Your Story: Putting the pieces together
Use Adobe Spark Page (It’s the “Presentation–>web page” choice) to create a media-augmented version of you story.
Text
Using the past tasks— Premise, Seven Steps of Story Structure, Character Web, etc— a thoughtful version of your story. Your job is to try to find the story by writing down as much as you can about what happens and why. Try to write it quickly first, just to get the sporty down; then go back and make changes to clarify or focus or shift form telling to showing via action. Use the tips below.
Aim for 10 pages (about 200 words per page)=2000 words plus images. But this is just to give you a limit for the size of your story. You should write until you finish telling the story as best you can. Use placeholders for name/places/facts you don’t know if your story if a part of a much larger whole. Use lists or outlines for sections you can’t yet flesh out. But aim to get to the end!
Media
You should include some kinds of media–Adobe Spark Page has scrolling parallax images, slideshows, galleries, regular images, and video, so you can add visual info. If this is a story you’ve been working on for awhile and have work or character sketches, you should include those.
You don’t need to overload on media–try to use a coherent style that fits your story best. And do not use media in place of articulating your story in text–you will need this in the Twine version.
Tips for your First Draft
- Get the story out. The best way to get Writer’s Block is too try to write a reply good first draft–because your “editor” will be on call and your messy andrich “creator” will be intimidated and possible shamed. So give your “editor” a temporary vacation. A thoughtful, rich and messy first draft leaves gaps and opening for more creativity. Write with focus, with a plan, but quickly and roughly.
- Forget Polish. Don’t worry about the language or “writing well,” even for a moment. Don’t strain after metaphors, don’t worry about symbolism, forget your love of language. Concentrate on what the language is meant to convey: the story itself.
- Keep your premise in mind. Focus on your Premise as you write. All stories make a point, and everything in a story – in one way or another – builds toward it. If you know what you’re trying to say, chances are much better your story will actually communicate it.
- Perspiration not Inspiration. Don’t expect “the force” to write through you. You are not a channel for some otherworldly energy, you’re a writer, and everything you write comes from you. Work hard to bring out your best. That’s all you need. hard work, effort, a confidence you can access your best effort.
- Nail the Conflict. Know the overarching problem your protagonist will face. Use your Seven Structure Steps to clarify this. A story is about how someone solves a problem they can’t avoid, and what he or she has to overcome, internally, in order to do it. It’s this overarching problem that gives a story context.
- Know your ending first. If you don’t know where your story is going, how will you have the slightest idea whether it’s moving at all? How will you know what turns to take? How will you know what needs to happen next? Or at all? You won’t. Without a target to aim for, chances are high your story will idle in neutral.
- Choose a Point of View POV. Know how your protagonist sees the world, and also who is telling their story and why. Your Character Web can help with this. If the overarching problem is what gives your story context, what gives it meaning is how your protagonist navigates that problem and how she interacts with other characters on the journey toward her goal.
- Find your story’s third rail, and make sure everything touches it. Plot should push the character to encounter this third rail as often as possible. Here is the essence of a story: the protagonist is forced, by circumstances outside her control, to deal with a problem she’d really rather avoid. This forces her to dig deep and overcome the inner issue, wound or misconception that’s holding her back. Everything in the story impacts this quest. Think of it as your story’s third rail – everything must touch it, giving it juice and causing sparks to fly.
- Concentrate on the “why” and not the “what.” Your Theme or Moral Argument helps clarify this. When something is about to happen, ask yourself, “why?” Why is this happening now? Why is my protagonist reacting the way she does? Why does the reader need to know this? Stories aren’t about “what” happens, they’re about “why.”
- Establish a Story World that raises the stakes somehow for the protagonist. The place should matter, as the Forest is critical in Princess Mononoke. Usually some aspect of the story work links to deep feelings of home or loss of home (alienation) and are key for story meaning to be deeper.
–adapted from Lisa Cron, Wired For Story
For your post, use category: Project 1, a relevant featured image, a brief description fo your story in text and your Adobe Spark Page URL (sample below).
Adobe Spark Page has a share feature that allows you to publish and copy your URL, using the share–>embed option.
Put the embed code in the “text” (NOT “Visual”) tab of the post. Then click on the Visual tab and an image should pop up for your URL.
It should automatically produce an image link which will go directly to your Web Story like the following very simple example. You may have to publish and view post to see it.
