Once you have been through several drafts, you have revised, cut and cleaned up your story it is time to shape it. Here are some basic ways to look at your writing and assess what it needs in terms of refining its shape.
Opening
How did you choose to open your story? Narrative? Dialogue? Action? Description? Make sure that your opening is intentional and provides the reader with the space to enter the story with you.
Narrative is probably the most common opening but just because it is common doesn’t make it easy to pull off. The voice of the narrator must be compelling for this method to work. An famous example of a narrative opening is Herman Melville’s Moby Dick. Narrative can help you provide the reader the right lens through which you want to tell your story.
Dialogue is the most difficult method to pull off effectively. It drops the reader into the middle of a conversation without context or character development. Using dialogue to open a chapter will work quite easily once the setting and plot are established but to use dialogue in the opening lines of a book is usually not done. There are always exceptions though so if you want to open your book with dialogue just keep it short.
Action as the opening scene of a book or story is a great way to pull readers in but it can be difficult to make enough space for them to enter the story. It can be disorienting and confusing for readers if it is not skillfully done. A great example of action that opens a book is Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451.
Description is an old fashioned style of opening. Setting the scene by literally describing the setting or main character. This is done to great effect in the opening lines of book one of The Lord of the Rings. Description can work really well but it can have a tendency to drag the story down, unless you are a master at it like Tolkien.
Whatever method you decide to use, understand its purpose and use it with intent.
Transitions
After you have a great opening and you are humming along from paragraph to paragraph notice your transitions. Will the reader be able to leap from scene to narrative without having to jump too far? Can you shift from dialogue to description without breaking stride? Identify the places in your story that need transitions and then analyze the sentence that bridges the paragraphs or ideas to see if it is strong enough to carry the reader forward.
Dialogue
Dialogue is very difficult to write well. We don’t write dialogue the way it sounds. We have to construct it in a way that will read natural. It has to sound right when it is read aloud. Dialogue also needs to be purposeful. What does the reader learn through this interaction? Is it new? Does it move the plot forward? Don’t let useless dialogue clog up your story. Also, adding tags and physical descriptors of the speakers must be done carefully and judiciously. A tag or descriptor disrupts the flow of the conversation. As a rule, avoid using them unless it is necessary. For example, a descriptor may be exactly what you need to give a moment of reflection for the reader. But each tag and descriptor must work for the overall story. Tags are only necessary when there are more than two people talking in the conversation. Proper formatting will allow the reader to know who is talking without the use of tags. Some authors who were great at dialogue: Toni Morrison, John Steinbeck and Barbara Kingsolver.
Word Choice
Listen to the words, the syntax of each sentence, and the arrangement of sound. Notice words that jump out at you. Is that the right word? The best word? Look it up in the dictionary. Try a few synonyms and see if it improves or clarifies the communication. One thing I look for is repetition, using the same word two or three times in a paragraph feels lazy. Avoid using filler words too, words that don’t really do anything for the story. I find that I use the words “just” and “suddenly” a ridiculous number of times in my writing. I go through my story or chapter sentence by sentence and rid my work of these extra words. Make every word work hard to deserve a place in your story. Another thing to look for are what I call “Big Words.” These words are big because the hold many interpretations of meaning.
Example: When I looked at my car I was filled with happiness.
A word like happiness is a big word. It could mean so many different things to so many different people depending on personal experience and context. You might choose to express that happiness in more specific language.
Rewrite: My car was just like my best friend, a companion who was always there in the driveway, ready to go on an adventure with me.
In this example I use specifics to illustrate the happiness instead of saying the word happiness. It is a specific kind of happiness. The happiness of friendship and adventure. There are thousands of different kinds of happiness. Be specific.
Go through your own story and look for the big words and see if you can replace them with specificity.
Passive versus Active
Make sure your sentences are active rather than passive. Passive writing is okay for early drafts when getting the word on the page is essential but don’t rely on it when polishing. Passive sentences are heavy and slow the story down. Find the sentences in the story that are passive and rewrite them until they spark with movement. To do this watch for verbs followed by ing.
Example. I was running home from the bank when I began slamming on my brakes so that I wouldn’t hit the pedestrian walking in front of my car.
This sentence is heavy and slow with unnecessary wording and bogged down with information the reader doesn’t need.
Rewrite: I slammed on my brakes to avoid the pedestrian that walked right in front of my car.
Flow
Read your work aloud. Does it flow from sentence to sentence? Is it choppy and difficult to read? Get someone to read it that hasn’t read it five thousand times. The author reads his or her work so often that it sounds flowing to them because they can anticipate the sentences. But someone who hasn’t read it will trip up on certain sentences or transitions. Listen to them read it and mark the places that need work.
Ending
Endings are notoriously difficult. Examine your ending closely. What do you hope the reader will experience by the end? What feelings does your story evoke? Try out two or three different endings and notice how each ending changes the angle of the story. Does your ending resolve, answer, satisfy, provoke or disturb? I like to think of beginnings and endings as a door. Your beginning opens the door and within the story there are other doors that are opened, characters and plot points the reader is curious to know about or understand. Typically, your ending should attempt to close these doors. These are the last words you will leave with your reader. Make them serve the story before they serve the reader.
Shaping your story requires patience and thoroughness. And it is worth the effort. This process can turn your clunky story into a sleek sports car that can take your readers on an unforgettable ride.
