husband, The Gardener and the cheating wife friend of Karen's. If you want to include their stories in Karen's story, the important thing to note is that, their actions must either aid or hinder her in her goal, to stay true. Therefore you could have the gardener trying to seduce her and get her to cheat. Her cheating friend could be encouraging her to cheat with her advice, or creating opportunities for her to meet the gardener secretly. Her husband could be trying to catch her cheating, which in turn threatens Karen. Or he could be paying the gardener to seduce Karen, because he wants to test her or because he wants a divorce. If you decide to develop any of the sub plots, you must structure them in the same way that we did Karen's story, with a beginning and an end. The Gardener's sub plot could be Beginning: -he feels attracted to Karen -he is very charming to her, they flirt harmlessly.. -he notices that she is watching him from behind the curtains. He feels excited and aroused. His heart pumps hard and he feels desire for her. -he seduces Karen, starts kissing her and does not stop even when she says no. He makes beautiful love to her. -he realizes he wants more than just sex with her. Middle: -when he notices that she is avoiding him, he turns up on his off day and makes love to her again. -he tells her sincerely that he loves her very much and will do anything for her. -as he notices that Karen seems content to have an affair with him and keep her marriage, this infuriates him. He wants her for himself, as his woman. He puts pressure on her. He quits his job and decides not to see her again. -he thinks he made the right choice, but he misses her and hurts for her. End: -he gets the girl. -he is very happy when she decides for him. -he takes her and her children in. -he stands by her side as she goes through the legal battles with her husband. The Husband's Sub Plot. If lets say, we decide that he wants to revive their relationship, his sub plot could be The Beginning: -he is confused about their relationship. He thinks maybe he and his wife do not belong together. -he is busy with his work, thus neglecting his wife. -he is a nice guy, but we notice that he has a very vindictive nature. Middle: -he realizes that his wife seems distracted and is losing interest in him. This worries him slightly, but he is distracted by work or his other interests. -When Karen starts putting pressure on him about their relationship, he feels she is attacking him unjustly, after all, he is working hard for her, so she should be grateful, shut up and be supportive. -feeling confident as the sole bread winner, he tells Karen that he is happy with things the way they are, she can take it or leave it. The End: -when Karen tells him that she is in love with the gardener and wants a divorce, he is incensed. -he feels cheated and mad, and wants to hurt her. -he does his best to threatens to put her out with nothing and take away the children. -he fails in his quest to keep his wife. -after a while, he calms down and is no longer bitter. He realizes that her decision was for the best. -he starts looking for a new partner, and life is no longer boring nights at home with a woman he hardly talked to any more. WRITING THE FULL STORY: When you have put your sub plot into the main story and are fully satisfied with everything, you then start expanding on each and every point, writing them in detail. Then you have your story. CONCLUSION: I hope this was helpful to you. If you have any questions, suggestions or any points to make, holler at Nigga. Have fun writing.