What makes a story tick? Part1 page1 - Page 3

Originally posted by: Krani

How did I never stumble across this before?

Anyway, I agree with the first point - a story to tell is one of the main things. That's why most of us start reading a fanfic, to see where the story goes and what the narrator wants us to know. Some people are able to do it really well, while others struggle.

I know that I tend to struggle with the story-teling. For me, there is a plot in my mind, the characters are in my mind, however the story is something I am too...impatient to properly write down completely.

Caught remains to be the only story I wrote down the plot for before I started it - and there might be a few changes here and there, but the essential being of it remains the same.

And that makes it fun - when you know what you want to tell the readers and you drop hints here and there.

I think the writers who are amazing with their story-telling, and inspire me, are Munchy, Anne and Maya.

Anne keeps me at the edge of my seat and has me going back to seeing what she did in the pervious parts that links to her new ones. They way she strips back layers after layers inspires me and I hope to do the same one day - she is my inspiration for delving deeper into Caught!

Munchy - She was my first absolute favourite writer on the forum. The way she has her way with words, and the way she manages to breathe life into any character of hers - the way she is able to write any scene and move the reader to a varied amount of emotions is something that very few people can. In all her stories she's had a story to tell, and she's wrapped it up as brilliantly as she started the story.

Maya - Since I am an absolute sucker for romance, I am absolutely addicted to her stories. The way she is able to build the chemistry and make every plot and turn of her fic flow into another, makes it seem as though you are watching an uninterrupted movie. I really hope to get there someday, in terms of how the characters are thought out, how each character has that touch of uniqueness in them that makes them so different from one another, but so loveable at the same time.

According to me, the ones I have mentioned had always managed to completely suck me into their stories and keep me captivated - and that's because they have a story, their characters are well sketched out and they have a way with words.

Another writer I noticed was arisai. While I have not read any of her work, I did stumble across one of her fics and saw that in her index, she had mapped out how many chapters her story will have - the name of the chapters and she was updating them as she wrote them.

And that was another thing that really struck out to me, because I've never seen anyone else do that.

The fact that she has a chapter count in mind, and the chapter names, means that she has a plot, a story to tell and she doesn't deter from it.

And no wonder her stories are recommended so often!

So all in all, I think having a plot and story to tell is a big thing. It helps the writer keep to the basic point of what they are telling the reader, and helps the reader connect to the story.

Of course, if you have a plot - it doesn't mean you need to stay with it to the T.

You can deviate from it here and there, explore a new angle, a new character - but I think the core of the storyline needs to be constant to help keep the writer and reader on track.