The Creation of Prose Fiction

1. Plot
2. Setting
3. Character

Plot

Here are some tasks to consider when working from the list above.

• What is your story about?  What’s going to happen?  You may only have a scene in your mind, or a situation.  Write notes on this.
• Now add some detail.  You will find it is easy to add things in small pieces.  Once you have written initial notes you can expand.  Make a list of possible scenes you could include in your story if you know what it’s about and what’s going to happen.  If not then just expand your original scenes, and add more.
• A good exercise to see how your story works is to draw a diagram.  Draw a sequence of boxes, connected with lines and show the progression of your story within the boxes.  You could put an individual event in your story, in each box of your diagram to help you realise where you are going with it.

Setting

• Where is your story set?  Setting doesn’t have to be the era, it could mean several things: time, place, weather, social milieu etc.  Write a description of the main settings you want to use in your story.  Use this list of headings and write as many things as you can about them.
  • Places (Villages/towns/cities, outside spaces like parks, streets, or building interiors like rooms)
  • Era (modern/contemporary, 1930s, late twentieth century
  • Time (of day in certain scenes)
  • Weather (at key points of your plot)
  • Social Milieu (the kind of class/background your characters come from)

• Who is your main protagonist?  There could be one, or there could be many.  For now continue by writing a detailed character profile of your main protagonist(s) as well as your antagonist (if you have one).
• Now make a list of other characters within the story.  Write basic facts like: name, age, personality traits, backgrounds, appearance etc.  Also explain how they relate/interact with your main protagonist(s).