CHAPTER 1

Know That You Have the Power to Write: Your Vast Memory Bank of Experiences andFeelings Can Help You Get Started

Just what is it that drives you to the page, compels you to sit down and write,or makes you want to write, even if it's sometimes hard to get started? Do youfeel the strongest need to get words out on paper when you are trying to sortout your emotions and daily life experiences? If so, have you filled thousandsupon thousands of pages of private journals with such writings? But do you alsosometimes wonder if you might be able to turn some of these musings into storiesthat could hold interest for others?

Or does the urge to write come over you when the idea for a fictional story hascaptured your imagination, and dynamic or dreamlike scenes, replete withinteresting characters and their life crises and challenges, float through yourmind by day and night, just calling out to you to be set to life on paper? Ifso, is it your greatest fantasy or hope that your story might someday be worthpublishing, so that others can enter the world of words you've created?

Whether our urge to write stems from a desire to recount true-to-life stories(nonfiction) or to spin tales that we make up altogether (fiction), I believethat we can all develop our innate capacity to tell compelling stories. At thesame time, we can benefit from some guidance in just how to come up with awritten story that feels complete, intriguing, and worthy of asking others totake the time to read. And such guidance in exactly how to translate your storyideas into completed form is what The Power to Write: A Writing Workshop in aBook is here to offer you.

What a Story Is

But just what is a story, anyway? Quite simply, short or long, one page or onethousand pages, a story is an interesting tale about something dramatic, funny,memorable, or intriguing that has happened to ourselves or to other real-life orfictional characters. It always contains at least one character who is facedwith a challenge or conflict—major or minor—that he or she must try to resolveon some level by the story's end.

Your purpose in telling a story, as the writer, is to take your reader on abrief but potentially powerful emotional journey—as you entertain, inspire, orinvite them, for a brief bit of time, to enter into the inner world of anotherhuman soul.

A good story also allows your reader to temporarily step beyond his or her ownboundaries. More than anything, it invites the reader to feel what the characterfeels—and thus to feel less alone, more connected to others, and part of thelarger circle of life for that short passage of time during which he or she isabsorbed in your words. And that highly desirable, though not always easy-to-attainfeeling of enhanced connection to other minds, lives, and souls issomething we are all seeking to experience, almost all the time.

A story, no matter how short or long, too, nearly always revolves around a timeof change in the life of the character—whether the character is you, describingyour own life experience, or a fictional character you've created. Such a changemay be huge or small, internal or external, one the character is choosing andinitiating. Or, the change may be happening entirely against the character'swill, one that he or she is valiantly struggling to prevent from taking place.

This impending change produces a sense of mounting tension—for if you have notension (which is caused by the conflict at the center of the story), you haveno story. For in life and in stories alike, it's tension and trouble, that trulyintrigue people, and the hope that a resolution will occur that keeps theminterested. Happy endings, of course, do happen and are fine in many cases. Butentirely smooth-sailing lives, and stories, just don't hold our interest forlong—for there's simply no staying or selling power in such strife-free tales.

Your goal, then, is to sweep your readers into your story, scene by scene, andpique their curiosity about the question that the conflict or tense situationraises, about what's going to happen next. And by story's end, you simply mustanswer that question, resolving the tension for your readers in a logical, attimes surprising, but always satisfactory way.

But perhaps you are saying right now, What stories do I have to tell that otherscould possibly care about? Well, I can guarantee that no matter who you are—yourage or life stage; your geographical location or occupation; your religiousbeliefs or political persuasion; your family background, marital status, or yourcurrent family makeup—you have potentially hundreds of stories to tell.

Possible Subjects

We all have potentially powerful stories deep within us, just waiting to becalled forth, perhaps to be told aloud and then put into written words. Yourstorehouse of stories, too, flows from your many years of life experience; yourunique perspective and way of seeing the world; and your ability to access awide range of feelings. So let's consider just a few of the possibilities.

LOVE

Just like the rest of us, you've almost certainly had vast experience over thecourse of your lifetime with virtually everyone's number one interest: andthat's love. And whether you know it now or not, you have a lot to say aboutthis timeless topic. For love is the essence of life: and you've known manydifferent kinds of love in your lifetime—from romantic forms of love to the lovebetween parent and child, siblings, and friends. And if you've experienced deepstruggles in any of these relationships (and haven't we all, at times?), youhave a host of powerful memories to draw upon.

For instance: You've probably been in love, many more times than once—and thenfelt the agony of losing a love that you'd been certain would last forever.You've probably also felt the ache of being away from a lover for what felt likean eternity, only to ultimately experience a happy reunion. Or you may have feltthe supreme sadness of loving someone who doesn't love you back, or who perhapsloves someone else—and you've been stung by the brutal nettles of betrayal. Butwhatever your unique experiences of love have been, there is no doubt that someof your most powerful and poignant...