Do You Have a Great Story on Your Hands?

Many people know they want to write but find themselves stalled at the first hurdle. They can’t put pen to paper (or finger to keyboard) because they don’t know if they have a story idea that’s worth writing. And novel writing is a big investment – not just in terms of time, but emotionally too. It makes sense that we’d want to be certain we have a winner on our hands.

That’s why with The Novelry’s creative writing courses, we begin with a breakdown of what makes a cracking story. And from your very first one-to-one coaching session, a bestselling author in your genre will help you assess and mould your idea to make sure it’s got legs.

Remember: a good story almost writes itself. Get off to a good start and you’ll fly through the writing process.

To help you decide which of your ideas to commit to the page, we’ll give you a little primer in this story assessment – but come and find us to sign up to a course once you’re ready to really dive in!

Don’t let your insecurities become obstacles!

While self-doubts may creep in, you shouldn’t let them be the reason you don’t write. For many writers – including The Novelry founder, Booker Prize-listed author Louise Dean – the story evolves during the writing process. So even if your plot isn’t razor-sharp and airtight just yet, you might find it takes shape once you stop criticising it and instead open yourself up to its possibilities.

Compare your story to the greats

We’re not talking about trying to write like Tolstoy – writers should honor their own unique voices.  What you can do is lean on  some of the all-time classic story structures in fiction, to develop a stand-out story that’s both comfortingly familiar for readers but has your own unique twist based on your life experience and the things that matter to you.

At The Novelry, we suggest writers immerse themselves in the deep but simple storytelling archetypes using fairy tales and folklore to help them learn the art of storytelling. In fact, global bestselling author Harriet Tyce enjoyed the course and wrote about how she’s found inspiration for her stories in fairy tales.

So many writers can write but if only it were all about the writing! Readers buy stories, not fine or fancy words, and so do publishers, so ensure your story affects readers, and work with some of the biggest stories of all time, while mining your own hidden desires with our Classic Course to compe up with the story only you can tell, a story readers will love.

Consider your theme

Rather than striving to work out every beat of your plot, take a step back and assess the bigger picture of your story.

A great way to do this is to pinpoint the theme(s) you’re aiming to explore. Consider this as something you feel strongly about, then look at the journey your main character or hero goes on towards enlightenment. The first half of your book will be the old world where things are wrong, and in the second half of your book your theme will emerge to provide your hero with a better way to live there life. Once you have your theme, you can consider every element of the story in terms of how it best serves it.  You can start to sketch your setting – a time and place that brings your theme into sharp relief. And then come your main characters and minor players too. Try a protagonist who’s spectacularly ill-equipped to tackle the trials of your theme for high drama, or someone being tugged by its opposing ends. If your theme is the desire for solitude versus the need for community, it might be a recluse who’s forced into close proximity with others – perhaps a family member falls ill, they get a new job, they need a flatmate. Now you’re telling a story!

Make sure there’s a problem

That brings us on to the next point: your story needs conflict. If nothing is wrong in your protagonist’s life, there can be no character arc, no development – in short, no story.

As writers, we can fall in love with our fictional characters and want to make their lives as easy and joyful as possible. Resist that temptation; be mean, and then meaner. Make their life difficult, watch them squirm and see them grow!

A great story starts with a devilish dilemma or a life-and-death problem.

See how high your stakes are

Simply having a problem isn’t enough. That problem needs consequences – preferably of the dire variety. What will happen if your character doesn’t address the conflict at the heart of your story? Why should your reader care if they fail or succeed?

Remember: this is fiction. It doesn’t need to be true to life. Lots of writers, particularly those starting out, simply need to raise the stakes and they suddenly have a fantastic story on their hands. Don’t be scared to bring the drama!

Look to the middle

The midpoint of your story will tell you a lot about what you’re working with. Essentially, the midpoint is the perfect place to build the structure of your plot around. It’s a point of no return for the protagonist and usually brings a new realisation – we see them at their lowest, and they start to understand what needs to change for them to reach the conclusion. The midpoint bridges the old story world and the new. Our founder, Louise Dean, says she picks up a plot by the midpoint as the simplest way to structure a story with events which compound the problem to the left and those where things begin to drop into place to the right.

If you can pinpoint your midpoint, with a path from a beginning and to how your story might finish (remember, you don’t need details yet!), that spells a very positive story prognosis.

Don’t leave your story to chance!

These tips should help you understand the magic of your story and make sure it’s one readers won’t be able to put down.

But remember, if you want support through every step of the novel-writing marathon,, we’re ready and waiting to give you a warm welcome at The Novelry, the world’s favorite creative writing school with courses, coaching and community to guide your journey through the woods.

 

The Novelry is a creative writing school that offers something unique: one-to-one coaching with bestselling authors and the chance to work with editors from major publishing houses. With live writing classes and events every week, we’ll be your novel writing team, focusing on what matters most – helping you write the very best story you can. With more five-star reviews than any other creative writing course program, our writers have called our approach ‘life-changing’.

Homepage: https://www.thenovelry.com/

Courses page: https://www.thenovelry.com/courses/which-course

Coaching page: https://www.thenovelry.com/coaching/writers

Editors page: https://www.thenovelry.com/coaching/editors

Creative writing blog: https://www.thenovelry.com/blog

 

Story Need More Conflict? Look to Your Setting - Angela Ackerman

 

Every writer’s mission is to pen a story that draws readers in, offering familiarity when it comes to certain genre expectations while also delivering something fresh so to be distinctive and memorable. This is how to cultivate a loyal--and, fingers crossed, rabidly obsessed--reading audience.

 

But heck, there’s a lot of stories out there. And didn’t someone say there’s only so many plot forms to choose from? Is “fresh” even possible?

 

YES.

 

When you know where to look, you can find a kaleidoscope of unique ideas and apply them to any type of story to transform it.

 

A Story’s Secret Weapon: Conflict

 

One of the easiest ways to offers that thrill of “newness” for readers is to activate the power of conflict. In fiction, it is the crucible that tests, bruises, and shapes our characters. Externally, it pushes the plot onward by supplying the resistance needed to force characters to scrutinize their world, make choices, and take action to get what they want. Internally, conflict generates a tug-of-war between the character’s fears, beliefs, needs, values, and desires. Ultimately, it forces them to choose between an old, antiquated way of thinking and doing, or a new, evolved way of being, because only one will help them get what they want.

 

Conflict touches everything: plot, characters, arc, pacing, tension and more, and can be endlessly adapted to generate fresh scenes, and scenarios that provide readers with something special to experience.

 

Conflict Is Everywhere

The other beautiful thing about conflict is how you can find it anywhere: the character’s career, relationships, duties, etc., or it can come from adversaries, nature, the supernatural, or even from within themselves. And that’s just to start.

 

But no matter where your character is and what is happening, there’s one eternal source for conflict that can always lead you to a complication, obstacle, or blocker to clash with your character’s goals: the setting. 

 

The location of each scene will contain inherent dangers and risks, meaning you can mine those to create problems and remind the character of the cost of failure. Drawing conflict from your setting also gives it a greater role in the story. Rather than be a “stage” for action to unfold, your setting becomes a participant.

 

Here are some things to keep in mind to draw the very best conflict from your setting, making important story moments more intense, and offering that fresh gauntlet of challenges for your character to navigate.

 

Choose Settings Thoughtfully

Some setting choices are obvious. If you need your character’s car to break down in an isolated area, then a country road, campsite, or quarry might do the trick. But conflict very often happens in an ordinary setting, like a retail store or at home. In cases like these, when the story has dictated where events will occur, up the ante by choosing a specific location that holds emotional value for your character. Instead of choosing just any store, pick one with an emotional association—such as the place the character was caught shoplifting as a teenager. Good or bad, any setting that plays upon their emotional volatility will increase their chances of saying or doing something they’ll regret.

 

And while we’re talking about emotional value, don’t underestimate the symbolic weight of the objects within the scene. The backyard may be a generic place to have a difficult conversation but put the characters next to the treehouse their son used to play in before he got critically sick, and you’ve already heightened their emotions, potentially adding additional conflict to the scene.

 

It’s also important to think about which settings contain infrastructure that will make the character’s goal harder to reach. Maybe it’s a ravine the protagonist will need to cross, a locked door to get through, or a security guard to evade. Remember that the character's journey to achieve their goal shouldn't be a walk in the park. Conflict is necessary in every scene, so choose settings that contain obstacles or provide poignant emotional roadblocks.

 

Think about how conflict naturally evolves. The character has an objective. They put together a plan and start pursuing that goal. Then complications come along and make things interesting. Luckily, there are lots of ways we can manipulate the setting to create additional conflict scenarios.

 

Mess with the Weather. Unexpected showers, a heat wave, an icy driveway, the threat of a tornado—how can small and large weather considerations create problems for your character?

 

Take Away Transportation. No matter what setting you choose, your character will need to move from one place to another. What kind of transportation disruptions will make it harder for them to get where they need to go?

 

Add an Audience. Falling down in private is totally different than doing it in a crowd of people. Both may be physically painful, but the latter adds an element of emotional hardship. Who could you put in the environment as a witness to the character's missteps or misfortune?

 

Trigger Sensitive Emotions. Conflict is easier to handle for an even-keeled, emotionally cool character. So use the setting to throw them off balance. If they're struggling to put food on the table, place them in a locale where wealthy characters are eating lavishly and throwing away leftovers. Likewise, a character with daddy issues can be triggered in an environment that highlights healthy and loving father-daughter relationships. So when you’re planning the setting for a scene, ask yourself: What could I add specifically for my character in this situation that will elevate their emotions?  

 

Exploit What They Don’t Have. If your character doesn’t have a light source, place them in a dark place, like a cave or deserted subway tunnel. No weapon? Surround them with physical threats. If they're lacking something vital, capitalize on that.

 

Make Them Uncomfortable. Vulnerability sets the character on edge and elevates their emotional state. So whenever you can, put the character in a location where they have no experience, don’t know the rules, or aren't really suited to navigate it. This can work for small- or large-scale settings, from a character who has to traverse an alien planet to someone who's averse to kids having to host a child's party.

 

Use Symbolism. Nothing impedes progress like fear and self-doubt. Think about which symbols can be added to the environment to remind the character of an area of weakness, a past failure, a debilitating fear, or an unresolved wound.

 

Add a Ticking Clock. One sure-fire way to up the ante is to give the character a deadline. Instead of them having unlimited time to complete the goal, make them dependent upon elements within their environment, such as having to avoid rush-hour traffic, reach the bank by four p.m., or get home before sunset.

 

Setting-related conflict is fantastic in that it can be endlessly adapted, helping you keep the tension going in every scene no matter where your character is.

 

Want More Ideas on How to Unleash the Power of Conflict?

 

The Conflict Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Obstacles, Adversaries, and Inner Struggles (Volume 1). It’s packed with ideas on how to apply meaningful conflict to reveal your character, challenge them, and keep the story tense and on track. It also digs into a plethora of conflict scenarios to help you plot fresh scenes.

Angela Ackerman is a writing coach, international speaker, and co-author of The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Expression and its many sequels. Her bestselling writing guides are available in eight languages, and are sourced by universities, recommended by agents and editors, and used by writers around the world. She’s also one half of the popular site, Writers Helping Writers, and co-founder of One Stop for Writers, a creativity portal loaded with one-of-a-kind tools, resources, and a Storyteller’s Roadmap that makes planning, writing, and revising a novel almost criminally easy.