Are You Making This Mistake In Your Story?

So the other day, I saw this really bad movie on Amazon, and no, I’m not going to give you it’s name. I’d hate to hurt it’s two star rating. 

I watched the movie anyway. Sometimes, I'm in the mood for a so-bad-it’s-good move. That was not this movie. 

Here was it’s problem; and, as a book coach and developmental editor, it’s a problem I see a lot of new writers make. 

The biggest mistake is confusing event with story. 

It’s an easy thing to do. 

You have all these ideas swirling around in your head, you rush to get them down on paper and then you have them there. But a story is not a list of events, however detailed the scenes might be. 

A story is about a person doing something. 

This movie, and many new writers' manuscripts, contain events with people in them, not people doing things that make events. 

Characters are the heart of your story. Without great characters, you have no story.  Get those right, and writing becomes 10x easier and more fun. 

 

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