Harry Potter, Othello, and The Matrix: Story Structure

This excellent lecture in five parts by Dan Wells (he of the excellent podcast Writing Excuses) on story structure is a must-see. Get out a big notepad and prepare to take notes.

Dr. Kenyon’s Daily Writing Apple is a daily writing prompt to help you with your fiction work-in progress, instead of an unrelated writing exercise in creative futility that asks you to write about an elephant or how some other character feels. Subscribe via Atom Posts at http://tkkenyon.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default (LINK) or Like on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dr-Kenyons-Daily-Writing-Apple/157414557652275 (LINK).

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Good other posts to read: 

Kurt Vonnegut explains story structure: http://tkkenyon.blogspot.com/2011/09/kurt-vonnegut-explains-story-plots-for.html 

How to introduce a character: http://tkkenyon.blogspot.com/2011/07/how-to-introduce-character-in-your.html 

How to Introduce a Character in Your Story or Novel

To introduce a character, whether the main character at the beginning or a new character somewhere in the middle, you need three things:

1) The character must be a character. 

They can't be flat or shapeless. They can't be neutral or wussy. They have to be for or against something. That's important. You have to give your reader something to react to. You can have them hate or love the character, but the reader has to have a reaction.

2) The first time he appears, the character should perform an act that characterizes him. 

This goes back to Sunday school: don't listen to what people say, watch what they do. Your reader will watch what the character does, and it should be something important. Is he a thief? Have him steal something. Is he honest? Have him give back a nickel to make correct change. Generous and sweet? Have him over-tip the waitress after charming her.

And make that waitress important later.

If he's not generous and sweet, have him charm the waitress and then stiff her.

That doesn't mean to make the charecters flat. You can add contrast later, and should. Just show what they essentially are, in their core, first. More about adding contrast in these posts:

http://tkkenyon.blogspot.com/2011/06/contrast-makes-your-writing-more.html
http://tkkenyon.blogspot.com/2011/07/3d-characters-easy-formula.html

3) The characterizing act must be both pertinent and characteristic. 

That means you should show the most important characteristic of your character, not a side characteristic. If he's supposed to be courageous, don't show first how kind he is, etc.

Thanks for reading!

Here’s two interesting 99c short stories for you to read: (More fiction coming soon.)

The Law of Large Numbers (Kindle Store on Amazon)

The Law of Large Numbers (All Formats)

Nag Is Hindi for Cobra (Kindle Store on Amazon)

Nag Is Hindi for Cobra (All Formats)

How to Tell if Your Idea for a Story is a Good One

How do you know if an idea is a good one?

Think about *conflict.*

Is there conflict within the character or in the situation.

If not, then you need to find how conflict is intrinsic to the character or situation. If you can't find the conflict, it might not be a good idea for a story.

Does all fiction have to have conflict? Well, maybe, and probably.

You need to consider what fiction is for. Nonfiction writing is to inform. Fiction is either (1) to entertain, or (2) to forge the consciousness of the (human) race. Both of those jobs are dependent on conflict within the story. You may have a different idea of what fiction is for. Consider whether or not your philosophy needs conflict, but your story probably does.