Writing and Shit – Part 7 – What does a story need? continued

We now have two of our three things – we have an object, or something, we have a place, or somewhere, and I’m sure you will already have guessed that we also need…

a person, or someone.

We need a being of some sort – a person – who has a reason for moving the thing around the place, who can lose and find the thing, who can break the thing and mourn it.

What does a story need?

Something, somewhere and someone.

By thinking about what you’re writing in this really basic way, you’ll be able (I hope) to identify why you’re in the shit more easily.

If you can reduce the elements in your story even further, do it – try it. Otherwise, everything you do is likely to be an elaboration. And that’s where things are likely to go wrong.

Next…