The character follows a path called the story arc. The story must have a beginning, middle, and end. You may have learned the basics of story structure in beginning composition class, but here’s a refresher. How is the character changed as a result of the struggle?.Does he finally overcome the obstacles or is he unable to succeed?.What obstacles, internal or external, thwart him?.How do the character’s flaws prevent him from achieving his goal?.What is he willing to do to get what he wants?.What does he want? Is there an extraordinary event that calls him to action?.Who is my main character? What is he like in his ordinary life?.Keep your character’s struggle to get something he desperately wants in mind as you build your story framework by answering these questions. (Stories don’t have to have happy endings, only satisfying ones.) The story describes the character’s journey toward getting what he or she wants. Any good story begins with a character who wants something. Stories are not just sequences of events-they have to go somewhere. One of the primary questions to get a story started is “what if?” What if the car you witnessed heading the wrong way down the freeway at rush hour was driven by a pregnant woman in labor who needed the fastest route to the hospital? What if the man calling out in the dark alley was a widower whose deceased wife was named Maryanne? Creating a Story Framework But events can germinate stories when the writer plants the seeds by asking questions. The act of writing things down will remind you to focus and be in the moment. If you’re old school, keep a small notebook or some index cards. Use your phone’s note-taking app to capture moments. Make a habit of noticing what’s going on around you, from the exciting to the mundane, by writing things down as they catch your attention. Although some of the events you describe may be extraordinary, they don’t have to be. Those snippets of conversation you overheard at dinner, the car you witnessed going the wrong way down the freeway during rush hour, the elderly man trudging down a dark alley calling the name Maryanne repeatedly, all could spark a story. Pay attention to what’s going on around you.
Many aspiring writers believe they need to wait for a sudden flash of inspiration, but generating ideas is more of a process than an epiphany. Every novelist or short story writer has heard the question many times: “Where do you get your ideas?” The answer is always the same: from everywhere.
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