In her talk today, Hanna explained the basics of writing a good story or article. In this post, I will briefly recount the key ideas that she went over today.

1. The ‘meat of the story. The interesting stuff, such as the plot and characters.
2. The ‘skeleton’ of the story. The structure of the story, how it is written, language and word choice.
3. The ‘bolt of lightning’ of the story. The details and dialogue; the small things that make your story stand out.
4. Description: How can you describe the setting and characters in order to create vivid images in your reader’s mind?
5. Emotion: It is important to decide how you want your readers to feel when reading your piece. Emotions can be complex, but they are the difference between a good book and a great book. In addition, it is important to ‘show, not tell’ when dealing with the emotions of characters.