Having butchered the ideas or purpose (theme) and perspective, I feel it is only fair to dissect the idea of story itself.  I am not talking about writing.  There are plenty of great books on that already: The Elements of Style, On Writing Well, King’s On Writing…well, you make your own list.  I would not dream of touching style, voice, tone, mood, and certainly not grammar.  Others are far more qualified than I.  Instead, I hope to talk about CONTENT, and to that end, I see three elements that are vital parts of any story:  Setting, Character and Plot.

Now, having stated my intentions, let me tell you what I don’t intend:  I don’t intend to start an argument with all of the teachers of creative writing out there in academia land, but I do want to take a couple of common analogies and turn them in a new direction.  I do so, because I suspect at least some of you have been subjected to these ideas:

The body:  This is a common analogy with regards to stories, and generally it speaks of plot (specifically) as the skeleton that holds the story up and holds it all together…WRONG!

Setting is the skeleton that keeps it all together, character is the person, themselves, but plot is like the blood: it seeps into every cell bringing the vital nutrients and oxygen without which the body dies.

The house:  In this scheme, plot is often said to be the frame…FAIL!

Setting is the frame, the house itself and everything in it.  Characters are the people (and sometimes animals) within the house that move around and interact.  Plot is the air.  It fills the house in “every nook and cranny” and it is the medium through which all action occurs.  Without air, all die. 

Air also has two more virtues  First, it makes dialogue possible (there is no sound in the vacuum of space) so everything the characters say must pass through the air of the plot to be heard.  Second, like the air, the plot should be invisible.

Look for posts:  I’ll be saying a lot about plot in the coming weeks along with some about character and some about setting.  For now, though, I just want to impress these three elements firmly in your mind, because it is virtually impossible to tell a story without these three.

If you don’t understand the importance of all three (and three is the charm which is another future post), you will be missing out on story potential; and I don’t specifically mean just your particular story.  I am speaking of stories in general and the best use of all three elements to full advantage.

 On the other hand, if you do understand the importance of setting, how to build real characters, and above all, what plot is and how it works, I believe you may never suffer from writer’s block again.  A promise?  No, but near enough.  If, however, you don’t know how to get there from here, read on…