STEP 1: a % “er Succes? What Authors Say... ‘A book plan is like @ skeleton. All the framework is in place, but you might not recognise the live result if you met it in the flesh. However, what would you be without a skeleton? (Clue not a prety sight." Sally Odgers. ‘It is the ability to put ourselves in the place of another that makes us truly human. This is why stories are so important.” Paul Jennings ‘I wrote my first book in our dunny down the backyard. It was the only peaceful place wivera | could daydream. Books need more THINKING about than writing!” Jackie French ‘Preparation plus opportunity equals luck.” Phil Kettle The best place to start is with the characters... my best characters are part real world crossed with something unexpected... ike the loud and obnoxious goldish. often stolen from parts of my own character or that of someone I know... [am confident that once | have the character the rest will flom Then some times it happens exactly the opposite way around. Idea first and then the character emerges.” Terry Dentonee de Have You Heard the One About...? Ever told a joke that falls really flat? Eeeek! Well, here's the cure. Jokes often fail because we don't get the basic structure right. Good jokes - and good stories - follow the same plan. This is what it looks like. 1. Start with a bang - this usually has the main character in an action scene, 2. Back fill the Who, What, Why ts filed in while the action unfovds. CLimax, 3. The main problem is introduced. 4, ‘Then come even more problems - things get very baad indeed TENSION, 5. Tension scone - where the herojheroine fights against incredible odds. Excirement imax - amazingly, wonderfully they win! Time. Ready to tell a great joke? Right, search your memory, internet files or ask friends for a good joke. Warning, quick one-iinar jokes like "knock knock’ jokes won't work. You are looking for jokes that have a ‘story’ structure. e.g. Three men were stranded on a desert island. They were a Frenchman, an Australian «and an trishman. ‘Oh - and all jokes should be clean! Practise up at home. Now. gat brave, gat set - and tell your joke to the class. ‘My favourite joke is the one about... Seven Steps to Writing Success 1Never Ending Ideas List ‘Most stories have the following: \ 1. Horoine/Hero (e.g. bunt out atte, computer nerd Setsnod sport) 2. Villain (e.g gil bully, mad dog, mean coach, weird witch) Problem (0.9. too shy, someting stolan, a bully, money naeded, bad haircut) 4, Setting (e.g. the beach, the year 2240, planet Mica, a bee's hive) 5. Sidekick (e.g. brat younger brother, faithful friend, talking rabbit) 6. Animal (e.g. farting dog, claustrophobic goldfish, inteligantalisn mouse) Here's an easy way to create a story - using other people to help. Form groups of six people. For five minutes you each write as fast as you can. Person 1- lists every hero/heroine they can think up. Person 2- lists villains Person 3- lists problems... and so on. You get the idea, Here is my list of __ 1. 2Now get together with your group. You are about to create a story. Person 1- reads out a hero. Person2- suggests a Person 3- adds a problem. Person4- gives a setting. Person5- adds a suitable sidekick. ~ _— Person 6- (if you have one) adds in an animal. they think would match. ‘You don't have to stick to any order, go by ‘gut feeling’ - that's your subconscious brain working overtime. Don’t be afraid to add to the story and throw in suggestions, Some stories will work, others will dle out ‘That's the natura of ideas. Try saveral stories. What's the most interesting story your group created? 2.9. Suffering from a bad haircut and a knovitall brother, a computer genius, with the help of his farting dog, ‘finds out who has bean sending email viruses to all the students in school Seven Steps to Writing Success 3TV Tuition | Can you tella story in 30 seconds? Impossible? No! \ ‘Wads do this every day. ‘Next time you watehTV, see if you ean find an ad which tells a mini story. Copy it onto a tape or DVD and bring it to share in class, For instane 1. Opening scene: A woman is driving down a street 2. The next scene cuts to three small kids playing with a ball on the side of the road. 3, Cut back to the woman, driving the car, She's busy taking to her husband, 4, Cutto one of the kids, The ball sips out of his hands and rolis towards the street, 5. Cut to woman busy taking. The tension bulds for we fear the children wil chase the ball 6. Oh no, the smallest kid runs after the ball. He takes one step onto the road. 7, The women suddenly sees him, She slams on her brakes. The childs so close. Can she possibly stop? 8, Yes. The car stops easily. The child is safe! 9. And then comes the voiceover. "Tlust only feasdale's Tusty Tyres.” W's amazing how even a 30 second ad can start with action, build groat tension and ond with a bang. What are your favourite 'story' ads? 1 2. 3. 4 Seven Steps to Writing SuccessWhat Authors Say... “Always cut out your first three paragraphs. They are only seeds for your mind to tend. Begin the story with the seedling instead, It's much stronger.” Rose Inserra ‘Stones have to hook the reader quickly. | sometimes revrrte opening scenes dezens of times. Dialogue often works as the reader is immediately aware of character! Libby Gleeson, “Expect lots of false starts, until the rhythm of an idea takes over’ Hazel Edwards used to waste a lot of time trying to write the perfect frst chapter of a novel Then, months later, | found | would have to re-write it anyway. So now just get going and come back to polish the beginning when | am finished the whole story” James Moloney “Story beginnings: The whole story is there in that opening sentence or paragraph.” Gany Dishereee AB RTS Five Minute Fast Starts Pen ready and brain buzzing? Here's the challenge. Write five fantastic story starts in five minutes. (Yes, it is possible!) Your teacher will time you. Here are the topics. Ready, set...write! 1. Write the start to a ghost story — starring a dog with three legs. 2. Aman dies, wearing purple — but he hates the colour purple. 3. All the kids are at school - but not one teacher. 6 Seven Steps to Writing Success4, Lucy, who never listens, gets trapped ina lion's cage. 5. The wedding that didn't work.Start With a Bang Ever noticed how movies have THE best, most exciting starts? ‘That's because they know the start is vital to hook the viewer in. \ ‘Action movies (2.9. Star Wars} have starts which aro really fast moving. The quieter "backfill scenes, which explain the detals, usually come second, ‘Tape the start of one of your favourite movies and share it with the class. See if you can figure out how they make the viewer really want to keep watching, List the movies with the most exciting stars, Top (NOT!) Starts In real life we got to know people slowly. ‘+ Ne moot them at a party and know they are good at having fun ‘+ We see them cuddle their dog and figure out they love animals. '* They share their lunch, so we see they ate generous. Yet, sometimes, when we write stories, we try to tell our readers EVERYTHING about our character on the: ‘rst page. e.g. Jane was a tal gin with blond hair and strong white taoth. She liked to play basketball and ‘worked hard at school and always al her homework. It's called an ‘information dump" and i's not exactly exciting.‘There's a competition which challenges writers to create the WORST start to a story. That's right, the ‘worst! To do this, you really have to work hard. Here's one of the winners from a few years ago. “With 3 curvaceous figure that Venus would have envied, a tanned unblemished oval face framed with lustrous thick brown hair, deep azure-blue eyes fringed with long black lashes, perfect teeth that vied for competition, and a small straight nose, Marilee had a beauty that defied description.” Alice A. Hall, Fort Wayne, Indiana So, want to write your own WORST start? Introduce your character. Tell us everything about them in utterly boring detail - their name, looks, clothes, habits, mother and father and even their hobbies. Make it really, really bad! Seven Steps to Writing Success 9What Authors Say... If you're bored with your story, STOP! Rip it up and start again. I YOU think your ‘story's boring, who else will ike it?” Krista Bell ‘You don't fight oragons with languid sentences” Garry Disher Every part of the story contributes to the dramatic tension, As tension increases, ‘grammar and language change: sentences become shorter, words chosen are simpler” Libby Gleeson “Tension scenes need to move fast, but they also need elbow room. Don't skip ‘over the details. Your readers want to know how the heli rotors flashed, what the bushfire smelled like, how the enemy looked close up and exactly how the giant insects clicked their feelers. Sally Odgers ‘Sometimes | find myself siting on the edge of my seat and panicking as | write tension scenes. “Get a grip," toll myselt, “you're just making it up” Jen MeVeitySTEP 3: TIGHTENING TENSION Being Brave and Being There To write convincingly, you have to make your reader feel they are actually there - racing the volcano lava, struggling in the raging river, dying of thirst in the desert, k one of the following topics: * Astorm at sea, * Acar crash. * Caught in a bush fire. Find three other people who want to write on your topic. Pick one person to write. This person will be your scribe, The rest of you will be brainstorming frantically, Now remember the five senses? + See * Hear * Touch + Smell * Taste * Feelings (We added this one in just for writers.) Ready? For one minute, everyone calls to their scribe what they ‘see’ For the next minute, everyone says what they ‘hear’ Minute three is what they ‘touch’ For instance a ski race might include this: See Hear crowd, bright parkas, ski gates, snow on trees, ice patches. people cheering, countdown 3,2,1, schuss of skis on snow. Touch = cold boots, shoulders hitting ski gates, prickly wool cap, tight goggles. Feelings = afraid, excited, talking too quickly, tightness in chest. Seven Stops to Writing Success. 11The Six Senses of Tension Scenes See Hear Touch 12 Seven Steps to Writing SuccessSmell Taste Feelings Seven Stops to Writing Success BTop Tension Scenes | Right, now write a short paragraph about your \ tension scene. You'll have lots of ideas, so it should \ be easy! 14 Seven Steps to Writing SuccessFear Factor List The Circle of Death, the Ghost Train, the Manic Roller Coaster ride - what do all these have in common? Thay all play on our desire to feel fear and excitement So try this. Remember the last time you went on one of these rides? Or felt really, truly afraid? What was your body doing? ‘Team up with two other people and make a list. eg. * sweaty palms + high pitched voice + panting for breath + shaking knees * roliof The feeling of fear on a ghost train is almost exactly the feeling you get in a car accident, a hurricane, or in ‘the middle of an earthquake. This is what makas tension scanes so powerful. So create your own ‘Fear List" and keep it. You can use it over and over again in all your writing My Fear Factor List Seven Steps to Writing Success 15ATrial Story So let's see how brilliant you are now! You are going to create a story using the first three of the Seven Steps. Step a: Plan for Success Remember the Never Ending Ideas List? Get together with your group and repeat that exercise all over again, ‘Somewhere from all those ideas you should get a story that interests you. It doesn't have to be the same as the ‘thers in your group. ciimax, TENSION, EXCITEMENT Time, So, what is your story plan? Use point form to help you plan in the spaces below. 1. Your story has to start with action. Where will the start take place? What will happen? 2. Back fill. No borin; formation dump now, just tell us the vital Who, What and Why. This can happen during the action start. (ie. at the same time as Step 1.) 16 Seven Steps to Writing Success3. The main problem is introduced. What happens? Who does it happen to? 4. Now comes even more problems. Things get very bad indeed. 5. Here comes the tension scene where hero/heroine fights against incredible odds. Can you build the excitement up? Make your character really suffer or scared. 6. Climax - amazingly, wonderfully they win! You MUST know what your ending will be before you write the story. Seven Steps to Writing Success 17Step 2: Sizzling Start. Right, now write the first sentences to your story. The start has to be brilliant! Step 3: Tightening Tension Get together with your group once more. Ask them to help brainstorm all the detail of the tension scene here. (Of course, you will have to help them with THEIR scenes too.) What did your characters: See Smell Hear Taste 18 Seven Steps to Writing SuccessTouch Feelings So ready? Got it really clear in your head what you want to say? Right, let's write. Go for a GREAT story! Seven Steps to Writing Success 1920 Seven Steps to Writing SuccessSeven Steps to Writing Success 21What Authors Say... “It you have 817 characters in your story, the bed news is you're going to need 817 differant voices." John Marsden ‘With dialogue | alvays read it out loud... and come back to it the next day and do it again... in three reads you can iron out most of the rough bits... n fact that works for the whole story... reading it out louel..ty it." Terry Denton “I Jove mniting dialogue for my characters, as in my books it tels as much about them as their appearance.” Leigh Hobbs ‘Your characters must NOT all speak like you.* Hazel Edwards ‘Listen, listen and then listen again. To sound authentic you need to know how each person speaks differently from everyone else, Find their voice and you've found the charactor" Libby GleesonSTEP4 OLE a) hel "Stop That at Once!' Dialogue is a great way to start a story. Remember the Five Minute Fast Starts? (Step 2.) Here's another version of that. Start the following stories with dialogue. Five starts in five minutes is the rule! 1. Every time you swear, the phone rings. 2. A large plant in the lounge room eats ants, then mice, and then the cat gets very nervous! ‘Seven Steps to Writing Success 13. When your socks start to smell, they turn bright orange. 4, There's a kindergarten kid who follows you everywhere, even to the bathroom. 5. Your new glasses make you see blue apples and purple lemons. 2 Seven Steps to Writing SuccessAct First, Write Second The best way to write dialogue is to act it. And the best dialogue scenes to write are the fights. Pair up with e fiend and act out a fight scene, [WARNING: No physical fighting allowed!) Here are a few topic suggestions: ‘© A sistor has borrowed your favoutte shirt to wear to a party and ruined it ‘+ Ateacher demands to know why five piaces of homework ate not handed in, ‘+ Two kid ae paying basketal afterschool -then the schoo bully shows up. Act out the scene twice. Now, pick out the best bits and write your fight scene below. (REMEMBER: A new person talking, means a new line - every time.) Seven Steps to Writing Success 3Train Talks Write an outrageous sentence on a piece of paper. For instance: + Ihave a bee on my backside + There is @ grub in your chocolate. + poked the goldfish and it bit me. ‘Swap your sentence with a friend. Now, pretend you're talking on a train together. You both have to work the conversation around to fit in your weird sentence and make it sound natural. This is great practice for learning how to drop clues for mystery stories. Can you remember your conversation? Write it here. (Make sure you edit out the boring bits too.) 4 Seven Steps to Writing SuccessWhat Authors Say... ‘Pretend you are really living in the story... It helps to write about the kinds of people and places you know." Emily Rodda “Sort your main charactor out first. If they're real enough, they’ write the story for you." Meredith Costain “1 cay 8 notebook and constantly jot down ideas, images, bits of dialogue and bits of stories." Margaret Wild “So what's more effective? TELL: My litte sistor is really annoying. SHOW: Mum," screamed my litle sister, ‘Mickey yelled at me. Yell was right, she'd just stepped on my whole Lego project. [ pushed her out of the room. Bad mistake. Her voice screamed even louder. ‘And now's he's pushing and hurting me." Jen MeVeity ‘Don't tell readers what to feel. Show them a situation and the readers will react with feeling.” Rose InserraSTEPG: BAN THE BORING BIT: Boring Beds, Breakfasts and Bus Trips | woke up that moming and got out of bed and raced downstairs. | stuffed my face full of cereal and then had three bits of toast and jam. Mum had two cups of coffee and more toast. Then we got into the car and dove through five traffic ights to Big yawn. Everyone eats, sleeps, combs their hair and spends lots of time traveling. It's part of life - but it's boring. Movie producers know this well. For instance, what's something we do EVERY day? Often several times? Yes, that's right, (no sniggering now), we go to the toilet. But wait - ever seen James Bond go to the toilet? So here's a real challenge. List TEN movies which have @ toilet scene. (HINT. Often the scene is used for humour) Movies with Toilet Scenes 10 Seven Steps to Writing SuccessMany movies on DVD have a section which show the deleted scenes. Hire @ favourite movie on DVD and watch it at home. Afterwards, watch the deleted scenes. Often these scenes cost thousands of dollars to make, but then they are edited out. ‘See if you can figure out why these scenes were deleted. 2.g. We did not learn anything important about the characters or it slowed down the action. MOVIE: Deleted scene 1: Reasons why it was deleted : Deleted scene 2: Reasons why it was deleted = Seven Stops to Writing Success 11What Authors Say... ‘When you read through your work you will come to bits where instinctively you know i's not right...and your brain usually tells you don't worry. t's OK, no one wil notice. Don’t believe your brain... tust that first instinct and find out what's wrong and change it.” Terry Denton. “Often I scrap the first chapter.” Hazel Edwards “I's easy to fallin Jove with words, but too many rich words get in the way of the story. (Sometimes simple words can be the richest." Jackie French “If something's not quite right, try adding tentacles.” ‘Shaun Tan “1.90 over and over my work, editing out things. You have to, In TV or films, anything over thrae lines they cut out.” Paul JenningsSTEP6: BAN BORING BITS Boring Beds, Breakfasts and Bus Trips | woke up that morning and got out of bed and raced downstairs. | stuffed my face full of cereal and then had three bits of toast and jam. Mum had two cups of coffee and more toast. Then we got into the car and Grove through five traffic lights to, Big yawn. Everyone eats, sleeps, combs their hair and spends lots of time traveling. It's part of - but it's boring. Movie producers know this well. For instance, what's something we de EVERY day? Often several times? Yes, that's right, (no sniggering now), we go to the toilet. But wait - ever seen James Bond go to the toilet? So here's @ real challenge. List TEN movies which have a toilet scene. (HINT, Often the scene is used for humour} Movies with Toilet Scenes 10 Seven Steps to Writing SuccessThe Cutting Room Floor Many movies on DVD have a section which show the deleted scenes. Hira a favourite movie on DVD and watch it at home. Afterwards, watch the deleted scenes, Often these scenes cost thousands of dollars to make, but then they are edited out. ‘See if you can figure out why these scenes were deleted, e.g. We did not learn anything important about the characters or it slowed down the action, MOVIE: Deleted scene 1: Reasons why it was deleted : Deleted scene 2: Reasons why it was deleted : Seven Steps to Writing Success 11What Authors Say... “Talways have the ending defined well before I start. Any short story should have ‘a.wham at the end.” Paul Jennings “I start a book when / know the first sentence and the ending -if the characters are ‘alive’, they'l take care of the mide.” Wendy Orr “In every student literary competition, over 17% of stories finish up with ‘And then J woke up, i was all a dream.’ It's @ cheat ending. Those stories NEVER win. If you want a great story, get a great ending.” Jen MeVeity “A powerful ending wil leave the reader satisfied - so writing begins when I know ‘my ending is cooked." Christopher Cheng ‘Start at the endl I's too easy to write the first chapter and get stuck- but if you write the ending first you need to know who and what you're writing about!” Jackie Frenchee et Cee a Ce) Working Backwards ‘Sometimes writers pick up a line or a phrase that haunts them. Often it ‘feels’ like the last line of a story. Some writers even work backwards from “=: that one line to create a whole novel. a Get together with some friends and create a story to match the last lines below. Don't tel the story, just give the plot in point form. * Dad never knew about Davey the Dragon. I sure wasn’t going to tell him. * I'm not going to say sorry. Well, maybe not. Seven Stops to Writing Success 13,* Iwaded through puddles and felt the mud squish through my toes. Lucky me. * I walk to school now, it's safer that way. * She reached out, caught the bubble in her hand - and laughed. 14 Seven Steps to Writing SuccessSticky Situations Can you find some solutions to these tricky story plots? These situations often happen in stories. Alone, (or it's more fun with friends) see if you can figure out \_ ‘a way to escape these sticky situations. * You're trapped in a cellar with a locked door and no windows. * A friend has been bitten by a snake in the middle of the outback. * Thieves have tied you up in a warehouse - and the warehouse is on fire. Seven Steps to Writing Success 15So you've got the DEDICATION, Write a story of INSPIRATION, And get ready for a CELEBRATION! Put all the Seven Steps together - and create a brilliant story. Weill help you with Step 1, the planning. After that, you'll know exactly what to do. Afterall, you are now a Seven Steps graduate - and what a success you are! ‘Start with a bang - put the main character in an action scene. ‘A fight, a rescue, a sudden danger. Back fill- the Who, What and Why are filed in WHILE the action unfolds. (Not in big slabs at the beginning.) The main problem is introduced. Make it big. Complications and more problems. Things get very bad indeed Tension scene where the hera/heroine fights against incredible odds. Surely they must fail Climax - incredibly, wonderfully, they win! cimax, TENSION,