Lesson Three: Building the Story Lines

Lesson Three: Building the Story Lines

A story without direction is just a bunch of sentences.  A story must follow a path, usually from beginning to end, but sometimes from the end to the beginning, or from the middle to the beginning or end.

At some point in our lives, all of us have written a story.  Before your story can begin to take shape, you must brainstorm, or come up with ideas.

Do this, take a blank sheet of paper, and write down a character name and what their roll is (policeman, doctor, lawyer, thief, superhero, et cetera.)  Then when will your story take place (past, future, present), write down the name of one more character.  What is their roll? 

We have two characters, their names, and when the story will take place.  Now let's further develop the story.  Is this a romance, comedy, crime scene, et cetera?  What are the genera (sci-fi, fiction, non-fiction, et cetera)?  Next what is happening around the two characters, (war, daily life, working, car accident, et. cetera)?

Example Story Line:

Mark - Policeman

Future

Lisa - Thief

Crime

Sci-Fi

Bank Robbery

Now you can begin to build your story!

P.S. see next weeks Lesson Four: Writing, to see where this story goes.