Dreaming up Sevia (Random Writing Tip #3)

Every story has a beginning, middle and end. Each of these parts has a specific role to play that will be virtually the same, regardless of what kind of story you are writing, or how long or short it is.

The beginning of your story has three main purposes:

1. To introduce your main character.
2. To introduce the problem the story is about.
3. To "hook" your readers, so they won't want to stop reading until the end.

The middle section also has three main purposes:

1. To develop the main character.
2. To explore the story problem in greater depth.
3. To make things complicated for your aforementioned main character. If it's all fun and games for him, you may have a nice piece of writing, but you don't have a story.

The final section and ending also has three main purposes, too:

1. To bring the tension of the story up to fever pitch.
2. To show how your main character has changed for better or worse. The character you leave your readers with at the end of the story should not be the same person they began the story with.
3. To provide resolution to the problem that the story posed for your main character.

This is only a brief overview of what it takes to write a good story. Over the next few weeks, we'll go into more detail on how to create each of these story elements. Stay tuned!