If you think about it, writing a story is very much like baking a cake. You can choose what type of cake, chocolate, fruit, Madera etc. You choose what type of story, romance, crime or thriller. This isn’t to say that chocolate cake necessarily corresponds to romance but they can both be quite sweet and sticky.
Take this one step further and if writing a novel is like baking a cake, then writing a short story is like making buns. Both will need a specific mixture of ingredients and these must be mixed in the correct proportions dependent on the type of cake or bun, or story you are concocting. As with baking, mixing the same ingredients in different proportions can vary the nature of the story but too much of any one ingredient will overwhelm the others. As with any recipe book, we begin with our list of ingredients.
THE PLOT
The word ‘plot’ is often misunderstood and is often presented as a list of events as they happen within a story, which it is, but not when viewed as an ingredient for your story. That would be a synopsis.
The plot is your main point of conflict in the story. This is whatever is presenting the main character from achieving whatever they need to achieve. The plot should be describable in one sentence. Sub-plots can then be added like decorative sprinkles on a cake.
CHARACTERS
Of course you will need characters. It doesn’t matter who or what these characters are, but there is one simple rule that cannot be ignored. Your characters must have character. They must have feelings, emotions and some sort of driving force that makes them interesting. They can be liked or disliked, it doesn’t matter. If they are liked the reader will want to learn how they overcome – the plot. If they are disliked the reader will want to learn how they get their comeuppance. Your characters must possess enough character to inspire the reader to care.
THE BIG QUESTION
A cake can be made for a purpose, such as a wedding or birthday cake, or for its flavor such as a ginger or a fruitcake. A story can be described as being: plot led, or: character led, but in truth, this is an academic question. A character led story still requires a good plot and a plot led story still requires good characters. Even so, it is important that you know the difference. Both character and plot are vital ingredients.
THE MIX
All recipes involve the mixing of ingredients and in the best recipes; these ingredients need to be added in the right order. It is the same with the construction of a story and there are eight of them.
1: The Setting.
This is not only the where in the physical sense but also covers the base reality in which everything takes place. It is the ‘once upon a time moment’ that is not necessarily revealed to the reader in one sudden moment, but may develop over the initial development of the plot.
2: The Trigger.
This is the event that sets the plot in motion. It is usually something beyond the control of the hero but whatever it is, it leads to the third ingredient.
3: The Motive.
The trigger requires the hero to react. What causes them to react and how is down to the writer. It can be pleasant or unpleasant, positive or negative. It can be a quest for love, money, revenge, survival, but whatever the motive, it commonly has an emotional aspect related to the nature of the main character. This motive can also be driven to change by plot or character development during the course of the story.
4: Surprise.
All good stories need surprises. Things don’t go as the reader expects. Note that it is not as the reader expects. While this usually corresponds to something the hero didn’t expect to happen, it is not necessarily so.
This surprise can help or hinder the hero but whichever, it must be credible and happen within the bounds of the story. If not it would be like finding a pickled herring in the middle of a madeira cake. If the surprise is predictable it is not a surprise. If it is implausible the average reader will feel cheated. Surprise is the trick ingredient that will either make your story stand out or completely spoil the taste, but without surprise the story will become bland and lacking in flavor.
5: Critical Choice.
Surprises commonly lead to the hero’s need to make a critical choice, but not necessarily. This critical choice raises the question of how to proceed. The hero must decide, often involving risk, but any decision made must be within the bounds of the here’s character, or maybe it pushes their character to development further attributes.
Elements of critical choice are not just limited to one. There can be many and vary in intensity, though must all help to carry the story forward and in all cases, the hero is accountable for these choices made.
6: Climax
All stories come to a climax but within the story, each critical choice can lead to its own climax, the point where the result of that critical choice becomes known. There is no rule about how quickly the result of any critical choice needs to appear. In fact leaving some hanging can add suspense and the result of several critical choices may be combined into one dramatic ending. That is for the writer to decide but a story without a climax is similar to denying the climax when making love.
7: The Hinge.
The hinge is a twist, a turn commonly brought about by a surprise forcing the making of a critical choice whether or not the full climax of that critical choice is revealed or not. The story swings on a hinge created by a previous event and may be dramatic or emotional or a combination of both. It is a stepping-stone towards the final element of any story and there can be as many as you wish to include, but as with any ingredient, depend on the nature of the cake and must not be overdone.
8: The Resolution.
This is the resolution of the plot, the hero overcoming the main point of conflict in the story. The resolution is different from the climax, though several climaxes can be involved within the resolution. It is, on an intrinsic level, the character’s return to the place or condition they were in when the story began. The trigger has been pulled, their motivation sated.
THE MIXING BOWL
These ingredients are all added to the mixing bowl in their required amounts and stirred, though any chef will tell the importance of stirring correctly. Beat the mixture too hard and it may become stiff and heavy, too light and it won’t be mixed correctly.
A good story depends on the above ingredients being mixed to create intrigue and suspense that can be likened to stirring a cake mix. Surprise leads to a critical choice resulting in a climax on which the story hinges and around the bowl again to another surprise, critical choice, climax on which the story swings.
Within the large swirl of the main story are smaller circles all stirred together in an efficient and well-balanced mix of all the elements required to bring the plot to its final resolution.
Writing a story is like baking a cake. First decide what sort of cake you want to bake. Choose your ingredients carefully. Mix properly and then apply heat. This heat is your imagination.
