Can You Write A Story?

Last evening, I subbed in a dinner/bridge group at our club. It was an evening of things happening that were not scheduled, nor expected. Someone running down the hall asking for a doctor, then another looking for the defibrillator, of which no one knew the location, an ambulance screaming up the big hill where the club sits, a friend being tended to by EMTs on the floor in the dining room, a fire engine blocking the way when I wanted to go home. When things had settled down and I made it home, the first thing I did was to sit down in the living room and tell my husband the story of all that had occurred. Yes, I told him a story.

At that point, I wasn't completely sure my friend was alright, but this morning the good news is that she is in the hospital and doing fine. They think she had a severe allergic reaction to something she ate. I had not gone to the dining room where she was being treated because I didn't want to add to the chaos, but I prayed for her all the way home.

There definitely is a story in all that happened that evening, and of course, my first inclination when I arrived at home was to tell my husband the tale. It had a beginning, a middle and an end, although not a very satisfying ending at that point. It had tension. It had emotion. It had sensory details. It was not just idle talk, the ..words to prove you can string them together in logical sentences part of the quote in today's poster.

How many times have you come home to tell your spouse or parent or whoever is at your house a story about what happened that day? If your listener doesn't turn around and walk out, you are able to tell a story that captures their attention. So there is no reason why you cannot also write a story. I could write the story that happened last night in much greater detail because I lived the story, I remember the concern on everyone's face, I remember feeling several emotions. When you write the story, you don't want to only 'report' it. That would be the stringing words together in logical sentences method. Tell the story as it happened remembering all those tools that help you make it a real story--emotion, sensory detail, building up the tension and more.

A website I frequent is uses the same quote every day. It says Everyone has a story. What's yours? Some of the stories posted at Our Echo are fiction while many others are nonfiction and even poetry. If you're not sure you can write a story, read a few. You can probably write as well if not better than some that are posted, while others are so well written that you can learn something from reading them.

Writing Is A Skill

The woman quoted above advises writers to tell a story rather than just stringing words together. Sadly, that is exactly what some writers do when they think they are writing a story.

Keep in mind that a story must have a beginning, a middle, and an ending. Three parts that pull together to make a whole. More than once, I've mentioned a book for writers that is invaluable in showing how to do this. Look at your local library or order online or find it in a bookstore, but do take time to read Nancy Kress's book Beginnings, Middles, and Ends. Her instructions in this book work well for both short stories and novels. I'd also add for stories written in the creative nonfiction field.

A story needs a problem to be solved. If everything is just hunky-dory day after day, there is no incentive to the reader to keep reading. The problem size can vary from something pretty small to gargantuan.

Another thing a story needs is one or more characters who the reader can like or relate to. I once read a novel that had numerous characters and not one of them was likeable. The whole thing turned me off in a hurry. I did finish the book because I wanted to see if any of them would shape up into nicer people, but they didn't! Not every character should be likeable. We have to have someone to hiss at, don't we? But give me at least one I can like.

What I've mentioned here are only the basics of writing a story. There are so many more details that must be considered when crafting a tale. Google 'how to write a story' and you'll come up with dozens of articles to read. Writing is a skill that can be learned and must be fed with new learning all the time.