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Writing.com
“Once you're into a story everything seems to apply—what you overhear on a city bus is exactly what your character would say on the page you're writing. Wherever you go, you meet part of your story."
Eudora Welty
“Southern writers must have learned the art of storytelling from listening to oral tales. I did. It gave me the knowledge that the simplest incident can make a story.”
Erskine Caldwell
Hello, I am Joy , your drama editor. In this issue, we are going to take a news story, and from it, we'll attempt to create a beginning of a plan as a starting point for some dramatic fiction. |
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Welcome to the Drama newsletter
News stories can spark dramatic fictional stories when an author acquires a feel for them. Although several different methods exist for this, let's tackle turning an actual news story into a preliminary framework of a fictional story.
First step is to take a news story that appeals to us or one we feel has potential for good fiction.
Here is an MSNBC news story. I watched it in video and typed as I heard it, so bear with me and forgive the omissions.
An old lady buys a stuffed life-size dog from a yard sale. She puts it in front of her window. She says she does this to feel safe. "It protects me, you know; I think it does."
Afterwards she gets a notice to this effect:
Kern County Animal Control Department
201 So. Mt. Vernon
Bakersfield, CA 93307
Our records still indicate your dog continues to be in violation of the county ordinances.
The old lady complains. "I told them I do not have a real dog; I have a stuffed dog, but the letters still keep coming."
She gets these notices for six months from the animal control department of her town, telling her to license her dog or else, she'll have to pay a $200 fine.
MSNBC people talk to the official who heads the animal control. He says, "Yes, it was a legitimate mistake. We gave her some letters but it was a mistake, a legitimate mistake." According to him, A new PEET program (Public Education and Enforcement Team) was put in effect, and the officers were in that lady's neighborhood on an unlicensed-dog crackdown. They saw the doggy in the window and said, "Ahha!"
The official finally says, "It was a mistake. Everyone makes mistakes. I apologize. All is fine now; that lady does not have to pay any fines."
Now, how do we turn this story into fiction?
The first question to ask is, "Whose story is this?'
We have a few options. Let's take three.
1. It could be the dog's story. Plush dog coming to life and trying to make its owner's life easier but creating disturbances. This could be a cutesy YA/ Children's fiction or a Horror/fantasy story.
2. It could be the old lady's story. We can give her any kind of a background and stretch it every which way we can, by asking, "What if...?" We can even give her an unfriendly neighbor or a villain who might have reported the existence of the dog. "Why would this person be unfriendly?" can be the next question. I see a comedy in this option, but it could be done as a tragedy, too.
3. This episode could be part of a larger story dealing with the red tape and inefficiency of a town's officials, with possibly several similar incidents added.
Something to keep in mind is that we can change the players in the story. The plush dog could be a stuffed boa constrictor or a life-size doll in army fatigues. We can make the old lady an old man or a young woman living alone. Changing the players can lead to several other options and possibilities, but for the sake of brevity, let's stick to the above three options.
Second Question is: Who is going to tell this story? In other words, the POV (point of view). I tend to opt for limited third or possibly first person for the first and second options and the more universal third person for the third option.
Next thing to do is to take the answer to "Whose story is this?' This answer determines the main character, and we can now start to create the main character by giving it/her feelings, interpersonal relationships, and a backstory, even if we do not plan to use the backstory directly.
After we are done with the basic character creation, next question is, "What is this character's motivation?"
In the first option, the plush dog's motivation could be to scare or to help, depending on the genre and our personal choice.
In the second option, motivation of the lady is there in the news story, as a feeling of safety. The old lady wanted to fool people or rather imaginary burglars into thinking that she had a real dog in the house.
In the third option, the motivation for the bureaucratic town officials could be to appear efficient even if efficiency is lacking.
While creating the main character, we'll need to determine if the main character will change as the result of the events in the story. That change will add drama and depth; however, if the third option is picked, little or no change may be necessary since the story's goal will be to make a social commentary. On the other hand, if -in addition- a change can be shown within someone like an official or the person who is telling the story, more depth will be added to the piece.
Next step is to draw the basics of the plotline (What happened) or the throughline as they call it in the movie industry, step by step. While planning the plotline, we must focus on the inner traits of the primary characters we created earlier.
The questions to ask during the planning of the plotline is: 1. "How will this character act in this scene?" 2. "Do his actions fit his character or, at this specific point, the process of change in his character?"
If the work is a short story, one or two scenes should be enough with the first scene leading to or causing the second scene. In a longer piece, coming up with additional characters and scenes may be needed. Then, for larger works, several news stories can be combined.
Other steps deal with determining the setting and the time of the story. Setting and time, if essential to the story, should be decided earlier; if not, they can be dealt with after the characters and the plotline are there. If you are a big planner, you might note down a few possible endings, but the crucial thing here is to start writing. Although writers who write the endings first do exist, most writers prefer to let the ending come as the result of the earlier planning. After all, we can plan and prepare only so much, and a majority of the problems will be solved while we tackle the writing itself.
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Thank you for reading the drama newsletter and offering precious feedback. 
This Issue’s Tip:
 When you write the dialogue, don't just have the characters say things. Give them some secondary, everyday chores like changing the oil in the car, cooking, cleaning the floor, rushing to run an errand, doing tax returns etc. Since most dialogue is choppy by its very nature, these secondary things the characters are doing as they talk will smooth out the dialogue sections as well as helping to omit the he said, she said repetitions.
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Acme
Smashing newsletter on Flashbacks, Joy. I only used one for the first time in a recent story. I'm going to refer to this newsletter when I'm ready to edit. 
Thanks Acme. 
If you'd like to, send me or this newsletter a link when the edit is finished. We'd love to read it.
Best wishes with it.
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Satuawany 
What an excellently timed newsletter---for me, I mean. I'm about to dive into the flashback waters and you gave me some wonderful ideas for doing so. Thank you!
Thank you very much, Satuawany.
Send us a link when your story is finished. From your pen, flashbacks should be exemplary. I'd love to read your story.
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Andromeda
Informative newsletter...thanks for the tips.
Additionally, more examples or excerpts from novels would also be helpful...examples are worth a thousand words.
Cheers!
Andromeda
Thank you very much, Andromeda.
Your input is highly treasured.
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sarahreed
Thanks for doing such an indepth analysis of the various types of flashbacks, including the pros and cons. I'll be referring back to this article quite a lot! Also, thanks for the writing tip about deciding a character's goal or goals. That is very important.
Thank you very much, Silva Shado
Glad you found both the editorial and the tip helpful.
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SkyHawk - Into The Music
Joy,
You didn't disappoint! :) Flashback can be a great technique, yet is often misused. I agree it has to be central to your story and its telling. I've recently used the "large chunks" method to describe events in a story using legal testimony on the stand, putting each section in italics (I found it more compelling that simply having the witnesses answer a bunch of questions). I found you only want to use flashback with key / central characters in the story; otherwise, you drown in the flashbacks. I'm thinking of posting the story here when I finish it.
Thank you, Skyhawk.
Good choice. Legal testimony can be tedious to write only in dialogue, but then, one can insert dialogue here and there inside the flashback, too. Let us know when your story is ready and one of us will highlight it.
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Drama: September 09, 2009 Issue [#3229]
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