There are no set
rules that need to be followed to write a story, a novel, or a poem. Sure, there are plenty of
books written on the subject, some of the authors have set themselves up as
authorities on the basis that their books have sold many copies, millions,
perhaps. They’ve made up their own rules, other authors may copy those rules,
change them around, and make them their own. If there are many of these books
around, those rules may become the standard on writing a story. They tell you
that a story must start with a certain scene, you’ll have to capture the
reader’s attention by such and such a page. After that the story has to develop
according to an almost rigid pattern.
They will tell you that before you even start writing your
story, you must have a layout, your characters must be developed with
backgrounds of their lives, and you should know what happens in each chapter. It
is even almost mandatory to know the end of the story. Then you start writing
and with all this preliminary work your story will almost write itself. There
will be no surprises, no straying off the rigid road you have developed with a
logical mind. Everything will make sense. I call this formula writing.
Well, that doesn’t work for me, and, I’m sure, for many
other writers, seasoned or just budding. Every writer has to find his/her own
style and develop a personal method. A good story requires a fertile imagination, a good command of the English language (or whatever language you'll be writing in), and a writing style that captures the attention of the reader.
I find writing Science Fiction and Fantasy more interesting
and more enjoyable than any other genre, because I never know where the story goes.
I usually don’t have a character sheet
or a skeleton draft of what will happen, because I don’t know. I may have an
idea of what the story will be about or I may not. I might just have the name
of a character, who may end up being the main character. I will write a word, a
sentence, a paragraph to get the creative juices flowing. With every new
paragraph may come a new idea. The first chapter will begin to take shape, and
even then I still may not know where I’m headed. But deep inside me, like shards
of memories, ideas will begin to form and develop. The words will begin to flow
from my fingertips and I will start to immerse myself into the world I’m
creating in my mind. Every sentence may bring new revelations and new
adventure, and finally, I’ve written the last sentence. The whole process takes
months, in some cases, years. It all depends how much time I have to devote to
my writing.
Writing Science Fiction does not require much research. I
can create worlds and places, because they don’t have to exist in real life. I
can shape them into anything I want. I can create my own version of history. That
is not the case when writing a contemporary novel. It is important to have
correct dates, correct history, real places. In my trilogy ‘Web of Conspiracy’
I even checked out the weather on the dates and in the cities I mentioned. I
also made certain that the dates and names of days corresponded. It did take
quite a bit of research to find that out. I also needed to study up on places
in the Middle East where part of the story
took place, and certain historic dates, like the Gulf war and other events. It
is amazing how much you learn doing that kind of research. I downloaded maps of
Iraq
and other places. I even found quotes from the Koran or Qur’an (I didn’t know
it was spelled that way). Everything can be found on the internet.
While writing ‘Bullet of Revenge’ I needed to find
information about the FBI. For instance, I had to make certain they had offices
in the city I mentioned, and other stuff. I learned a lot of things I didn't know before. It is important to do this research. Readers
will quickly find out if a writer hasn’t done his (her) homework.
Every genre does require a different method. When writing a
murder mystery it may be important to know the ending. I say ‘may’, because
even that can change as the story develops. With the introduction of new
characters new ideas also pop up. Of course, that is the case with any story.
More next time.
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