KEEPING TIME WITH STORY
We all know what a great story looks like because we’ve seen them a thousand times in books and films and TV series. However, creating a gripping story that will stretch to 70,000+ words is not as simple as following such a story – and this is the greatest problem for all apprentice writers.
It’s paradoxical. We understand how stories work but it’s so difficult to build them. The issue is that we’re used to conceiving story as consumers – as readers and viewers – rather than as creators. It’s a big difference. The former is largely passive as we wait for things to happen. The latter is proactive: we have to be always ahead of the reader.
Understanding story is critical to writing a novel. Not just your story, but story as a concept and a tool. Just as drawing involves perspective and music
