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A Map to Success in Writing Your First Story
You have an amazing story bouncing around in your head and it is begging to be told. You sit down, crack your knuckles, and begin typing, only to find yourself struggling a little ways in. Sound familiar? This is a common situation that many aspiring authors find themselves in. Writer’s block is that obnoxious neighbour who we all know that will spot you from across the street and invite themselves over for a “friendly” 3-hour chat. So, what do we do? We avoid them and hide inside our homes, sticking to our comforts instead of venturing out into the interesting world outside.
NO MORE! It is time to open that door, wave the neighbour off with a quick “Nice to see you, but I have things planned that I need to get to. No, I can’t share the details of what I’m about to do. Yes, I did notice the garbage truck came 15 minutes later than usual on Wednesday. I’m heading out now! Tootles!”
My friend, I am about to give you the map to guide your story (or stories)! And it all starts with… well… a map.
What you need to do is take that story that is stuck in your head and build yourself what is called a ‘story map’. This map will steer the course of your story so that if and when you DO start to feel a little stuck, all you need to do is simply refer to your map and away you go!
How do you make a story map? Simple! Take a paper (or two) and create six sections:
Setting:
Main Character:
Problem:
Beginning:
Middle:
End:
The key to your map’s success is to keep it SIMPLE! This is not the time or place to be writing your entire story. This is where you outline the key points you need to include in order for your story to progress. Think of them as jumping on big rocks that lead across a river. You need to jump on each rock in the order that they are laid out. If you try to skip a rock, you will fall into the river and get swept away.
Let’s look at the first section: setting.
All you need to do here is write out where and when your story takes place. Boom! That’s it, leave it alone.
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