Two weeks ago, I wrote about the ideas that coalesce to make a story. In that article, I contend that a single story must be many separate ideas, each independently worth exploring. One should therefore keep track of their plot, character, and setting ideas and think to combine them in interesting ways.
However, where does a story begin? How does one start with nothing but a blank page and end up with The Stormlight Archive? Or, more broadly, where does any piece of writing begin?
I create my strongest works when I start with two questions: who, and why?
First and foremost, who am I writing for? A story for middle grade readers will on average be shorter and more action-packed than one for adult readers. The protagonist will also be much younger.
If I’m writing an essay, what demographic am I trying to reach, and what assumptions can I make about their beliefs? I’ll have an easy time convincing indie authors that Audible needs to provide better deals for their creators. I may have a harder time convincing Amazon executives of this. Which brings me to my second question.
Why am I writing this piece? Most of the time, there’s more than one answer. For someone in my position, one of the answers should always be, “to learn and improve in my craft.” But am I writing a story because I want to see it published and attain commercial success? In that case, I might research market trends and see what’s been successful of late.
–There’s nothing wrong with this, by the way. To go on a quick tangent, I think many young artists believe they must create without regard for popular culture. That if they take into account market trends, they’re unoriginal and derivative. Not so. This took me too longer to figure out. I can write a story with aspects of recently successful stories and write the story I want to tell. There’s overlap there. End tangent.–
If I identify my purpose before I begin writing, or at some point in my writing, everything I write afterwards will be informed by that knowledge. And when I go back to edit, I can ask myself, does this paragraph support my goal the best it could? If not, I know that I must change that.
Identify your who, and identify your why. This will provide a target for which to aim and a shape within which to work. You can then start to fill that shape with your ideas that you’ve so carefully documented on loose scraps of paper around the house and where did I put them, I could’ve sworn I left them in this drawer, and–ah! there they are. Wait, why does this one just say, “carrot protagonist?”
As with all things, your answers to these questions may change as you work. Even if they do, and even if that adds more work to your plate, remain aware of that. You’ll end up with a stronger piece of writing for your efforts.
– AJG
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