According to Christopher Booker's 'The Seven Basic Plots' most stories can be categories under one of seven basic structures. For example, Jaws, Alien and Beowulf would all fall under the 'Overcoming the Monster' category. 'Lord of the Rings' and 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' fall under the 'Quest' category. Booker is not the only one to …
Month: September 2013
Making the main character likeable
All great books and movies seem to have a great lead character that the reader or audience can identify with and root for. How do authors and screenwriters do it? Think about the books and movies you love. What aspects of the lead character’s character did you like, and what attracted you to them? Were …
Plot and character – the chemistry
So what type of stories do you write: character-driven or action-driven? When thinking about your story ideas, do you start by imagining an interesting character, or do you start with some interesting ‘what if’ events and then consider the character? It doesn’t really matter where you start, but you need both character and plot to …
What makes a good story ending?
Having covered story beginnings and middles in previous blogs, it seems only natural to cover story endings. Whether a story ending is right or not can ultimately only be judged by the reader. If the ending is not consistent with the direction the story is taking the reader, they may well feel disappointed and let …
JMJ Williamson 