The Nitty Gritty Stuff
This page is dedicated to the boring parts of writing. Types of narration, what characters you should pick, how to write a good story arc, and all kinds of lame-yet-necessary things like that can all be found here.
This is a basic story arc. There should be one of these in each book, a similar arc in each chapter, and one that spans the entire series.
The Exposition: This is where you get your readers interested. Hook them with a dynamic opening sentence, introduce them to the main characters, and give them a taste of the setting. Don't try to introduce everything and everyone all at once. Instead, let the story unfold on its own, but use the exposition to grab the reader and lead them into the character's world, pique their curiosity and hint at the conflict to come.
The Rising Action: Now that your reader has been introduced to the characters and setting, it's time to introduce the conflict. The Rising Action is a combination of tension, twists and turns in the plot, choices that the character makes, and events that affect the character's goal. Use moments during this part of the story to reveal the character's true motivation, their weaknesses, and their strengths. The events that take place during this period will change the character and force them to make difficult decisions. The rising action gradually raises the stakes and brings the conflict to a turning point, which brings us to....
The Climax: This is where it gets good. The character has been growing, learning, and developing through the story. The reader is emotionally invested. The stakes are high, the conflict has reached a boiling point, and everything has come to a head. The climax is basically the culmination of the entire story. While the climax is often perceived as the "big fight scene", it does not always have to be this drastic. The climax is a crisis, a turning point, or a decisive moment, when the character is forced to make a difficult choice. These moments show how much the character has changed over the course of the story. This is where the character confronts their fears and brings the story to a point of resolution.
The Falling Action: After the climax, the pace of the story starts to slow. The character has faced up to the antagonist, and some point of resolution has been reached. The falling action allows the characters to pull themselves together, reflect on where they have been, and decide where they are headed.
The Denouement: This is the final resolution. The denouement is where all the loose ends are tied up, mini-conflicts and sub-plots are resolved, and the reader can let out a long breath. Happily ever after (or not), the story has come to an end.
5 Basic Steps to Writing a Story
1. Get Inspired
2. Pick Your Genre and Narration Type
3. Choose Your Characters and Team
4. Write the Rough Draft
5. Stay Inspired
Picking Your Genre and Narration
Your genre and narration type greatly affect your story, so it's best to pick them sooner than later. Wikipedia has an impressivly long list of genres here. As for narration types this article describes all 8 very well.
Characters and Teams
Characters can be easy to imagine, but hard to write. Here's a list of basic characters to help get you started. Picking your team can be just as tricky so here is a list of typical character combinations.
Rough Drafting
Drafting is simultaneously the easiest and hardest part of writing a book. The best thing you can do is to sit down and write it all out at once. Don't worry about to spelling or grammer, just keep trudging on and it'll work out on it's own.
Staying Inspired
Staying motivated to write your story can be hard. When you hit a low spot, try taking a break or writing a different part of your story. You could even have two stories you toggle between writing. Remember: even if it sounds like a two-year-old wrote it, for now that's okay. There will be plenty of time for edits and revisions to smooth it out later. Try keeping a binder full of written drafts, relevant doodles, and ideas for your story so you can flip through them when things get rough.
From Amber and Leyin
To the reader,
We wish you the best in your writing journey. This site was created to help you through thick and thin, from start to finish. We know writing can be hard, but please stick with it. Tons of stories never make it to paper and countless die halfway through the first draft. Even the books that make it past the publisher get knocked by the readers. But it's not about how many good reveiws you get on your book. It's about the fact that you wrote a story- something those people giving you negative reveiws have probably never managed to do. So shrug them off! Stand tall regardless and keep trudging on. No one said it was going to be easy, but we can promise you it will be worth it.
Your future fans,
Co-founders of Legion of Ink
