Robert McKee's Story

How to write a good story?

Writing’s an art form based on principles, not rules. Don’t generate an unstructured whirlpool of sentences. Using key concepts and artistic flare create something worthy of exhibition.

Is there a recipe for success?

Studying the current market, it’s difficult to isolate and associate common denominators with sensational triumphs or epic failures.

Use archetypical concepts. Stereotypes are oversimplified; they’re abortive when creating the authentic, in-depth characters required to engage an audience. Pride and Prejudice, for instance, could’ve easily fallen victim to stereotypical roles, it was differentiated through the strong-will of Elizabeth and the dynamics of her relationship with Mr Darcy.

‘Word Economy’-redundant words are clutter often detracting from the point. Its essential stories don’t lose their impetuous. Thorough editing, considering angles, prioritising points will eventually produce work ready to print.

Always think of your audience.  What journey will you take them on? What emotions will it evoke? What conclusions will they draw?

Your greatest asset is you! You’re unique! Be original! Write with your own voice! Write from your own perspective, your thoughts are individualistic.

Use Narrative Structures as a blue print, combined with your own imaginative content and you can write a credible story. 

Home And Away.

While travelling, there are a few things you become accustomed to; eating unusual food, miscommunication between languages and getting lost (a lot). This summer I found myself 5,519 miles from home, alone and in a country where the native language wasn’t English. I embraced the experience whole-heartedly; eating local food and living with a Korean family. More than a holiday this was my strike out for independence.

I was so busy soaking up the atmosphere of the streets of Seoul – I’d hardly thought about home, but a call brought it vividly back and I realised I’d forgotten my parents anniversary – a monumental crime for an only child.

My apology led me on a pilgrimage to the South Mountain ‘NamSan’ . At the top of the 262 metre peak sits the N Seoul Tower. The legend goes; if lovers make a wish at the Namsan Shrine it comes true. Since then the Tower has become an icon where lovers lock a padlock to ensure everlasting love. Today, the base is covered in locks in different sizes and colours. After climbing a multitude of steps, I finally bought my padlock. E-mailing the photo home with the message “Better than a card!”.

Publishing: The Possibilities

Researching the wide world of publishing, I dreamt of what my future may hold.

There travel writers all over the world, using a variety of different publishing outlets including; blogs, books, magazines and travel guides.

Last week, I said that blogs were the most accessible avenue to publish your work, but with numerous blogs online by thousands of amateur writers, your blog may never develop a following strong enough to lead to publishing opportunities. I researched websites, which have already built a dedicated readership and publish amateur work, gaining you more kudos.

‘The Glimpse Correspondents Programme’ (http://glimpse.org) is designed for writers and photographers living outside their own country; it allows them to explore and create thought-provoking and informing stories. My favourite travel writer, Rolf Potts, published his first story of monetary value on the web. He sold a story to news-site Salon.com (http://www.salon.com/) selling a further five stories before negotiating a regular column. Potts claims this was the ‘turning point in his career’; his writing was finally noticed and began to receive critical acclaim. After this success, other opportunities began to develop and a struggling writer became a success story.

Potts now works freelance for one of the most popular travel magazines on the planet – The National Geographic Traveller – a publication I aspire to write for. The National Geographic doesn’t offer an internship programme or accept submissions; they only employ those with expansive knowledge and experience.

The Guardian Newspaper holds an annual travel writing competition for its readers and this could be a good place to start. (http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2011/sep/23/readers-travel-writing-competition-2011)

In the beginning, Potts had a number of failed attempts to sell his work, yet he continued to hone his craft and eventually realised his ambitions. In the knock-back world of ‘media writing’ you need a strong will and determination to succeed. 

Beginning my Blog.

When I was asked to start a Blog for my ‘Writing in the Media’ course, I didn’t know what I should write about? What can little old me possibly bring to the already overcrowded world of blogging?

According to BlogPulse, an automated trend discovery system for blogs, there are over 100 million active bloggers online; in just the last 24 hours 25,545 blogs have been created.  

After trawling through the diverse world of blogs; I concluded that what makes a blog unique is the person behind it. Bloggers range from students to OAPs, from people living in the big smoke to country bumpkins; the list is end-less.

How do I match up to the ‘average blogger’? According to the Blogosphere 2009 report: two thirds of bloggers are male, 40% have graduate degrees and over half are married. As I’m a single, female, student – my potential to be relatively unique remains intact.

Bill Gates once coined the phrase “Content is King” so bearing this in mind: what do people blog about? After surfing the Internet, I discovered, unsurprisingly, that the content is as diverse as the writers. Some blogs are based around specific topics, whilst others are written as a personal journal; either way, blogs share experience, opinions and advice.

Blogs maintain different levels of popularity, this made me question if there is an ‘art’ to blogging?  Darren Rowse (http://www.problogger.net/)fashioned a website to help even the most boring personality or the most techno-phobic, build a blog. He even a published a book “31 Days to build a better blog”

Blogging is the most accessible publishing forum in the world. I could reel off more facts about blogging, but I have more opinions to read, more information to discover and a lot more blogging to do.