TECH: Short Story Blueprint, Step Two: Setting Up Your Story (moldy oldie A)

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

Original posting 17 August 2011

Say, don't glare at the monitor that way! Come on, you know you want to write a short story, and here's Jack Bickham laying out some steps along the way. If you don't like them, you're certainly free to do something else, but... Take a look. There might be something useful for you. So with no further ado, lean back and read...

Writer's Digest, February 1992, pages 23 to 26 have the second step by Jack Bickham. Setting up your story... Planning the story. As Jack points out, some people sit down to write a story with just the very vaguest idea -- and figure it out as they go. That's fine. However, longer stories usually start with some planning. Figure out what you want to do ahead of time. I like to think that most trips take some planning, and writing a story is kind of like taking a trip.

Anyway, one way to go is to answer some or all of the following questions. Jack suggests especially to start do them all -- and remember that your answers have to fit into the same story. Sometimes you'll need to go back and revise things for consistency. That's normal. You may want to answer a later question before an earlier one, that's okay too. The key is that thinking through these questions and your answers helps you plan the story.

This is one case where the original article may be worth looking up -- Jack provides a little bit of description or examples for most of the questions. In any case, here are the questions with some explanatory material.1. What kind of the story is it? Romance, mystery,...

2. What's the setting? Write a paragraph or two describing it, and make notes about facts that you need to research.
3. What is the time setting? Do you need to do research?
4. Who's your main character? Name, age, occupation, short background.
5. What is this character like? Describe him. Pick out admirable traits from your cards.
6. What does this character want or lack? What's the problem?
7. Why is it so vital for this character to reach the goal, make the decision, or achieve the insight? What's driving them?
8. Who's your antagonist? Who or what is going to oppose the hero?
9. What is the villain like?
10. What is the antagonist's plan? How are they going to fight or block the hero? Why?
11. Why is it essential for the antagonist's happiness to fight the hero, convince him to make the wrong decision, or keep him from achieving the discovery or insight?
12. What can secondary characters contribute to the story? How will they help or hinder the hero and villain? What traits do they have?
13. What is the timeframe of the story? Minute, day, week, what?
14. How does the story start?
15. How and when does the story end? At the climax, where will we physically be? Who will be there? Why? What is going to happen? What does the ending mean question
16. What specialized information or factual research do you need to do?
17. Could you tell this story in dramatic scenes onstage? Could you turn it into a stage play? (Or, for modern thinking, could you make it a TV show or movie?) This helps focus on dramatic action.
18. Where is the narrator's viewpoint in this story? Often, this is a viewpoint character. Usually, one character, most often the hero.
19. Can you identify a publication that might buy this story? Not that you should imitate, or be driven by commercial planning, but having a potential publication in mind can help you shape the story.

There you go. Take your time, answer all the questions, think about them again.

When you've got your answers, come back. Jack provides a self-check list, to let you check your thinking!