the official 100 writers story workbook

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This is a handy fiction writing workbook for developing your own stories. It takes you through a simple guided process where you use your imagination in fun and clever ways. Sit with this at a coffee shop, or on a train, or at the beach, and experience the unfolding of your creative vision. Suitable for both beginners as well as experienced story writers, in any format or medium.This free download is part of Don Bosco's 100 WRITERS project with Super Cool Books, a publishing studio in Singapore.Thanks to community partner StoryCode Singapore.

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Page 1: The Official 100 WRITERS Story Workbook
Page 2: The Official 100 WRITERS Story Workbook

EASTERN ZOMBIE SOCIETY

by Don Bosco

A thriller series for teens

Sandy Lu is a high school student with a big secret: she was brought up to serve the Eastern Zombie Society.

Her first mission is to stop the Shang Corporation from building their zombie colony in Southeast Asia. But Jeff Lau, the charismatic young heir to the Shang empire,

proves to be a dangerous opponent. Can she survive his cruel game?

Coming soon from

BAT AND SPIDER

a horror / thriller / mystery imprint of Super Cool Books

December 2015

www.SuperCoolBooks.com

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THE OFFICIAL

100 WRITERS

STORY WORKBOOK

DON BOSCO

S U P E R C O O L B O O K S

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NOTE: This is a work in progress. We hope you find the information here useful, relevant and encouraging. Do send us your feedback, ideas, requests, personal writing anecdotes, etc, so that we can improve this further. Visit the Super Cool Books website for updates on the 100 WRITERS project.

THE OFFICIAL 100 WRITERS STORY WORKBOOKby Don Bosco

Copyright Don Bosco 2015 www.SuperCoolBooks.com [email protected]

Not for sale. Made in Singapore.

Community partner: StoryCode Singaporemeetup.com/StoryCode-Singapore

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CONTENTS

The process 4

Entertain us 6

Two dogs, one bone 8

Imagine 15

Tic-tac-toe 19

Sit and play 24

More stuff 27

About 30

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1.

THE PROCESS

There are many ways to come up with a new story. This workbook will take you through the process we’ve been using here at Super Cool Books. Most of the work should be done inside your head.

Step 1: Use your imagination in fun and clever ways

Step 2: Arrange your ideas to create the story experience

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That’s it. It's fun and easy and safe. Fancy stationery, special iPad software, hipster coffee shops: nice, but not essential.

Welcome to the 100 WRITERS project.

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2.

ENTERTAIN US

You need to know why you’re writing your story.

At Super Cool Books, we have one very simple goal: to entertain our readers.

Every story should be fun to read, show some inventiveness, and provide a satisfying emotional experience.

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You might have different reasons for writing for your story. That’s cool.

Feel free to change the ideas here so that they work for you.

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3.

TWO DOGS, ONE BONE

You’ll find a lot of people explaining a good plot like this:

Two dogs fighting over one bone.

This formula does so many things at once. First, you set up a contest, which creates a sense of conflict and urgency. Second, there’s suspense: which dog will win? And third, our emotions are aroused: which dog will we want to cheer for?

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Before anything else, figure this out for your story. Who are the two dogs? What is the bone?

Start a new document for your notes. Create three columns, so you can fill in your ideas.

Column 1: HERO (H)Your main character. Someone we find likeable, who still tries to do the right thing where possible.

Column 2: VILLAIN (V)Not necessarily an evil person. Just anyone with the ability to destroy your main character’s happiness or safety or hope.

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If your Hero is a schoolboy who wants to take the day off to participate in a big skateboarding competition, and his mother is determined to make him attend piano classes instead, then for your story she’s a perfect Villain.

You can go for a David vs Goliath effect, where the the Villain is more powerful or competent than the Hero. And give your Villain a good reason to be selfish or unkind. This will make him or her more interesting.

Column 3: PRIZE (P)This is what they’re fighting about. It should have emotional, physical and symbolic value.

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Establish at the start of the story why the Villain really wants the Prize, and show how it’ll be at the Hero’s expense.

Here are some examples, for different genres.

EXAMPLE 1: Thriller

H — Joan Yang, undercover spy in the middle of an anti-terrorist mission

V — Zissy K, leader of a hacker group, looking for ways to get rich fast

P — a black briefcase containing information about all the young spies currently undercover

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Story idea — Joan (H) wants to complete her undercover mission so she can get promoted, but a notorious hacker (V) steals the briefcase and is about to expose her identity. She must get it back (P) before it’s too late.

EXAMPLE 2: Horror

H — Matt, high school student and volunteer at animal clinic

V — Draghul, an ambitious demon sent to Matt's city to recruit children for his master's army

P — Winky, Matt's five year old sister who loves to collect pink watches

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Story idea — Matt (H) has to look after his sister but a demon (V) offers her a beautiful pink watch and tricks her into surrendering her freedom. Now Matt must fight the forces of hell in order to save his sister (P).

EXAMPLE 3: Romance

H — Yanne, a singer in an indie band who gets selected to tour Asia as part of a popular girl group

V — Jay, the guitarist in Yanne's band and also her boyfriend, they made plans to record a new album together that school break

P — Yanne’s freedom to choose her own path

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Story idea — Yanne (H) gets a chance to be a pop star but her boyfriend Jay (V) feels that she has betrayed him. How far will she go to fight for her freedom (P)?

Come up with lots and lots and lots of story ideas. You don’t have to develop all of them. Just have fun. Over time one or two of them might feel especially promising. Those are the ones worth working on.

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4.

IMAGINE

So now you have three columns, labelled HERO, VILLAIN and PRIZE. And you’ve combined these elements into a rough story idea.

The next step is to sit back and just imagine. Let your thoughts and impressions flow. Come up with ideas to fill up each of the columns.

If you’re writing a short story, perhaps you only need five ideas in

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each column to get you going. If you’re writing a huge epic, you might need twenty or more ideas, or else you’ll lose momentum along the way.

For your HERO and VILLAIN, or any other important characters, think about each of the following.

nameageappearancefamilyfriendsbedroomlikes dislikestalentschildhoodplans for futurefears— etc

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Feel free to edit this list. You might want to focus on a few of these points more than the others. That’s fine.

All this information will help you know the characters more intimately. At some point it should feel as if you’re writing about people you’ve actually met. Otherwise your story will feel forced and shallow.

Similarly, use your imagination to develop the PRIZE. Focus on the following.

descriptionvalue to HEROvalue to VILLAINvalue to HERO’s communityvalue to VILLAIN’s community

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contestsresolutions— etc

Important: Do not skip this step. Take your time and have fun. Whatever you visualise, try to relax and see all the details clearly. And then record what you see.

Also, look for relevant photos or do some research if you need to.

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5.

TIC-TAC-TOE

"A story should have a beginning, a middle and an end, but not necessarily in that order." Jean-Luc Godard

Very often you can create a more interesting story experience if you played around with how the story events are presented.

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But whatever you do, the beginning, middle and end of your story should be lined up in a way that’s entertaining as well as satisfying.

It’s like playing tic-tac-toe: you work to get your three crosses in a row, and then you draw a straight line through them, so that your opponent can recognise the pattern and appreciate your cleverness.

Here’s one way I set up my stories:

BEGINNING — Introduce the Hero, Villain and Prize. Stage their confrontation.

MIDDLE — The contest for the Prize. Things get ugly, feelings are hurt, illusions are destroyed,

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weaknesses are exposed and exploited.

END — Hero makes a creative yet crazy attempt to win. Who gets the Prize? What are the consequences? Don’t be predictable.

Line up these three parts of your story and make sure they look good. Tic-tac-toe.

There are general story patterns that readers enjoy recognising. Here are eight of them. If you want to write a very long or complex story, you can try stacking two or three of these.

1. Human versus monsterOne of the most popular patterns for stories.

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2. One way ticketGoing on a mission but knowing you might not return.

3. Worst day at workCharacter caught in a perfect storm.

4. Save a buddyAnswering a call for help.

5. Who did this?Step by step attempt to solve a mystery.

6. Playing with the big boysComing of age stories.

7. Family falls apartAbout a close group that’s suddenly threatened.

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8. Curse and cureBreaking out of a bad situation.

Important note: do this only after you’ve used your imagination to flesh out your story elements. If you start off too early with a story pattern, your story will quickly get lifeless, formulaic and unconvincing.

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6.

SIT AND PLAY

So you’ve figured out your Two Dog, One Bone.

You have an interesting story idea.

You’ve used your imagination to flesh out the story elements. You have lots of them and they seem intriguing.

You’ve worked on the Tic-tac-toe bit.

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And you have a winning story pattern.

Now give a convincing commentary about the struggle between the Two Dogs and the Bone. Sit with your computer or notebook or voice recorder and just play something. The way someone might play a guitar or piano or saxophone.

Tell your story. Follow any ideas that intrigue or inspire you.

If you get better ideas along the way, make the changes. And keep right on playing.

Have fun. Enjoy the feelings that come up. Take risks. Go on detours. Make changes. Start over. Invite family friends to read what you have.

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Share your work online. Consult a professional editor if you want to.

This should be enough to take you a long way. Have fun, and happy writing.

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7.

MORE STUFF

How do you make your characters more interesting? How do you create a wonderful sense of place and time for your story? How do you actually keep your readers hooked as your story unfolds? Very good questions. I’ve posted a series of free creative writing lessons to help you develop these skills. Visit the Super Cool Books website and search for “Budding Writers Project”. You’ll find four lessons, and each one comes

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with three short exercises so you can quickly learn to apply the tips to your own writing.

If you want to try publishing your own work, and promoting it yourself, you can download a free PDF guide that I created. Search the Super Cool Books website for “Keep Calm and Upload E-Books”. There’s a useful list of self-publishing resources at the end, for everything from ebook publishing platforms to free photos to tools for promoting your stories.

I also collaborated with StoryCode Singapore to create an open source storyhacking kit for developing short, serialised episodes. You can download everything — instructions, worksheets and more — from StoryCode Singapore’s page on

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Medium. Just Google for “Captain Cardboard VS Bruce Boh An ad-hoc storyhacking workshop from comics to cardboards”.

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ABOUT

DON BOSCO writes thrilling stories for children and teens. His Sherlock Hong mystery series was acquired by Marshall Cavendish for international release.

SUPER COOL BOOKS is a publishing studio based in Singapore. It specialises in original story entertainment inspired by Asian legends and pop culture. www.supercoolbooks.com

STORYCODE SINGAPORE is an open-source, global community for cross-platform storytellers. We invite enthusiasts and professionals alike to tell a story in a new way, using the bounty of new tools at our disposal. www.meetup.com/StoryCode-Singapore

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FOLLOW THE ADVENTURE

Published by Marshall Cavendish Children in association with Super Cool Books