Story writing

There is no correct way to write: Everyone writes differently. Once I have an idea for a story I usually come up with a title before I begin the story. The title helps to keep me focused--to know where I'm going with the story. I start out slow, and rewrite and polish as I go along. My brother, Bill, is the exact opposite. He is filled with words that fill up his pages. He writes much faster and don't even think about rewriting or polishing until he's finished. I think it's easier when one is filled with words, but you have to do whatever works for you.

I once read an article that recommended making an outline and following a format. "If, you write just two pages a day," it said. "You'll have your book written in a year." Wow! Doesn't that sound great? I tried it, but my creative juices simply dried up and left. I simply didn't have the time to produce two quality pages every day. There was no time for rewriting or polishing. I didn't accomplish anything and what I did write left a lot to be desired.

When my brother and I decided to work together, our goal was to write stories about our childhood. We did not follow an outline or even plan on our stories turning into a book. We wanted only to preserve family stories, shanty life and to capture the essence of our father.

We set only one limitation for ourselves and that was to write stories--something with a beginning, middle and end. We did not want just facts or snippets. A story starts with a thought or a happening and then builds until coming to a climactic conclusion. Our dad was a story teller--the best ever. And our book is a tribute to him.

We didn't write together, we just edited each others stories. One of the benefits of working with someone is your ability to see a story with fresh eyes. This is when things pop out at you. Things that you miss when you are so engrossed in your writing. If you are writing alone, like most writers, just leave your story for a few days or a week; and when you go back to review it, you will see that not everything you wrote is golden. Read it out loud. If you stumble, it needs to be rewritten. That's the name of the game--write, rewrite, and rewrite again until the words flow smoothly throughout your story.

Use of dialogue: The use of dialogue will draw the reader into your story and make them feel like they are right there as the story unfolds. That's what readers want--to feel what you feel. Even if you are writing your stories for family only, you want the text to grab them and make them take notice. Dialogue will help you achieve that. The following is from our book, A Speck In God's Eye. See how the dialogue helps you visualize the scene, almost as if you are right there.

It was Christmas day. Bill was in the hospital, waiting for company. He was flat on his back, with both eyes bandaged, following surgery for glaucoma.

The day seemed to drag on, and I found myself straining to hear if I
could detect Ma's familiar voice coming down the hall. I knew the
minute she got off the elevator. I could hear her footsteps.
She had her dress shoes on, the ones with the wide heels. They clicked
loudly with each step as they made contact with the tiled floor.

"This is it," I heard her say, as she reached the door of my room.
Dad and Lola were with her.

"I suppose you thought we were never coming," Ma said as she entered the
room. "But I made a few cookies to bring along, and we had to wait for
them to cool."

"A few cookies!" Dad exclaimed. "We damn near had to hire a
U-Haul."

I laughed. It was so good to hear their voices.

A Legacy Better than Money

Wouldn't you love to have a memoir of your grandparents or great-grandparents, to read of their passions and disappointments? To know what kind of family stories and discussions took place at their supper table? What their thoughts were on religion? What their hobbies were and how they met and happen to marry? I think it would be a legacy better than money.

I have always enjoyed writing - putting my thoughts and feelings down on paper. Writing classes always sparked my creative juices, but when the classes were over, my writing had a way of simmering on the back burner.

Then, while sitting with family at a niece's wedding, remembering and retelling stories - stories from our childhood--my brother, Bill, leaned over and said, "You know. It's too bad our great-grandchildren will never know what it was like back then; and they'll never know the kind of man dad was or anything about shanty life." I nodded in agreement.

"We should write this stuff down," Bill said. And it was then the idea was planted--to work together and write family stories. Later I enrolled in another writing class. One of the assignments was to write about a specific character, to describe him and tell something about him. I wrote about Pete, an old guy that was a constant visitor at our shanty. I called it A Man With No Stories.

Giving Bill the story to read was probably the biggest hurdle towards getting started. And I could tell, once he'd read the story that he was hesitant also to comment.

"I like the story," he said rather cautiously. "I just never thought of Pete as a man with no stories."

I defended my title. Pete didn't hunt or fish, or even own a boat, yet he had a cottage; he didn't drive,yet somehow he managed to get to his cottage every weekend, the same as us; and we gave him a ride back to Oshkosh on Sunday evenings. As far as I could tell his personal life was a mystery to everyone.

Bill thought for a moment. "Well - he told me how he met his wife," he said.

I could hardly believe it. We had known Pete for many years before we even knew he had a wife. And in all the years we knew him she never came out to his cottage. "What did he say," I asked.

"He said he just woke up one morning, and there she was in bed with him."

"That's it!" I asked. "That's all you know?"

He aughed and we both agreed. If that's all we knew about Pete the title suited him, A Man With No Stories. And that was the start of our collaborative effort to write family stories. I wrote mine and Bill worte his and we found it easier to keep on task, knowing that one or the other of us was waiting for another story. Reviewing each others work was also a benefit. A writer always feels whatever he writes is golden. It's not until the work has sat for a week or more and he goes back to review it that he can see where revisions are needed. Reviewing each others work allowed us to see a story with a fresh eye and offer each other comments. Similar benefits may be obtained by belonging to a writers club that is willing to critique your work.