16 Golden Rules of Story Writing

The Creative Writer's 16 Golden Rules of Story Writing

Stories will differ in message, content, and characters, but each one must have more than theme, plot, and dialogue to be complete. Check to see if your story has all of these elements.

1. Theme - This is the thread that runs seamlessly from beginning to end, telling the underlying morals of the
story. For instance, Gone With the Wind is not about romance and war. It is about control, manipulation, and
weak character. What is your story trying to say? What is the one thing you want the reader to learn from it?

2. Plot – Usually encased in the central climax scene, or possibly in a series of events.

3. Arcing – The gradual increase of momentum and interest that builds at the beginning, reaches a fever pitch in
the middle, and declines into the resolutions of story conflicts at the end. Does your arc come too soon? Too late?

4. Pacing – Some stories move fast and some slow, but all of them move at some rate of speed. Use pacing to
make them a combination of fast and slow according to the scenes. High climax scenes move fast.

5. Outline – Whether you do it mentally or by proper analysis, most writers will profit by some form of outlining.
Knowing where your story is going will save on rewrites and editing.

6. Resolution – Have you ever watched a TV show and watched the story end, only to say, "But what happened
to… ?" Be sure you tie up every loose end.

7. Hook – If you don't have a hook in the first or second paragraph, you won't have a reader to worry about
entertaining. Example: Jim staggered through the door with a bloody ax in his hand.

8. Point of View – which will you use? Right now, stories written in third person limited sell the best.

9. Story Essence – Every story has characters, theme, plot, and resolution. What makes your story different?
Answer: The details.

10. Dialogue – the trick is to make it sound natural. Use contractions, poor English, and half sentences. Become a
good eavesdropper and you'll learn to write excellent dialogue.

11. Characterization – Every character must bear their own bag and baggage of physical descriptions, emotional
hoopla, and psychological concoctions. This is what makes a character 3D. Make a list of 50 questions pertaining to
your two main characters. (Physical description, place & date of birth, habits, hangups, school, family, etc.) Then
go through magazines and find pics that remind you of them and tape them by your bed. I promise - your characters
will become real to you, and when that happens, they'll become real to the reader.

12. Research – Absolutely essential. Sometimes it may only define how insane a person may be, how
irresponsible parents are, or how careless children can become – but it's still research. No research. No depth.

13. Timeline – Are your scenes out of order? Does your flashback convey the reader back and forth in the proper
way? While some authors may dwell on the same scene for a whole chapter, others will skip years in a single
sentence. Make your timeline clear.

14. Setting – Your reader is landing in a new story. Let him know where he is. Hint: All stories use settings, but
elite writers use imagery – (descriptions mixed with one of the five senses). Example: The smell of salt in the air.
(Don't use imagery more than twice in a 2,000 word story.)

15. Verbiage – Believe it or not, you can delete 300-500 words out of every 2,500. Fall out of love with your work.
Delete favorite phrases. Slash words that end in -ly. What remains will be solid meat.

16. Show, Don't Tell – If the story states facts, you aren't using Show, Don't Tell. But, be advised, this is an
advanced technique that will probably require a writing class. Don't say very much outright. Hint at it. Make the reader
think.

Example:

Telling: Ethan has huge muscles.
Showing: "I saw Ethan coming out of the gym and he was wearing a muscle shirt. Wow!"

As you can see, dialogue is an excellent tool for Show, Don't Tell, but don't depend on it entirely.

Note: Show, Don't Tell always uses 3-5 times more words. That's okay. It's worth it.

If you include all of these things in your story and it still doesn't sell, you either need more help in certain areas, you're submitting to the wrong market (most likely), or your sentence structure isn't up to par.

Don't forget to sign up for The Writer's Choice Newsletter at http://www.creativewritinginstitute.com. It's chock full of writer's tips. Fear not. I won't spam you to death. :)