Story Writing Hints
By
Gerald D. O’Nan
Author of the
Adventures of Andy Ant Books
(Note: I will try to give you hints and ideas about writing stories using the 8 books in The Adventures of Andy Ant as examples. Having a set of the Andy Ant books available will help you understand the context better, but it isn’t necessary if you have a good imagination.)
Story Outline – The Roadmap for Your Story Journey
A written or mental outline is a good first step to the actual writing process. Treat the outline like you would a roadmap. For example, a roadmap doesn’t show everything you might encounter along the journey, but it does indicate where you are starting from and where you plan to go. However, just like the roadmap, the journey in your story may take detours that you did not anticipate. Sometimes the story journey ends up in a new destination. And, you may find your story journey has a totally different beginning point after you reach your destination.
I cannot begin to tell you how many times I wrote and re-wrote the beginnings and endings of The Adventures of Andy Ant stories. In that regard, writing a story is a very dynamic process. Use the outline as a guide. Don’t be afraid of little detours on the story journey. But, don’t let the detours keep you from the destination if you really know where the story journey is supposed to go. Yet, the detour may cause you to change destinations and that’s okay! Keep in mind that the story journey needs to be consistent and that’s why the roadmap (outline) is so helpful. If you have too many detours, you’ll never reach your destination. However, if you don’t have any detours, the story journey may not contain enough excitement.
Sometimes it helps to tell the story out loud – even if you are telling the story to an empty room. Telling the story out loud helps to create the roadmap. And it can even help you understand your characters better. I believe telling the stories out loud helps me develop my imagination for that story journey.
The “start” of the writing is often the most difficult. However, keep in mind that you will likely be editing that opening series of paragraphs, so don’t dwell on a perfect beginning… just start writing. I feel it is important to write every day or so when you are working on a story. When you sit down to write, re-read what you have already written – or at least re-read the chapter you are working on. The Adventures of Andy Ant are all short stories of 2,000 – 2,200 words. Therefore, it was important (and relatively easy) to re-read what I had already written as I continued to work on the stories.
When you re-read what you have written, don’t just read it silently. Read it out loud. At least for me, reading out loud also helps me start to edit what I have written. I think it is amazing how much difference there is between reading it silently and reading it aloud. The flow of the sentences becomes clearer when you read it out loud. In addition, my imagination is much better when I am reading out loud. I feel the characters come alive and I become part of the action. It also lets me “listen” to the characters and “feel” their emotions much better.
Copyright © 2023 by Gerald D. O’Nan All Rights Reserved. No part of this document may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or by any information storage retrieval system without the expressed written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
