Composed: What Makes up a Story

Composed: What makes up a Story?

We are going to look at some ways a story can be formed. There are no limitations, these are just basic guidelines. If you want to make up a bad combination of ideas it’s your choice, but choose wisely.

Here is our example story: Mary’s Lamb Problem

Mary had a little lamb. It loved her very much. She loved it too, but it tried to follow her everywhere. She did not want the lamb to follow her.

One day she went to find the young baker, to ask his advice. He suggested she tie the lamb up. So she tied the lamb to the front porch of her house. When she walked away the lamb was bleating so pitifully that she let it go. It again followed her.

Then she went to the locksmith for advice. He said to lock it up in the barn, but Mary’s family didn’t have a barn. So Mary asked her father to keep the lamb locked in the house, but that did not work either. Her father forgot the lamb was in the house, left the door open, and the lamb got out and went to Mary right away.

The hatter heard her complaints and suggested she shear it, he said then it wouldn’t want to go anywhere and would stay hiding and ashamed at home. Mary tried that too. It didn’t work. The lamb was just as happy. But as it was getting to summer, it was just as well the lamb was sheared.

Finally, in desperation, she called at the shepherd’s cabin, high in the hills. Sheep were all around the cabin, and the shepherd was complacently watching over them. Mary told all of it and the shepherd said that the lamb just needed the company of other lambs. He said that would straighten the lamb out. He said she could bring the lamb to him. He would keep it and it could live with the others happily for the rest of its days. He’d give Mary the wool, and she could sell it.

Mary tried the shepherd’s idea and found it worked very well. She was never again bothered by the lamb, and got a good profit selling the lamb’s wool. She now had more time and was not laughed at. The End

Usually in the best writing there is a problem or goal that must be overcome: Mary must stop the lamb from following her.

Main character: This is the person/animal/inanimate object/etc. that is in the spotlight. Mary is the main character.

Plot: What happens in the story. The plot is set so Mary tries a few ideas, then hits one right one. She hears the advice of a baker, a locksmith, a hatter, and tries their ideas but they don’t work. Finally she goes to the shepherd and his does.

Climax: The most exciting part, when the problem is solved or goal reached, or something important happens. There can be more than one climax. The climax in the example story is when Mary finally goes to the shepherd. That is in the fifth paragraph.

Beginning and end: the first paragraph states that the lamb was the problem. The last states everything ended well. In a longer story the beginnings and end would be longer, too. In a book the beginning is usually a chapter or half-chapter, and the end the same.

Voices in writing: you can use different voices in writing:

First person is I or we: I had a little lamb. We (the baker, locksmith, hatter, and shepherd) had ideas.

Second person is you or you all: You had a little lamb. You all had ideas.

Third person is he, she, it, and they: Mary had a little lamb. They had ideas.

The problem or goal to be overcome could be an antagonist: the villain or bully in the story.

The main character as the protagonist: the hero of the story. Obviously Mary is not a hero.

Dialogue: the characters speaking. Dialogues are in quotes, mostly, with few exceptions, each new speaker in separate quotes and in a separate indented paragraph. For example: “Do you have my dog?” The telling of the story is not dialogue, for example: he was mad, so I said, “Please calm down.” He did not calm down. “Please calm down” is dialogue. The rest isn’t.

Subject Noun: The subject of a sentence. – I run.

Verb: the word that tells what the subject is doing – I run.

Tense: Tense tells when something happened.

Future: what will happen

Present: what is happening now.

Past: what already has happened

Future Verb Phrases: will, shall, will have, shall have, will have been, shall have been

Present Verb Phrases: am, is, are, are being

Past Verb Phrases: was, were, have been, was being, has been, has, did –(past-tense-verb)-

Wording:  Mary had a little lamb. Mary retained a little lamb.

One day she went to find the baker… One day she ambulated to find the baker…

He said to lock it up… He informed her to lock it up…

…go anywhere and would stay hiding and ashamed… …go anywhere and would remain hiding and ashamed…

Not for this story, but for others:

Fairy tale:

Repeating element: such as when the character fails five times, or the character has to retrieve four musical instruments.

Magical element:

Fairy helper: a guide to the protagonist. A fairy or whatever, but good.

Evil magical creature or person - antagonist: A fairy or whatever, but bad, trying to harm the protagonist or the fairy helper.

Novels and longer works: novels and longer works have many combinations of these basic ideas. At one point you may have one problem to solve, and later another.

Quick Action: action is movement and fast plot. Action is quick and hazardous situations. Plots form fast, end fast, and each end piece adds to the greatest climax. Mysteries are a great example. Each clue has a plot surrounding it, how the detectives or spies found the clue, and each adds up to the solution and climax (or climaxes).

Slower Stories: slower stories may have as or more exciting themes, but they develop slower. An individual plot, with one goal or antagonist, may take up a whole book.

Non-fiction: The main story roots are the same. There will be main characters, plot, goals, beginning and end. Your life story, for example, has many plots interwoven. What happens at the beginning affects the end. For example: If you learn to read early in your life, you may go to a better college.

Activities: These are designed for you to practice your skills. Happy writing! In between will be ideas and lessons to help you.

Number one:

Write a story without dialogue. The example story, Mary’s Lamb Problem, is a story without dialogue. To tell of someone saying something, use wording that does not sound like a direct quote. Here is an example from Mary’s Lamb Problem: “He said she could bring the lamb to him. He would keep it and it could live with the others happily for the rest of its days. He’d give Mary the wool, and she could sell it.” Notice that when telling what was said, I use past tense and future, past in “he said,” future in the rest, such as “would give,” or “could sell.”

Feeling:

Using Excellent Wording to Make Feeling (UEWMF, pronounced YEWMUF):

Character Personality: To create a wonderful and exciting  character start by envisioning their personality. In third person through many hints, but also in the reaction of the character to different circumstances, news, views, or attitudes, and in first person the personality will be evident through the organization of words and the third person personality traits.

Tone: instrument UEWMF and tone to create feeling. Your tone of writing is the personality of the third person, the overall story, or the characters. When I write, the words form in my mind naturally. Very serious writing, stories, or personalities tend to have as their origin a deep, slow, serious tone. Jumpy or flighty personalities seem lighthearted and forgetful.

For me, more serious tones create excellent academic/important-sounding words and thus UEWMF and better writing. Tones are also used when creating strings of personality in dialogue.

Some tones:

Instructional, important, pompous, majestic, lighthearted/careless, little kid, older kid, teen, adult, they-are-so-dumb/happy/bad-and I’m –something- (as in animals or plants commenting on humans), ominous, mysterious, chilling, pouting, interested, uninterested, __________, __________...

Number two: On a lined blank sheet of paper write down as many synonyms of pretty as you can, just from memory.

Find a thesaurus in book form and look up one word. Find pretty. Read each word only once, slowly and carefully.

Next find another blank sheet of paper and write a list of synonyms of pretty. How much did you improve? How many more words are there on the list?

You may do this as many times as you like, and with different words, such as: power or powerful, excite, happy, fat, orange or any color.

Number three: Using tone and UEWMF write about a gloomy sunny day. Two to Five paragraphs should be fine.