If you are telling a story, events in chronological order, then it’s not enough to call it drama or fiction or even creative writing. Sometimes you need to introduce or even force a plot into your writing to cross the gap to creative writing. This is most important for beginners. Fiction writers need smart paradoxes and strong wording. That is not simple. It needs a mind that is prepared.
In scientific writing the conclusion is set at the beginning to avoid dramatic styles. In fiction, one needs to drag the reader to the end. If that doesn’t happen, then the fiction is a waste of time.
Georges Polti introduced the idea of 36 plots , so writers can plan a story around one or more complicated sets of these plots.
What forces the reader to complete a story? It is details, paradoxes and wording.
Experimental writing is common these days and the challenge is to create something new, commonly known as“out of the box”.
A simple fiction story is a collection of words or sentences, or a group of sentences, describing a person or a scene.
Taking a closer look. What if it’s not a story? What if it’s a different genre of writing? What if it’s not creative at all. The answer is simple - go ahead to your genre.
One should adhere to the 36 plots and, if this is not enough, the writer has probably created something new. Perhaps the author made some mistake, an error somewhere.
One time I sent a story to an editor and publisher. In the middle of the story, the protagonist dies, and someone else continues. He refused it on that basis. Later he said my experimental writing was somehow logical and not a forbidden issue.
School students like experimental writing. Professionals make it their game.
To force a plot into a story, write the story first, then go deeply into the characters and their deep thoughts and insights. The plot may have happened millions of times in real life, so make it yours in details, in paradoxes, in words. Make the reader conceive of something new. Fill his emotional tanks, but remember - you are not a journalist, not writing for a newspaper. You are much more than that.
When I watch horror movies, I wonder where all of this came from - how the author drew this picture. Was it only an imagination game or was it something hidden below. There are 36 lines to fill in between.
Reference: Polti, Georges. The thirty-six dramatic situations. Editor Company, 1917
