Building a Story
I deas for stories come in many different forms, but I sometimes struggle with converting those ideas into an actual story. Often what happens is that I picture a scene that intrigues me, but I don’t know where it fits or what I can do with the characters. Even with an outline framework, I began to question what part I should figure out first. As I considered this, I realized that there are five basic elements to every story, a character, a problem, a solution, a challenge and a victory. If we can determine each of these then we have our story. A Character The character is your protagonist . Sometimes you’ll know who this is at the first and sometimes it is better to wait till you determine the other four before deciding on the character. A Problem Your character begins the story with a problem. This isn’t the hook or the initial disturbance , though those things may help to show what the problem is. The bigger the problem is the bigger the story. If you’re talking to a friend, you mi...