How to (Really) Finish a Story
I’m envious of writers who can sit down and write 3,000 words in order and then say, here it is: a story with a beginning, middle, end. (Do those writers really exist?)
Too often I start a story or I get inspired on the train and I write a couple of paragraphs, but I never come back to it or finish it. This is just one method that works for me and helps me finish a story.
Often, the nugget of the idea that inspired the story is what I write first, but that doesn’t mean it is the first section of the story. My drive folder is full of ends, middles, and beginnings because once I’ve captured that particular scene or idea, I lose steam. If I don’t know what happens next, I shelve it and might never return. These half or quarter stories can be a good exercise, but they are not worth sharing. I’d rather have a shorter list of completed stories than a hundred bits and pieces.
In the absence of a better name, I call it Story Paragraphing:
Write a paragraph, about 150-300 words (depending on how long of a story you want to write), that tells a complete story.
Beginning, middle, end. Do not start writing until you have this down. Do not waste your beautiful prose on this. Keep it super simple. But take the time to tell a whole story. Shorter paragraph = shorter story.
A man who was recently dumped finds a pair of copulating dragonflies in his back garden. Struck by the beauty of aerial love, he decides to enroll in a trapeze class. At first he is really bad and he can’t do a flip but he keeps at it and in about six months, he’s doing pretty well though he still can’t do the quadruple flip he needs to pass the class. The instructor starts to trust him and gives him a key to the facility so he can practice outside of regular class hours. One day while he’s practicing alone, he does the quadruple flip at last but he bounces off the net and breaks both his legs. As he lays there in pain, he recalls his breakup and realizes that he was the problem. He decides to go to therapy.
2. Now that you have a story, such as it is, the next step is to break it up into chunks.
It doesn’t have to be full sentences. Break it up by action and/or new information.
A man who was recently dumped
finds a pair of copulating dragonflies in his back garden.
Struck by the beauty of aerial love,
He decides to enroll in a trapeze class.
At first he is really bad
And he can’t do a flip
But he keeps at it
And in about six months
He’s doing pretty well
Though he still can’t do the quadruple flip he needs to pass the class.
Etc.
3. Here’s where the real work begins: write 150-300 words for each chunk of text from your story paragraph.
This is your outline. If you abandon the story for a while, you can come back and see exactly where you were going and what still needs to be filled in.
A man who was recently dumped
Being the “nice guy” was maligned in popular culture these days, but Ezra couldn’t deny his true nature. He had been raised to respect women. He held open doors. He responded promptly to texts. He didn’t even roll his eyes when his date only pretended to search for her credit card at the end of the meal. Luckily, he made enough to cover many meals now and in the future. That was why it was so shocking when Amy started to cry over a bite of shared lemon mousse cake with three layers of white chocolate. Ezra thought she was different. Amy seemed to understand that after all the jerks she’d been with over the years, she’d found a prize. She’d found a genuinely nice guy. She’d found him. So why was she crying? Why did she need some time to work on herself? Working on Amy had become Ezra’s second job. Of course, on his walk home, it started raining.
Finds a pair of copulating dragonflies in his back garden.
It’s rare to have a backyard in New York City. Ezra put up with bars on the streetside of his first floor apartment and the various cigarette butts and bits of trash raining down from belligerent higher floor neighbors--no doubt jealous of his patch of green. It would have been greener if not for the large chestnut branch blocking off the sky over his small section. The tree was in another part of the yard, belonging to another lucky Backyard Owner, so Ezra couldn’t do much about the branch except to sweep up fallen chestnuts for half the year and shake his fist at the lack of sunlight reaching his meager patch of ornamentals…
…You get the idea.
4. Only after you’ve written segments for each and every chunk, cut out the outline prompts, and read the story from start to finish.
This is your first draft. It won’t be done-done, but you will have a completed story draft that you can now edit like crazy and even move whole sections around. Isn’t that better than a story fragment that you’ll never go back to?
Give this a try. Let me know how it goes for you.
If you’re really hard up for an idea, you’re welcome to Nice Guy Ezra the Trapeze Amateur. I’m through with him. :)
