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Week One: writing a clear narrative

This week’s prompts are at the very end of this post. Please welcome our first guest editor Saalon Muyo who tweets as @saalon and blogs at Saalon Muyo. If you have any questions or need any clarification on today’s topic or prompts, please feel free to begin a discussion in comments.

If you’re here just to hang out, click here for the yeah write #64 hangout grid.

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Not the Originality You’re Looking For

Ready for some bad news? The story you’re about to write? It’s been told before. A few dozen times, at least. In fact, there’s a better than average chance that there’s someone writing basically the same story right this second. What you’re about to write – the story you’re super-excited about – is about as original as when you hung Munch’s “The Scream” in your dorm room freshman year.

Hold on, don’t run off. I only started with the bad news because I’m about to prove just how meaningless it is. People get all hopped up on novelty like it’s the holy grail all writers should seek. It’s not. What we actually want when we say we want our story to be original is to write something that only we could have written. It’s easy to get seduced into thinking that means finding really original stories that no one else has told. Down that path leads disappointment, desperation and madness. There’s already something you have in your stories that no one else does: You.

I’m in the middle of writing a novel—not a personal narrative, I know, but stick with me—and the heart of it is a love triangle. Nothing original there, right? Love triangles are all over the place. I bet there’s even been a few on the purposefully plotless Law and Order. I could let that freak me out (admission: sometimes I do), but I’d be getting hung up on the wrong thing. What makes my novel (hopefully) different form all the other love triangle stories? The characters. Their quirks and their pain; the way they react to stress, to happiness, to defeat; their senses of humor; their hopes and dreams; the way they change. The combination of those things makes them real and distinct people. Stories powered by real and distinct people are…um, distinct. Could someone get me a thesaurus?

Unique! They’re unique! In their own very personal way, they’re a story that hasn’t been told before.

[pullquote_left] The things you’ve experienced—the bad day with your kids, the fight with your parents, the pure, obnoxious insanity of your neighbors—are things with which your readers have dealt, too.  [/pullquote_left] So who’s the main character of your soon-to-be awesome personal narrative? You! In my last post, I talked about finding the reason you’re telling a story and grabbing onto it with all your might. Once you’ve done that, it’s time find yourself within that Reason and draw it out. What was it about who you are that got you into the situation? How did you feel as it was happening? What made you laugh? What made you afraid? How did who you are change the story? How did the story change who you are?

The more of you that’s in your story, the easier it is for other people to find themselves in it. That’s why a story being “unoriginal” isn’t the problem you think it is. The things you’ve experienced—the bad day with your kids, the fight with your parents, the pure, obnoxious insanity of your neighbors—are things with which your readers have dealt, too. In finding yourself in the narrative and giving that to your readers, you’re inviting them to feel what you did. You’re giving them an opportunity not to feel alone. There’s nothing more lonely than the fear that no one feels the way you do.

Write a story can’t be told the same way without you in it. Unless you end up singlehandedly saving the Earth from a sentient chinchilla invasion, you’re the most original thing you’ve got.

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all your story are belong to you

[check_list]

  • Read the summer FAQ page for other details
  • Let the prompt lead you, but do not include the prompt in any way in your post, not even at the end as a footnote
  • If the prompt takes you from thunderstorms to watching TV at your grandma’s house to how much you love Pat Sajak to the oldest person you’ve ever kissed, we want that story the furthest away in your imagination from the original prompt. Let your imagination loose
  • Keep your writing style! Do you tell stories with humor? Prose? Verse? Photos? Illustrations? Keep doing that. We’ll read Shakespearean drama on our own time
  • Cut away at everything unnecessary to your story
  • Remember: publish no more than 500 words
  • Not ready to add your entry today? Still perfecting and reading other posts? No problem: you’ve got until Thursday at noon EDT [-4GMT]
  • Don’t forget to badge your post
  • Have fun!

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[divider_header_h3] This week’s prompts [/divider_header_h3]

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  • Write about your greatest fear
  • Describe a time in your life when everything turned out fine despite the odds
  • If you could start your life over from birth, what is the one thing you would change about yourself?

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Yeah write #64 summer grid continues…

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