Sessions

Session 2: What is the Essence of Your Story?

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What tense do you write in?

What’s your point of view?

Is your story a character story, or is it an event that sets the journey into motion?

Don’t know the answers to these questions?

Well then, time for Session 2.

Session 2 is a bit technical, so please take your time and think about the things below. There are going to be four parts to this session, and each part will make up a significant piece of your story. As before, I’ll have links to separate posts that need to be explained further.

Part 1: What is the main genre? Are there sub-genres?

Simply put, what is your main genre? Fantasy? Drama? Sci-Fi? Thriller? What makes your story that specific genre? What aspects do you think are too cliché in those genres and what are the aspects you’d really enjoy incorporating or building on in your story from those genres?

The next thing to think about is: are there sub-genres? For example, something like Alien and its sequel, Aliens, are primarily horrors, but there is an action/adventure undercurrent, especially in the second one. Scream is a horror movie but is also blended with satire.

Scream is also a slasher movie, which brings me to my next point to think about: along with your genre and sub-genre, what type of story is being told? For example, Ant-Man is an action/adventure movie. But it’s also a superhero movie. Dig deeper, it’s actually a heist movie with a superhero cover.

You’re writing a thriller? Great! Is it a political thriller? Is it detectives trying to solve a case?

Are you into horror? Cool! What kind of horror? Slasher? A creepy monster? A ghost story? Gore?

These questions about the type of story aren’t things you have to answer. I just find them to be useful in narrowing down the style in which the story is written. I find that it helps me focus on what I’m trying to convey through the story.

Take zombies, for example. Picture writing a zombie story in your head as an action story. Now picture it as a horror story. In my head, that conjures up two very different stories, in terms of tone, characters, and even ending.

Genre is an extremely important aspect that I think people are slowly taking for granted. Knowing the genre, sub-genres, and types of stories you’re trying to tell can be extremely useful for the direction and feel of your story.

Part 2: How many parts/acts are there?

This one is simple. Will your story be split into parts/acts? If so, how many? Also, if so, why? Is it a time-jump? Are the sections pertaining to different aspects of the story, or newer aspects of the story? Are we changing character perspective?

I was planning to write a separate post about the three-act structure, but I found two people who have made great pieces explaining it, one in terms of film, and one in terms of a novel. If you do nothing else, I’d suggest reading the one about the novel, because not only does it explain the three-act structure, but the writer has seemed to create their own structure based on the three-act structure (word of warning though, the piece has MASSIVE spoilers for the first Hunger Games book).

Part 3: How will you write it?

This has two points to it: the way it is written and point of view (POV). What I mean by the first point is how you actually plan to write the story out. What is your style? Are you using chapters? Are you writing in scenes? Are you writing it in past or present tense? Is there a unique way you’re writing it?

For example, Thirteen Reasons Why is written through two perspectives, but one perspective is a character speaking through a tape-recorder. Because of this, it’s written in an interesting way.

Another example is World War Z (the novel) which is written in the form of different people’s accounts, like documents, e-mails, letters, and voice-recordings. This is known as an epistolary novel. These types of books have a more realistic feel, allowing you to see multiple perspectives, and in my opinion, can give the opportunity to really show how the situation gradually deteriorated.

I’d urge you to also think about why you’re writing it the way you’re writing it. Is it a challenge? Is it perfect for the story? Will it make it flow better? Just things to think about. Also, make sure you’re not jumping tenses between past and present.

The second aspect of this part is POV. What is your POV in the story? There are four types of POV: first-person; second-person; third-person limited; and third-person omniscient. You can find more information about that here.

Part 4: Which part of MICE is it?

Finally, there’s this thing called the M.I.C.E. Quotient. It stands for milieu, idea, character, or event. This quotient refers to the four types of stories there are. This part of Session 2 is to figure out which letter your story falls into. Is your story character-focused? Is it about an event?

Because this is more complex, you can go here for more information.

And that’s Session Two, fellow writers. And no, I’m not insane and I know this is probably more than you bargained for coming from writing three paragraphs in Session One.

But these aspects are important in how the story is written, if nothing else. So, by the end of this session, you should have some idea about your genre and sub-genres, if you’re writing a specific type of story, your POV and style, how many parts/acts are there, and where on the M.I.C.E. Quotient does your story fall.

If you need some structure, I’ve included a template of the questions here.

Thanks for reading, fellow writers!

And remember, every great story started with just one line.

Thanks for Reading, Fellow Writers!

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