the craft. the five Ws of a story, fiction edition.
This past weekend, we hosted our “What’s In a Story?” Masterclass led by Jina DuVernay and it’s such a great question to ask. While the class focused on the anatomy of a short story, I think it’s important to ask ourselves this when we’re telling any type of story, long or short, written medium or audial. There are elements to storytelling that cannot be denied, no matter which way you slice it.
Good storytelling is a skill. I don’t know about you, but have you ever been trying to listen to someone tell a story about something and your eyes started to glaze over? Either they’re burying the lead, or they’re unfocused, their delivery is dry, and you hope they get it over with as quickly as possible. That’s never how we want people to feel about our work. So, I wanted to chat about some of the important elements of telling a great story, which is going back to the basics.
The who, what, when, where, why and how … That is the skeleton to any functional story. Of course, there is nuance here. Remember that eyes glazing over part? There is a lot that goes between these basic elements that spruce up the story like poetic prose and exposition, but these are the keys to the kingdom, friend.
Who
Are we creating characters that are engaging? Even in a feature article, the story has a protagonist. Who are we reading about? It’s key that we make the characters as 3-D as possible. They have to feel like real people that have hopes, dreams, quirks, fears, apprehensions, and more. I’m always preaching to spend time with the characters. Someone recently mentioned they do “Character therapy” in the #NaNoWriMo group on Slack. However you get there, you need to know the people you’re going to spend all this time writing about.
What
What is happening in these people’s lives? Has a mother recently died and now the children are brought together to view a tape of her final wishes revealing family secrets stored away for decades like in Black Cake? Did a writer choke on a pancake only for her frenemy to steal her work in progress to pass along as her own like in Yellowface? There needs to be some action in a great story if we want to keep people engaged from start to finish.
When
Time period sets the tone for a story. It helps us understand what societal norms might have been present. Slang, opposition or challenges for our protagonist. We know that if the story is prior to 2010, the characters weren’t on Instagram. Whether it’s the 80s in a large city while a major AIDS epidemic is taking place or the 50s and 60s when a woman is trying to build her career as a chemist and being met with so much opposition.
Where
Setting is important here. Are the characters running around New York City or holed up on a college campus in the midwest? Setting matters because it helps put so much into context about the who and what of the story. Sometimes setting is what causes the what. Like putting a character in a certain setting. Say, a nun in a strip club. I don’t know, it might be interesting.
Why
Why should we care? What is the point of the story? I know you have experienced listening to a winding road of a story and getting to the end and thinking, is that it? Why did I just sit here for fifteen minutes or read for seven minutes and I don’t know why. It’s because the person didn’t land the plane. There has to be a reason we’re telling the story. Whether it’s to discuss the years in the white house and the growth within those eight years, hello Becoming, or to show that love can conquer all like in Before I Let Go, there’s a reason we’re telling the story and the reader should know by the end of it.
How
How does the protagonist overcome whatever obstacles were standing in the way of their main goal? In Black Candle Women, the youngest member of the family takes an impromptu trip to New Orleans to try to reverse the curse placed on her family and the men they fall in love with. In Night Wherever We Go, the women start using herbs from the fields to avoid getting pregnant and bringing more people into the dire situation of slavery. How are they getting it done?
This simplistic view of storytelling breaks it down to the bones. Just like with homes, you can remodel it anyway you like, but the home has to have good bones. When we can’t run down the who, what, when, where, why and how of a story, it may be indicative that there is more work that needs to be done to flush it out a bit more.
Writing/Job Opportunities
Applications are open for the Book Ends Fellowship for novel writers. Perfect your manuscript in a cohort of exceptional writers, plus receive one-on-one mentorship from a renowned author. Applications are open through December 4, 2023. https://bookends.submittable.com/submit
Marie Claire is looking for feature pitches for their upcoming Money Issue. Scams, stocks, spending habits—if it's a unique story idea with an intriguing hook, send it their way: jenny.hollander@futurenet.com
Narratively is accepting entries for our 2023 Memoir Prize. They’re on the hunt for revealing and emotional first-person nonfiction narratives from unique and overlooked points of view. The winning submission will receive a $3,000 prize and publication on Narratively. (Nov. 30).
Nylon is hiring a Style Editor. ($66-70k).
E! News online is looking for an enthusiastic Writer/Editor to join its growing editorial staff creating best-in-class entertainment news, pop culture and trending articles, galleries and exclusive news. ($65-85k).
The Rumpus is accepting submissions for Prose Book Reviews.
To Be Read
LeVar Burton Is Still Fighting For Your Right to Read