creating story

 “A story has someone who wants something badly and is having trouble getting it.” - Karl Iglesias

3 Primary elements for Story are character, character goal and conflict.

Tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them, tell them what you told them

Everyone knows that stories are made up of 3 acts – the Beginning, the middle, and the end.  But you need to understand the importance of each act, especially the first.  Billy wilder said “If there is something wrong with the third act, it’s really in the first act”.  Act one is where you give your audience all the information they need to get behind the characters and the enter into the world your creating.

Think of it like this - Set it up, mess it up, tie it up

A story can be broken down further into several smaller steps, a formula.

Seven steps to a better story

• Once upon a time...
• And every day....
• Until one day...
• And because of this...
• And because of this...
• Until finally...
• And ever since that day...

Once upon a time and every day are your act 1.  The purpose of act 1 is to tell the audience everything they need to know to understand the story that is to follow.

Until one day – the inciting incident, the true beginning of your story.

And because of this – the second act. Time to explore what happens as a result of your first act.

And because of this – act 2 continues, everything should be cause and effect

Until finally – the beginning of act3, the start of the end

And ever since that day – something that lets your audience know what the life of the protagonist is like after the climax.

 

Questions to ask yourself when building a story

1. Who is your character?
2. What is your characters goal?
3. What is your inciting moment?
4. Does your conflict rise?
5. What does your character need to learn?
6. Does your ending relate to the beginning?
7. Is your audience entertained?

Good story is a combination of strong character combined with the appropriate choice of structure, conflict, emotion and reaction.







For a great book on how to build story try "Invisible Ink"  by Brian Mcdonald.
Or check his Blog  http://invisibleinkblog.blogspot.co.uk/