Elements of Fiction Writing

A rule of thumb: Choose the simplest, clearest, least noticeable technique that will still accomplish what the story requires.

JEOPARDY
Jeopardy is anticipated pain or loss.

They’re around you all the time. You can’t get through a day without running into hundreds, even thousands of ideas for characters or stories.

Remember that of all these different ways of getting to know people — and therefore getting to know characters — the most powerful of them, the ones that make the strongest impression, are the first three: what the character does in the story, what his motives are, and what he has done in the past.

Motive is what gives moral value to a character’s acts.

The four factors are milieu, idea, character, and event