Story Rulez: Things Every Story Needs to do

My crit partner Juliette wrote a post today on following the rules of writing, and while we were talking about it this morning, it led to a discussion about the rules of story. I thought it would make a fun companion piece to hers, so here we go.

I'm a big fan of the story. If I had to chose between a great story and great writing, I'd take story every time. Because without a great story, who cares about the writing? I've seen wonderfully written manuals, but that didn't make me want to curl up with them in front of a fire. 

I've gotten myself into some debates over which is more important to a new writer. Should they focus on improving their writing or their story? To dip into Juliette's post a bit, I think that knowing the rules is important. Writing is a skill, and there's only so far you can go with raw talent. At some point, you'll need to know what you're doing.But I also think that no matter how good a writer you are, if you're not a storyteller, you won't go that far either. Most people don't pick up a book because the author is technically skilled. They pick it up because it sounds like a good story.

So, provided you have the technical skills (after all, writing so bad that a reader can't follow it will kill even a great story), what does a great story have to do? Once they have those technical skills, what rules does a writer need to follow?

1. Hook the reader
2. Entertain them until the story is over


That's it. Seriously. It sounds so easy, but this is probably the number-one reason most well-written books fail. It's why my early novels failed to get me an agent or sell to a publisher. It's probably why a lot of trunk novels are still trunk novels.

But let's look a little closer at these rules.

Hooking the Reader
You'll find a ton of information on how to do this out there. But basically, you hook a reader by offering them something that makes them curious enough to keep reading. You make them care. They want to know more, see what happens, spend more time with this character, see what develops in this world, explore this premise some more. All are ways in which you can hook a reader. For every "you must" rule, someone can (and often does) show you an exception to that rule and uses it as proof that the rule is wrong.The rule probably isn't wrong, there are just so many ways to do something that one rule can't cover it all.

Now, there are some ways that consistently work.

1. Introduce an interesting character with a problem.
This probably sums up a vast majority of novels out there. Someone with a problem. The book follows that person until the problem is solved. The readers cares about both the character and the problem.


2. Introduce a compelling situation.
Some topics are fascinating, and we don't care all that much about the characters at first. We want to see more about this cool idea. But as soon as the shine is off the apple, we want a story to go with that cool idea. The reader cares about the idea.

3. Introduce an intriguing character with a unique perspective.
You'll also hear "start with a great voice" but it's kinda the same thing. The person telling the story is so charismatic that you'll hang with them for a bit to see what they do. The reader cares about the character.

No matter how you hook your reader, the next rule is the really hard one.

Entertaining Your Reader to the End of the Story
This entire blog is devoted to doing that.There's no formula (though there is a reliable structure that works well), no one way, no plug and play outline. You just keep offering something the reader finds interesting and keep them wanting more.How you do that is up to you.

There are some consistently helpful ways for this as well.

1. Give the story goals worth striving for.
Create a carrot to encourage the reader to keep reading. Even in books that are about a time in someone's life, and don't have a big story goal, there are still things they're trying to do. Stories aren't about people watching.

2. Give the story stakes that matter.
Something is making us want to see what happens next. The whole reason we want to see the outcome of the goal is because of the consequences of that resolution. High stakes, low stakes, end of the world or quiet and reflective, as long as we want to see how it turns out, we'll keep reading.

3. Give the story a character worth following.
Stories are about people. Even in hard sci fi where the science is at the core, it's the people who are driving that scientific exploration. That science has human repercussions that make us curious. (otherwise we'd just read a scientific paper on the subject) Make the character someone that intrigues. They don't have to be good or even likable if there's something about them that makes us want to know more. They just have to capture our attention and curiosity.

Again, it comes down to making the reader care. If they care, they'll keep reading. If they don't, they'll stop. 

If you focus on telling a great story, you'll stand a better chance at creating a great story. Because you'll have something that makes us care, and a reason to keep turning those pages.

Just a Quick Note

I've had a few comments this week correct or question something I've written, and one even mentioned risking ire for pointing it out. I just wanted y'all to know that like everyone else, I do make mistakes, and I'm totally fine in someone jumps in and lets me know so I can correct  it.

I won't get mad unless someone is being rude about it. And even then, I'd be miffed about the rudeness, not the fact that someone pointed out a goof on my part.

The Plot Thickens

One thing I've learned as I've slogged my way through this whole "word thang" (as my husband calls it), is that story and plot are two different things. Story is what the novel is about, while plot is the series of events that occur to illustrate the story. Story is, but plot does.

Coming up with story ideas is pretty easy. Coming up with a plot -- not so easy. But there are things you can do to make it a little better.

Every story has a beginning, a middle and an ending. Think about how your story starts, how it ends, and what things might happen to connect those two events. Back in the Start Me Up post, I created a story about a boy and some Martians, so let's play more with that and see what we can come up with for a plot.

First, get the basic logline to set the general premise.

On a school field trip to the moon, a boy is captured by a lost tribe of Martians who will eat him if he doesn't escape.

Look at the beginning first. The hero is going about their business when suddenly, something happens and they have a problem. This is the inciting event that causes the rest of the story to happen. No matter what the problem is, something occurred that made the hero think, "gee, I have a problem I need to fix." It may not have anything to do with the actual story problem, though it'll probably be connected in some small way. Even if it's just a situation that caused the hero to be in the right place at the right time to have the rest of the book happen.

In this case, the boy, Jack, is on a school field trip to the moon. He needs to find and be captured by Martians, so what might he do that puts him on this path? Notice I said "he do" and not "happens" here. It's easy to have something happen, but then you force your hero to react instead of act. Acting is where the story drive comes from, and that's what keeps readers reading. So, maybe Jack is bored by the teacher's lecture, and he wanders off to look around. He finds some old ruins buried in the sand. When he touches the wrong thing, a door opens and he finds steps leading down.

Now that we know how the story starts, let's look at the ending. He has to escape or be eaten. Sometimes you know right away how your hero is going to solve their problem, but other times you only have a vague idea. Since we know Jack is going to be eaten if he doesn't get away, let's say he escapes by sabotaging the oven and blowing a hole in the side of the kitchen. It's okay for an ending to change as you develop a story. At this stage, it's just a guideline to give direction. You could just say "he gets away" if you wanted for now.

Now for the hard part: connecting these two points. This is where writing styles will start to differ. A free form writer might not want (or need) to know anything else beyond the start and end to write the novel. They prefer to let the characters develop and see where they take them. A structured writer might want to know every single thing that happens before they ever wrote word one. Then there's the in-between writer (like me) who likes to know the major events so they have a solid framework to guide them, but lets the characters and story develop organically. All are valid. Do what feels right to you.

Start asking yourself, "What can go wrong?" and "What does he do next?" Look at it as a big connecting puzzle. Jack is going down the steps into the unknown. What can go wrong? Start listing things. He can slip and break his leg. He can go deeper and get lost. The door can slide shut behind him and he's trapped. One of the things on the list is bound to make you say "ooooo" and sound like a fun thing to do next.

I like, the door slides shut and traps him. This forces Jack to move forward, thus moving the story forward. It also raises the stakes. He's trapped, and he'll be left behind if he doesn't get out. (And who doesn't have that "I'll be left behind" fear or memory to make them connect to such a situation). What does Jack do next? He probably will try to find a way out. As he looks for a way out, what can go wrong? (see the pattern?)

He gets lost. He falls through a hole in the floor. He sees light and hears odd voices. The goal is to find the Martians, so which best leads Jack in that direction and provide more options for trouble and intrigue? Let's give him the lights and voices, as it makes a reader curious who has the light and what they're doing there in that secret underground place. It would also be something Jack would also be curious in, so you have your reader and hero in sync. Jack heads toward the light and voices. So what happens next?

Was. Rinse. Repeat.


And keep asking, "what happens next?" and "what goes wrong?" They'll never lead you astray.

Even if they will lead your protag astray.

Not My Type: Formatting Your Manuscript

You'd be surprised how much anguish can go into what font to use when you send your manuscript out. (or maybe not if you're one of the many who worry about this)

Courier or Times Roman?

10 or 12 point?

Double or single spaced?

Many writers worry that if they don't get their manuscript formatted exactly right, their book is doomed to rejection. This is so not true. As long as your manuscript is readable and follows some very simple guides, you'll be fine. (Well, your story still has to wow them, but they won't reject you for a formatting issue)

Basic Manuscript Formatting
12 point font, Times Roman or Courier, flush left, double spaced, with one-inch margins all around, half-inch paragraph indents, no spaces between paragraphs. Chapters start halfway down the page (In Word, I use 276pt before the header, and 85pt after to center it nicely on the page without all those extra returns) with chapter header in all caps, centered. Text starts a few lines below that. Scene breaks are denoted by something graphic like *** or ## or even a blank line. One space after a period. (thanks to Shayda for reminding me abut this one)

But what if you used Palatino instead of Times? Don't worry about it. Both are still readable serif fonts. (Serif is a font with those little tails at the ends. A san serif font is one that's blocky, like Arial) The goal of any manuscript (besides being really good) is to be readable. As long as the pages are professional looking and easy to read, no one will care if they're a little different from the standard.

A .25 indent instead of a .5 isn't going to get you a rejection. However, using 5 point type will, because it's too tiny to easily read the pages. Making it 16 point type is just as bad, as this can strain the eyes too.

Starting your chapters two-thirds down -- no problem. Single spacing vs double -- problem, because it's hard to read. (See the trend? Reading ease matters)

If you have special formatting in there, like an e-mail or text message style, just choose a style that makes it clear that part is different, and be consistent. It's fine to indent if you want, or use Courier when the rest is Times. When you sell the novel, there are book designers who are going to do the final design anyway, so all that will change.As long as it's easy for those designers to tell what parts need that special look, it's good.

Italics or Underline?

Underlining is the most common, as there as tons of books, guides and sites that back this up. But this comes from the days when you couldn't click a button and change your text to italics. But today, using a serif font with a clear italic version is available to everyone. So if you want to use italics, go right ahead.

I used to use underlines because that's what the books said. I submitted my novel to agents, then later to editors, with all my italics denoted by underlines. I asked my editor which she preferred. She told me to use italics, so now I do that. But the fact that I used underlines to submit to her didn't bother her one bit. She still bought the book.

No one is going to look at your pages and shout "Eeek! They used italics (or underlines) REJECT REJECT REJECT!" They're going to read your work and judge it on how good that work is. As long as you use a readable serif font, and it's consistent and clear what your italics are, they won't care.

ETA:  In the comments, C.A. brought up a really fantastic point about this. E-readers can have trouble with italics, and underline shows up better. Since more and more agents are reading on e-readers, underlines might start to make a comeback. I'm going to see if I can get some agent thoughts on this since my agent happens to read her submissions on an e-reader. So if you happen to know the agent you're submitting to uses an e-reader, it  might be worth it to change to underlines.

What matters most is making your manuscript easy to read. Remember, if agents can't read it, they can't fall in love with it.

Send up the (Red) Flag: Words That Often Spell Trouble

In honor of all those who finished NaNo yesterday and will now be diving into revisions, (and a big congrats to those who participated) today's post in an overview on common red flags. (Special thanks to Angela for giving me the idea in yesterday's comments)

One trick I use to jump start my editor's brain, is to search for words I know are frequently found in trouble spots. Red flag words. I can clean up those spots and get into the groove of editing, and that puts me in the right mindset to tackle the larger revisions.I'm not going to go into a lot of detail in this post (it's a round-up after all), but there are links to posts that go into more detail with more examples and ways to fix these rough spots.

Telling Red Flags
These are the words that are often found where you're telling instead of showing. Three common types are the motivational tell, the emotional tell. and the descriptive tell.

Motivational tells explain motives, frequently before the character has even made the action. To and when are repeat offenders here.

Bob ran to the shed to get the shotgun.

When Bob ran to the shed for the shotgun, the zombie was already there.


Emotional tells explain feelings. In and with take center stage here.

Bob screamed in fear.

Sally sighed with relief.

Descriptive tells explain actions. These are trickier because they often feel just fine until you notice that you're telling the reader what they should be able to figure out by how the character is acting. Offenders include realize, could see, the sound of, as.

Jane staggered out of the room clutching her side, and Bob realized she'd been hurt.

Bob could see from the way Jane was bleeding that she'd hurt herself.

The sound of a sharp bang echoed across the valley.

As Bob climbed on the roof, the zombie grabbed his foot.

More on telling red flags here.

Placeholder Red Flags
Placeholder words are those that are missed opportunities to flesh out your scene. Adverbs are the number-one offender here. When you see an adverb, there's a good chance that you can improve the section but using details that show what that adverb means.

Bob shook his fist angrily.

Jane moved nervously across the field.

More on making adverbs work for you here.

Bloated Sentence Red Flags
Bloated sentences are those that often read just fine (if they didn't we'd have spotted them already) but can be tightened up to improve the overall novel. Prepositions are often your problem here.

Bob crept through the mud and around to the back of the shed.

Jane ran to the back of the room.

More on prepositions here.

Passive Red Flags
These are hose sentences that feel flat and lifeless, because the subject of the sentence is being acted upon, not doing the acting. Most often it's due to passive "to be" verbs.

Bob was tripped by the severed leg.

Sally was being chased from the angry mob.

More on passive writing here.

Obviously, not every instance of these words is going to be trouble, but they are often found in places that often need a little tweaking. And since this is a round-up post on revisions, here are some other helpful revision posts for your post-NaNo manuscript:

Tips on what to do before you start editing
Tips on polishing your novel and lists of words that spell trouble
Tips on eliminating places where you're overstating things
Tips on how to revise that first draft

And of course, for specific trouble spots you can also check out the labels (on the left, scroll down under the book covers) to find more info on tons of editing subjects.