This mini writing workshop is a weekly post for fiction writers. The idea to provide simple tips and examples that support writers on their journey.
You won’t find a complete how-to course in these workshops. But hopefully, you’ll find some useful tidbits.
This workshop session is about making sure your story is about something.
Topic of the day: What’s it all about?
Having spent a rather long time studying the craft of fiction (via many writing workshops and a master’s degree), I find that there are certain common things new writers struggle with. This is one of those things. Quite often one of the following is true:
- The story lacks a central plot. It might be about the character’s depression or anxiety, for example. But that in and of itself is not a story. We must have progression and resolution for it to be a true story that is worth reading.
- There are so many things going on in the story that no one single thing stands out as the crux of the piece. As readers, we are left scratching our heads.
- The writer starts writing Story A, only to have the story reshape into Story B along the way. Note: It’s okay when that happens. Stories take on lives of their own all the time. The mistake is to not let go of Story A when it needs to become Story B.
None of these are insurmountable issues. But if you’re aware of them, you can fix them.
My very simple piece of advice is to write out the storyline, in a sentence or two. Think of it as a synopsis, or perhaps a recipe. This mechanism is typically called a “logline.”
For example, here’s the very simple logline for The Godfather:
The aging patriarch of an organized crime dynasty transfers control of his clandestine empire to his reluctant son.
If you need a more solid track to run on than a single sentence, go ahead and write a paragraph. List the primary and secondary characters and their names, if it helps you. Do whatever you need to do to make sure you have a vision for the story that you can carry out as you write.
Note that if you’re like me, you may actually have to start writing first and then write your logline once a vision of the story takes shape. I’m not sure why this is true, but I’ve come to accept it. It’s the way my mind works. I start writing a scene and then I either gain momentum and just trust that the story will come together, or I actually find that it all comes to life before my eyes.
Believe it or not, there’s a name for those of us who write this way. We are called “pantsers” (vs. plotters) because we don’t plot out stories. We fly by the seat of our pants!
So, if you try to write out your storyline and it doesn’t work, maybe just try writing a scene first, and see where it goes. Regardless, you ultimately need to know what your story is about. If someone asks, you should be able to provide an answer in 15 seconds or less.
That’s it for this week’s mini writing workshop!
Want to work with writers and editors to improve your writing? @tanglebranch runs “writers workout” workshops each week in The Writers’ Block on Discord.
The writing workshop collection
You can browse my entire collection of writing workshop posts in the links below.
Mini workshop series
Short posts on specific writing topics:
- Mini writing workshop: Must we fight? (About conflict in fiction writing)
- Mini writing workshop: What’s the point? (About making things happen)
- Mini writing workshop: What prompted that? (About writing from prompts)
- Mini writing workshop: Who said that? (Tips for writing dialog)
Mini workshops in 50-word prompt posts
Brief workshops, typically 3-5 paragraphs, at the top of 50-word short story challenge posts:
- Mini writing workshop on “tense”
- Mini writing workshop on the editing process (with a walkthrough example)
- Mini writing workshop on taking time to write
- Mini writing workshop on the power of editing
- Mini writing workshop on critique
- Mini writing workshop on fixing punctuation errors
- Mini writing workshop on mainstream publishing (with a resource for 50-word story authors)
- Mini writing workshop on voice and language (as compared to the importance of plot)
- Mini writing workshop about becoming a great writer
- Mini writing workshop on contests and challenges
- Mini writing workshop on what makes a story a story
- Mini writing workshop on demystifying story writing
- Mini writing workshop on 50-word short story writing process
- Mini writing workshop on the steps for writing 50-word stories
- Mini writing workshop on micro-fiction and writing succinctly
- Mini writing workshop on the “why” of writing
- Mini writing workshop on the challenge of micro-fiction
In-depth workshop posts
The original writing workshop series:
- Writing workshop volume 1: The beginning
- Writing workshop volume 2: Exploring voice in writing
- Writing workshop volume 3: Say what you want to say
- Writing workshop volume 4: Serial fiction projects on Steemit
- Writing workshop volume 5: Getting organized and actually writing
- Writing workshop volume 6: Tips for writing anywhere, anytime
- Writing workshop volume 7: Should you write historical fiction?
- Writing workshop volume 8: Prompts, contests and challenges – oh my!
- Writing workshop volume 9: Pushing through insecurity and writing anyway
- Writing workshop volume 10: Perspective and POV in fiction writing
- Writing workshop volume 11: Second person point of view in fiction
- Writing workshop volume 12: How to write your character’s background
- Writing workshop volume 13: What to do with all these voices in my head?
- Writing workshop volume 14: Write your story from a logline
- Writing workshop volume 15: Three tips for improving your fiction
- Writing workshop volume 16: How to accept criticism on your fiction writing
Thank you, as always, for reading, following, upvoting, connecting, HODL’ing, resteeming, laughing, sharing, and being you.
