How can I better structure the stories that I write?

Question

I'm a seventeen year old that absolutely loves to write. I spend a lot of my time writing and would like to possibly make a career out of it. What I'd like some assistance with is how I can improve the structuring of my writing. I have a strong grasp of language and rhetoric, and feel I am very effective at saying what I want to say. My problem is I often don't know WHAT to say. I don't know what I'm suppossed to say next in my essay, or in the story. What are some methods, exercises, etc that I can use to better my writing? Thank you.

An example to give you an idea for what I mean when I say I can say what I need to say effectively but don't know WHAT to say:

Lets say I'm writing a story. If you told me, "Chris, on this page you need to introduce the character, and create an emotional connection between the reader and the character," I would do it very well. But I usually don't know that that's what I'm supposed to do and either sit there staring at the screen or write the wrong thing.

I try outlines but it still somehow doesn't help me from paragraph to paragraph because even with an outline, I still need to understand, and I don't.

Answer 1

Hi there. From writer to writer: the key components of writerly choice are rhetorical purpose, specific audience, level of language, and writing strategy. To begin, WHAT you write depends on your purpose for writing the piece and the audience you are aiming to connect with. You can start by asking, who is talking to whom and toward what end? (Hirshfield) Let's just say you are a creative writer, writing to a wide audience, for the purpose of connecting emotionally. Here you would use techniques of narration (story telling) and description (the five senses, "show don't tell"). Write a storyline for yourself-just write! Then reflect on what you've written. Look for the insight, or "second story" that's starting to come through. Then, rewrite (revise) what you wrote with your audience in mind. You don't have to tell the whole story; only the parts that the reader needs to know. Cut what doesn't need to be there, put in what's missing, and then, make it all sound like you just wrote it.(Murie) You would use informal language and use mounds of detail and repetition in sound. The center of gravity of such a piece would be a central conflict that the narrator is dealing with. Writing for a different purpose to a different audience requires different techniques. For example, if you want to write an op/ed piece about increasing funding for, say, education about autism, you would write a short argument in which you may include narration and description as techniques, but in the context of suggesting why your readers should agree with what you say using a set of claims and evidence in support. You may choose to compare and contrast, or illustrate, or use other specific writing strategies within your argument. You would use more formal language but for an op/ed piece in a newspaper, you wouldn't use words that only experts are familiar with. Many universities have on line writing centers, for example, OWL from Purdue.

P.S. The answer above about reading, analyzing, and modelling is terrific advice.

Answer 2

you don't need that much structure. let the words flow. outline the story. begin with a check off list and work from there. do a box outline to show character attributes and even when you want those attributes to be shown in the story. remember when writing a story don't give everything about a character or events in the first page. give the reader some clues or just what they need to know. the most important part (or at least what i think is the most important part) of a book people forget are the readers!! sooooo...my advice write the story to keep them guessing and follow your oulines to keep you on track and so you don't forget an important scene.

an excercise you could do is keep a journal. write something, anything in it EVERY DAY after about a month or so go back to the first entree and read it. find parts that sound funny or don't work well THEN FIX THEM.

Answer 3

Read. Read lots. Then read more. :)

Read great stories by authors you admire, things that are similar to what you would like to write yourself. But don't JUST read them - analyze them. It's best to simply read them once, then read them again and the second time, notice (and actually take notes about) such things as:

-What kind of narrator are we dealing with here? How do we know?
- Who are the main characters? What are their relationships with each other? How are they introduced?
- What is the central conflict?
- What's the setting? How does it influence the story?
- Where is the dramatic limax of the story?
-What kind of ending does the story have (catastrophe, resolution, open ending, etc.)?
- Look at the individual scenes. Write a one-sentence summary of what happens in each scene in terms of the plot, and take some notes about what the scene does - introduce a main character, set up the conflict, etc.)

Do that for as many stores as you can - try different kinds of stories, stories in different genres, funny and sad ones - anything where you find the writing particularly good and interesting.

After doing this a few times, you should have a much better idea of what makes a story "tick". Then, try writing a story modeled on one of your favorites - NOT with the same plot, but structured in the same way.

Soon, you'll develop a feeling for setting things up and pacing the narrative, and it'll start feeling natural.

P.S.: Don't be afraid to rewrite and restructure! Add, delete and rearrange scenes as needed - copy&paste is your friend! :)

Answer 4

First off, I also love to write. I'm working on my novel as I type. If you need any help later, I'd be glad to help you. I'm not an expert and I haven't published anything yet but I still know enough of the trade I guess you can say.

For structure, or pulling things together and getting your message across, there are a bunch of things you can do.

One thing that I used to do all the time is have someone write down a whole bunch of phases or pieces of sentences on little strips of paper. Like one can read, "the lonely mailman" and another can say "On his day off" or whatever. Once you get a nice pile of them, you pick a couple out and try to make a short story out of them.

For the Mailman example you can make up what the mailman looks like, how he acts, what he is doing and put it all together. The simple act of creating something from a few phrases can really help you out.

Another thing you can do is, like the paper trick, you can just make up lives for people. I do this all the time. If I'm waiting in line at the store, I'll make up the story of the cashier's life. If I'm in the car, I'll try to make up a story of where the other people are going or what they plan on doing when they get there. If a car is speeding past me, I'll imagine they just robbed a bank and are making a run for it. I'll say they have resorted to stealing because they just lost their jobs at the ketchup factory and have no way to pay the bills...

If I hear a word that I like but don't hear very often, like musty for example, I'll try to make up a few sentences using that word like, As she stepped into the musty attic, she noticed the large chest with the beautiful embellishments. It seemed to draw her towards it. With trembling hands, she grasped the lid and slowly lifted the lid...

Stuff like that just keeps your imagination active and the ideas just flow. It is all about being imaginative.

There are also a ton of writing websites, like WriterCafe.org. It gives helpful hints and offers a chance to have your work reviewed and stuff. I use it all the time.

I hope these things help you out. Like I said before, anything you need, I'll be glad to give you a hand. Just keep going, don't get discouraged. Follow your heart and don't worry. Things will work out. Good Luck!

-Brittany

Answer 5

You sound like the kind of writer who needs to outline. Organize your thoughts before you start writing.
Also remember that writing is like talking on paper. TELL me the story - in your own "voice" - by that I mean - tell it in the way you would if you were talking. If you have a strong grasp of language and you outline and use your own voice, your writing should improve drastically. C.