There are many building blocks to writing a complete story, but there are six essential elements in particular that really make a story what it is, and without just one of them, the idea of having a story written would be impossible. These six elements include the following: characters, settings, plot, point-of-view, conflict, and dialogue.
Imagine you're the only one sitting in an auditorium in front of a red curtain stage, awaiting the performance of a play. Before everyone else arrives, you're witnessing the rehearsal. There are people who are dressed in costumes on the stage, reading over their written scripts. These people you see are the actors or characters of the play. Next, two other people come out from behind the curtain and set up some cardboard items to make up the scenery. These background images are the setting of the play.
Then, let's imagine there's a director who gives stage instructions for the play's layout. This layout is the plot of the play. Now, let's say there's another person who comes out on stage who isn't dressed in a costume but is the one telling the story. This person is the narrator and sets the point-of-view of the play. While you're sitting, you continue to watch the performance. Later, about thirty minutes in, the actors interact with one another in verbal conversation, and things between them get more intense as a result. The actors' exchange of communication is the dialogue, whereas the complications that have arisen throughout the acts and scenes are the conflict of the play. Whether a play, a novel, or a short story, all of these are the main items of story writing.
But what makes these story elements so important? Let's evaluate each of them individually and get a closer look... 🔍
🧪Element 1: CHARACTERS
CHARACTERS.... don't we just love them?
These lovable creations are the Hollywood stars of every story and primarily the reasons people want to open and read novels or fiction books. They're the leading roles, heroes, or protagonists we cheer for, the sidekicks or best friends we wish we had, or the villains or antagonists sometimes we feel sorry for or despise. Characters are the heart of stories that give them the essence of life. They affect our emotions and make us care about stories in the first place.
We writers love our cast of characters, but we're also the ones typically in charge of putting them to the test by allowing difficult situations to intervene in their lives. Whether it's an unfortunate breakup, a natural disaster, or being diagnosed with a fatal sickness or disease. Yes, none of these tragic events sound pleasant, do they? However, when characters' weaknesses and strengths are challenged in a story it makes readers get interested in what happens next and whether they will come out on top.
Author and novelist Jordan Rosenfeld of the Writer's Digest Writing the Intimate Character quoted the following in the introduction of her book:
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"What makes these stories so compelling, so engaging, and so . . . unput-downable? The answer, in a word: characters. Unforgettable, vivid, chatty, bold, wild, foolish, singular characters that are so authentic, so true and real, that you feel as if you're living in their world--or, even better, inside of them."
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After all, what point would there be for a story if there's no one to talk about?
🧪Element 2: SETTINGS
SETTINGS...where would we be without them, right?
These are the sceneries, main locales, times, seasons, and other locations that give stories a sense of place. Without them, it would be as if characters were walking around on a blank white canvas, which would definitely make it harder to present a believable world to our readers. Settings are like the physical appearance of stories and make books exciting to help invest our readers into our characters' physical worlds. They're the Italian restaurant where a romantic couple breaks their engagement, the tornado striking through a small Kansas farm, or the sterile hospital room where a patient awaits the dreadful news of a health update.
Another thing to keep in mind is settings can also be a character within itself. How might you ask? Well, just look at the earth. There are characteristics within our world that resemble that of a living human being. Islands surrounded by water are like the colored pupils of the sclera of the human eyes, earth's rivers and streams are like the veins and arteries of the bloodstream, and the textures of grasslands and fields are equivalent to the different textures of human hair. Settings also tell more about our characters by how they interact with them.
For example, the crunch of dried leaves under a little girl's boots, the tapping of raindrops on a woman's car window shield while driving home, or the warmth and grainy feeling between a lifeguard's toes while walking across a sandy shore. All of these are some examples of how settings can be used to make our characters become more alive and shine through to our readers. Without settings, readers wouldn't know what time of day or season it is, where our characters presently are, or where they're going in the future.
🧪Element 3: PLOT
PLOT...so, what's the plan?
Every story needs to have a beginning, a middle, and an ending to be complete. Plot is the skeleton and overall make-up of a story. Whether you're a writer who outlines every nook and cranny or a discovery writer, practically every story has a plan or a particular strategy that the characters are purposed to follow through with. This element is extremely important to writers of all genres, but especially mystery writers. Since I first started writing, I've always admired the cleverness of those who create well-crafted mysteries or thrillers that leave me on the edge of my seat, such as British-American writer Agatha Christie and the way she weaved in red herrings and turning points to puzzle readers and keep them guessing whodunit.
Have you ever watched a CBS criminal series or other mystery show or movie and thought the suspect was someone and it turned out to be the person you least expected? Isn't it great! One criminal drama series called "Cold Case" comes to mind that I used to watch from time to time, in which Detective Lilly Rush, a homicide detective of the Philadelphia Police Department, and her detective colleagues investigated and solved past mystery crimes and served justice to the long-gone victims and their remaining families.
Many of the episodes were filled with lots of twists and turns and interesting suspense. But whether a mystery or not, readers love finding out what happens next to the characters and how everything will make sense and connect throughout the story. One thing I liked about "Cold Case" was that at the end of every episode, the suspect and others are shown as their younger selves from the past and the victim's spirit is seen by Rush or the remaining family members in the present time before vanishing away. One of the best and heartfelt episodes was the cold case of a blonde, 17-year-old mother who unfortunately was murdered from a blow by a rock to her head back in 1964, after being tricked into giving up her daughter Barbara who was later adopted and requested the criminal team to investigate the cold case.
Below is the closing of the episode, following the song "You Are My Sunshine," the same song Barbara's mother used to sing to her when she was a baby. The lady at the table with the manila folder is the suspect who killed Barbara's birth mother. Then Barbara is consoled by her grandmother and a man who I think was her father before later seeing her mother's spirit in her home while holding her old pink baby blanket. So sad...but justice was served, and it ended beautifully.
The plot is one of the most important elements of a story, if not the most important of them all. It answers the 5 W questions of who, what, where, when, why, and how events take place within a story. Without a planned layout about what's supposed to happen and what comes next, there definitely wouldn't be a goal, a purpose, or a story for readers to read and enjoy.
🧪Element 4: POINT-OF-VIEW
POINT-OF-VIEW...the eyes through which the story is being told.
When readers first open a book or novel probably one of the first questions that runs through their minds is, "Who's telling the story here?" Point-of-view is another crucial element that not only identifies the viewpoint character or who the narrator is, but also helps to set the voice, tone, and mood of a story. Once the character is known, there are various ways the story can be presented to readers. Some of these include the third-person-limited point of view (which is the most common), first-person point of view, second-person-point-of-view (which is the least used), and omniscient point of view. This element also helps to establish what tense the story is written in; whether it's past, present, or future.
A few examples of first-person point of view stories are Forrest Gump by Winston Groom and the Miss Julia book series by Ann B. Ross. Second-person-point-of-view isn't the most commonly used in writing, but one example is Big Lights, Big City by Jay McInerney, a novel I never read, but learned of from passage examples for second-person narratives in Writing the Intimate Character by Jordan Rosenfeld. Some examples of third-person-limited are A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle, The Reason by William Sirls, and of course, my Christian and women's fiction debut novel, Eva's Promise.
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Choosing tenses is one thing that writers should consider when deciding the point-of-view of their stories and books. Past tense is the most common tense used, but there are plenty of other novels that are written in present tense too. One example is the Princess Diaries series by Meg Cabot, which is also epistolary novels written in a series of diary entries and other documents. Nonetheless, regardless of which one you pick, without having a point-of-view it would make writers' stories pretty confusing, especially while having multiple characters.
🧪Element 5: CONFLICT
CONFLICT...how can there be a story without this one, right?
Conflict is the icing on the cake. It's the complications, challenges, or obstacles that come in our characters' pathways to hinder them from obtaining their goals. These could range from a number of different incidences and circumstances and can come in various forms from other characters to natural disasters, to established laws within an institution or society. There are many kinds of conflict which we'll dive into much later, but for now, let's focus on the main point of conflict. Having conflict might not be the best thing most of us humans like, but it's a big part of creating a story. After all, if nothing goes wrong that needs to be resolved, what would be the point of the story?
Readers expect conflict to be within a story in some way or another whether internal conflict within a character, or external conflict from the outside world. Imagining an intriguing story without conflict is like eating a dry cake with no frosting or decorations on it. It's bland... 👎🏽
🧪Element 6: DIALOGUE
DIALOGUE...you know what they say, "It takes two to tango." Or should I rephrase that? ;)
I know, I know...this one seems like an element you could actually do without in a story, right? There are some novels and short stories that don't have a single line of dialogue in them, such as the short story "The Lady, or the Tiger?" by Frank R. Stockton. Or do they? Most of us associate dialogue with the exchange of verbal conversation between two or more characters. However, dialogue isn't merely that when you think deeper about it. How so?
The answer is simple. Just look at all the ways we can communicate without uttering a word. People can speak through their body language, mannerisms, movements, and through their physical interactions and reactions. We don't necessarily have to say anything to hold a conversation, and neither does our characters. Even one character in a story can still have dialogue based on their thoughts or inner dialogue, physical interactions, and emotional responses to things, animals, and their environments. Some examples could include the way a character freezes up or flinches from an approaching rattlesnake, releasing a sigh of relief after finding their cell phone in their purse, or pondering over whether they should quit their healthy diet and eat a juicy burger or avoid the temptation and stick with their salad.
Take Mr. Bean into consideration. He rarely says anything, yet by his facial expressions and actions we still typically know what he's saying to the audience.
Dialogue might seem like a non-important element, but without it, readers wouldn't be able to experience our characters' emotions, their actions, or become a part of their physical worlds.
📣CLOSING REMARKS:
And that's it . . . the six essential elements of story writing. By combining all of these elements and utilizing them cleverly and effectively, you can produce a chemical reaction and create one amazing play, novel, or short story that will blow your readers away. So, what are you waiting for? Grab a pencil and paper or open up a new blank document on your laptop or computer and get to work on your story. (Oh, and don't forget to give this post a like (heart ❤️️) and feel free to share your thoughts and comments below. 💬)
Happy Writing! 😊✍🏽💻
🤔Out of the story elements below, which one is your favorite?
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0%Setting
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