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I’ve always loved writing. In particular, writing stories. Telling a story takes a lot of skill; you have to describe people without just listing off attributes, you have to keep the storyline simple enough so that your readers can follow it and, God forbid, if there’s any plot holes. Writing a story isn’t very straightforward. On top of developing believable characters, you have to go back and forth and really make sure that the plot makes sense.
My friend Clare and I have been writing stories together since seventh grade. Our characters have been through it.
We have molded and broken and repaired these characters for over 12 years. They’ve gone through name and backstory changes, with all of them being influenced by the books we were reading. A little piece of ourselves goes into every character and some more than others.
I could never choose just one of our characters to be my favorite, that’s like picking one of your own children, but I do have one very close to my heart.
Kieran is a twentysomething man, with a loyal and loving personality. He’s probably the one I put the most of myself into. He has a best friend, Drake, who is shy and quiet. Kieran is the kind of friend that would get the attention of the waiter and say “Hey, my friend is missing his fries,” while Drake is saying it’s no big deal.
While the relationship between Drake and Kieran is somewhat similar to my relationship with Clare, she is more likely to be the one to get my fries for me.
Some of our other characters include: Ozkar (Oz), the grumpy, blind healer who is only not grumpy with Ay, the elf who shines like the sun and maybe takes things a bit too literally. We have Lee, the leader of the group who’s stoic and proper until the others get him to relax.
We have Quill and Jakob, two crucial members of what Clare and I call “the Squad.” Lastly, we have the big bad guy Sam and her sidekicks Raven and Melody.
For the past four years, Clare and I have been trying to wrangle all the characters and plot lines into one solid story. It’s a struggle because there are so many options and ideas and not quite everything makes sense. We’ve scrapped everything we had and restarted at least five times. Every time I think we’ve found a solid plot, I think of something I want to add or change or I find a plot hole big enough to fit your head through.
One piece of advice I have for writing a story is to actually write everything down. Even if you look back on it and think “wow that’s a really dumb idea,” at least you know at least one way you don’t want to go. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve come up with a plot line right before going to bed and thinking that I’ll just write it down in the morning, only to have completely forgotten it by the morning. So, write it down. In a notebook, on your computer, in the notes app on your phone, or on a post-it note. You need a place to bring all your ideas together and gain a new perspective on which plot lines work and which don’t.
If I could leave you with one thought, it would be don’t stop writing.
People will be harsh and have opinions, but you don’t have to listen to all of them. Take the constructive criticism, leave the rest and keep writing.
Brown is an intern for the Hays Free Press and News-Dispatch. He can be reached via email at [email protected].
