Story Writing in English

Story writing is a narration of real or fictional characters, it is a series of events and situations. A story is generally shorter than a novel. There can be many reasons for writing stories, but the basic ones are entertaining and informing the readers as the events covered in the story can be real or fictional. Story writing also helps with creation of movies and shows. It is a broad topic that can have several definitions and it does not have any specific story writing format. The main components of story writing are the plot and characters. style, setting, and description are also important, but here we will focus on two main components.

Plot for Story Writing

The plot is the main events of a novel or the story. It is devised and presented by the writer in an interrelated sequence. It can be defined as the connected order in which the events occur. There are seven unique divisions of the plot.

Exposition is the base of your story. This is where you give your reader initial important details. This is called the background or the context of your story. You can tell your reader about the events that occurred in the past. Back story, information about your characters, and any information that provides context is called exposition.

Inciting an incident is where your story gets a kick. This is the actual action that drives the action of your story. You can introduce your main character here. This event informs your reader about the plot’s conflict you were talking about.

Rising action is an event or series of events that start right after the inciting incident. This builds up your climax. You can introduce the villain of the story here.

The climax is where the biggest tension of your story is. This is the most exciting part of your story. You built your rising action for this.

Falling action has the events that fall out from the big action. This is where the reader understands the theme of the story.

Resolution is where your main character resolves the problem of the conflict.

The ending features unanswered questions and mysteries. However, this can be explained to the reader.

Characters for Story Writing

There are two main components in story writing – your characters and your plot. To create a good character, you must ask these questions –

What does your character want?

All great characters want something—even a simple glass of water. Desire is a crucial component in creating a character. This is different from the characters who get a particular kind of result. A character that meets a particular type of result is called fate, while will is something that a character desires.

What are their weaknesses?

Make your characters more interesting to follow and read about. They should be interesting because of their weaknesses, not strengths. For example, Superman isn’t a great character because he is invulnerable. Superman is a great character because he is vulnerable to Kryptonite. So, when combining a list of traits of your character, make sure that there are more weaknesses than strengths.

Can your characters surprise you?

Do not make the characters predictable. Instead, make them act in a more innovative way. Look for the places in your story where they can surprise you. Stop leading your characters after a while.

Where is your character from, and where will they go?

Your character’s biographical information and emotional backstory are important in story writing. This makes your reader understand where they came from. This justifies the fact of what they want. You should know where your character came from and what their wants are. Then it will be easy to predict where they will go. 

The Five-Fold Structure

There are five components of this structure. These components are action, background, development, climax, and ending.

Action is what draws the reader in. It is something specific and concrete. A lot of stories open with a character engaging in some physical activity; this is called action.

The background is the context of what was happening before the story started. This is important in story writing. This is the story’s path where you get crucial information that will help determine the context of the characters.

Development is the main part of your story. This is where the plot of your story takes place as it is in the way your characters deal with the rising actions.

The climax is the biggest rising action in story writing. Because of that twist, things are different for your main character in a real way.

The ending is where you learn that the character that you thought you knew is someone else.

Tips for Improving Story Writing

Here are some tips that will help you in story writing

You should have only a few characters. Having a lot of voices in the story will ruin the experience. That creates confusion among the readers.

Develop the characters as you go further into your story. Your character should grow as your story proceeds.

Have catchy first paragraphs. This is an important point to remember. Interesting first lines hook the readers. This will make them read all your stories.

You should maintain uniformity with the theme. Do not change it every now and then. Try sticking to only one theme. This will create consistency in your story.

Choose a worthy point of view. A lot of effort will go in vain if you use the wrong point of view. Before you start writing, make sure that your story has a relevant point of

Conclusion

Story writing is a part of creative writing that is dependent on fiction and imagination. Story writing is a narration of real or fictional characters where the story is a series of events and situations. It is generally shorter than a novel where the main components of story writing are plot and character. The plot features the main events of the story which is devised and presented by the writer in an inter-related sequence. It can be defined as the connected order in which the events occur. There are five components of this structure. These components are called action, background, development, climax, and ending.