Make Your Story Come Alive

“What things there are to write, if one could only write them! My mind is full of gleaming thoughts; gay moods and mysterious, mothlike meditations hover in my imagination, fanning their painted wings. They would make my fortune if I could catch them; but always the rarest, those streaked with azure and the deepest crimson, flutter away beyond my reach. The ever-baffled chase of these filmy nothings often seems, for one of sober years in a sad world, a trifling occupation. But have I not read of the great Kings of Persia who used to ride out to hawk for butterflies, nor deemed this pastime beneath their royal dignity?”

Writers are storytellers. This is their job, their dream, their life, their love. And as a writer, the truth is that the only reason why people will want you around is so you can entertain them. If you’re too boring, too complicated, too indecisive or become anything that crosses the fine line of Engaging, then they’ll throw ya’ out.

The only way you can make your story come as alive as you are is to infuse it with passion and a little TLC. As far as I know it, writing isn’t just about skill and manipulating words to your own selfish will. Because it’s not about you. It’s about drawing your readers in to a whole new world, and then getting them to make that whole new world their own. Some of the more practical writers will say that writing is a business, not your pithy little childhood dreams. But what I think is that writing was never meant to be something like math or science, so sensible. It is a romantic occupation, and by romantic, I meant that it extends far beyond love and stolen kisses after midnight. All fiction writers are romantic because they reveal their ideal world through their own dreams of how it is through their own eyes. Not necessarily is the world a Utopia, or a Hell of their own- writers understand that perfect worlds have blemishes and totally evil ones have their glimmers of hope, because one cannot exist without the other.

So to fully realize the world in your story, you must understand the people who live in it. It’s almost ironic that the idealistic picture of so many writers is a recluse, or something who stands apart from the crowd, yet they are expected to understand the very many natures of man in an almost pure form. It’s easy to make up a character and to know each and every one of their likes, dislikes, past, future, personality, or interaction. It’s another thing to actually immerse yourself in the character, and for a second abandon your God position to play the role of the human. The good writers who say that you’re in trouble if you are leading your character yourself are right. The truth is, you’re supposed to be the person who is being led by your character. To make your characters come alive in the hearts and minds of your readers, you have to truly understand human beings first.

Another vital element of your story is setting. I think so many people take it for granted, and therefore their story’s setting consists of patched-up information and meetings at random shops and stores they researched. Of course, it’s much easier to make your story come alive if you actually live in the area that your character is in, but there are only so many writers that live in New York City, or Portland, or whatever the ideal spot for certain genres of stories is. You’ll need to either visit the actual place (which for some people is a bit expensive), or talk to people who live in/around the area. The latter is much easier nowadays, what with the internet and the accessibility of asking someone about the environment and the surroundings from that place. Setting is much more than just a place, it’s the energy and the human interaction, and the social environment of that place. It’s so many things that prove vital to your story. Ann Brashares’ The Last Summer (Of You & Me) takes place on an island near New York City that she stays in during the summer. The place essentially is the story, really, because the whole plot and the formation of her characters are based around that crucial element. Young Adult fantasy writers like Tamora Pierce build their own worlds and characters based on this world and certain places. Pierce based a lot of her settings on eastern culture, including the Japanese islands and mannerisms. This must have involved a lot of research and talking to many people who lived in Japan.

These are the two elements of a story that I wanted to stress so far, because they are just that important to your story. Don’t take your characters for granted, nor the setting. It’s important to make your own world your own world, but also allow readers to draw from it, to form their own picture of what you tell them, because you can’t always play God in telling them what to think. The pictures that Ann Brashares or Tamora Pierce imagine while writing their stories down may not necessarily be the images I see in my head.