This week, I completed a Story Lab in which I read the EmpoWord document. This had some interesting takes to narration and story telling that I had either learned previously and forgotten, or never learned at all.
One interesting think that the book mentions is defining the scope and sequence of the story itself. Often time, I choose a plot and characters, but after that, I begin writing. This sometimes leads to issues where I do not know how to tie event A to event B within a story, but I know it needs to happen in order for the story to flow. Or, conversely, sometimes within the story, I will get to the point where I am not sure what should happen next. Properly defining a scope can not only reduce these problems, but make a story even stronger since the narrator knows every twist and turn.
Another tool to take advantage of is pacing. I often pace the stories about the same throughout, so that the speed of the story is the same from beginning to end, but I remember that some of my favorite stories from growing up often had faster moments where the reader would experience a huge amount quickly, and it turned out that the story was speeding up. I will try to remember this as I type my next story in the upcoming weeks.
A final item of interest is the point of view that the author tells the story from. This is one that I can probably do best, but not necessarily well. Last week, I told the story from the point of view of a dog, but aside from the beginning, there was no real continuity to this point of view, so it was nothing more than an introduction. In order to maximize the immersion in the character, it would be of value to tell the story entirely from the point of view of the character of choice.
Overall, this Story Lab was a great review of concepts for strengthening writing and storytelling as a whole, and I look forward to implementing these concepts into a story next week.
One interesting think that the book mentions is defining the scope and sequence of the story itself. Often time, I choose a plot and characters, but after that, I begin writing. This sometimes leads to issues where I do not know how to tie event A to event B within a story, but I know it needs to happen in order for the story to flow. Or, conversely, sometimes within the story, I will get to the point where I am not sure what should happen next. Properly defining a scope can not only reduce these problems, but make a story even stronger since the narrator knows every twist and turn.
Another tool to take advantage of is pacing. I often pace the stories about the same throughout, so that the speed of the story is the same from beginning to end, but I remember that some of my favorite stories from growing up often had faster moments where the reader would experience a huge amount quickly, and it turned out that the story was speeding up. I will try to remember this as I type my next story in the upcoming weeks.
A final item of interest is the point of view that the author tells the story from. This is one that I can probably do best, but not necessarily well. Last week, I told the story from the point of view of a dog, but aside from the beginning, there was no real continuity to this point of view, so it was nothing more than an introduction. In order to maximize the immersion in the character, it would be of value to tell the story entirely from the point of view of the character of choice.
Overall, this Story Lab was a great review of concepts for strengthening writing and storytelling as a whole, and I look forward to implementing these concepts into a story next week.
Stories typically follow a standard plot. Source: Wikimedia Commons
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