This week, we were delighted to welcome back Ms. Bell-Irving, author of the exciting young adult urban fantasy series Wicked Conjuring. She generously spent time with our Grade 3s, sharing insights on the fundamentals of storytelling and coming up new ideasโan experience that aligned nicely with their current unit of enquiry, “How We Express Ourselves.”
To help all aspiring authors in our community benefit from her insights, she has written a post (below) offering guidance on how to begin crafting your own stories.
Six Key Questions for Planning Your Next Story
By Rachael Bell-Irving
So, you’d like to write a book? Thatโs great! Donโt know where to start? Well, I can help with that.
There is no one right way to write. Every author has their own process and part of the process of growing as a writer is finding what method works best for you. Perhaps you are the kind of writer who needs to plan the entire story before you start writing – we call that a โPlotterโ in the industry. If youโre someone who likes to discover the story as they write, then youโre more of a โPantser.โ Or you might be like me and prefer to build a rough road map for the story before finding the details through writing. I am a self-described โPlantserโ
Regardless of how you write, we are all striving to create a captivating story that readers canโt put down. And, generally speaking, all stories have the same core elements that they need for both function and engagement. Here are the six key questions to consider when planning out your next story.
Who is your story about?
Whether itโs a person, animal, magical creature, or alien, itโs important to consider the character as a multi-dimensional person. In addition to physical attributes, identify the strengths and weaknesses of the characters. These attributes inform character choice, which in turn drives believable plots.
If creating an original character feels overwhelming at first, start by choosing a character you like from a T.V. show, book, or movie to practice with. For example: Percy Jackson from Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief.
Percy is brave, kind-hearted, and has a strong sense of justice. But he is also quick-tempered, snarky, and distrustful at the start of the book. His bitterness is understandable, given how he feels like he doesnโt belong anywhere. These are all important points of his character that will inform and influence his story.
Where and when does the story take place?
You can think as big or as small as you want. Some authors come up with entire worlds for their stories, while some books take place in a single room. For first time writers, I recommend choosing a location you are familiar with as a starting point.
Top Tip: Using the five senses when describing a setting is a great way to bring the reader into the story. Rather than just saying, โthey stood by the ocean,โ try โthe damp sand scratched between their toes as they looked out over the crashing, indigo waves. They filled their lungs with the cold November air, tasting the salt of the brine on their tongue.โ The latter is far more poignant.
What does your main character want?
What is their major goal? Could be in life (e.g. be the greatest pirate of all time), could be in that moment (e.g. win the local singing contest). This goal is always connected to the inciting incident – the thing that forces the character out of their normal and onto the journey that will be your story – and is usually associated with one of their character strengths or talents.
In Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, Percyโs initial goal is to save his mom after sheโs been kidnapped. This goal drives the plot and keeps the characters moving forward through obstacles. Percy has no choice but to enter this new world of demigods and monsters in order to save her.
What is the main characterโs problem?
What is preventing the character from achieving their goal? The antagonist can be a person, the environment, the main character themselves, or a combination of things.
For Percy, the problem is that in order to save his mom he has to accept a quest to retrieve Zeusโ master thunderbolt from the underworld. And being a demigod means a constant string of monstrous threats along the way. There are also a bunch of new rules in his world that he has to contest with, and plenty of pesky immortals who have their own agendas.
What does your main character really need?
Your character doesnโt know it yet, but they will need to change in order to achieve their goal, or as a consequence of achieving their goal. To decide how your character is going to grow, start by looking at their negative character traits. These traits may naturally be challenged throughout the journey. The reader knows the character has ultimately changed when they make a decision near the end of the story that they wouldnโt have made in the beginning.
Let’s look at Percy Jackson again. While he started out as bitter and untrusting, his journey changes him. In the end Percy learns to work with Annabeth and Grover in order to find the true thief of the lightning bolt and save his mom. This new friendship, along with his bravery, enables him to be successful (achieve what he wants) as well as find a place he finally belongs (the thing he truly needs).
How is the problem actually solved?
Just as the character has evolved in ways they didnโt expect, so too has the problem they set out to face. The ending solidifies the characterโs new normal. The change theyโve experienced is now permanent and the future, for better or for worse, is ahead of them.
Percy is ultimately able to save his mom, but by doing so he realizes that the true threat isnโt what he thought it was. He must decide whether or not he is going to fight for the greater good, or try to return back to his old life with his mom. In the end, Percy uses his new-found power to ultimately stand up for his friends and protect his new home.
The wonderful thing about creative writing is that there is no one way to write. Regardless of your method or way of writing, the important thing is to keep writing. And if you are writing, you are a writer. Happy writing!
