Your story must have a structure. It must begin with an enciting incident. It must include a conflict(problem) for your main character. It must end with your character either resolving this problem or failing.
Beginning, middle, and end.
Yes, you can write a story that just follows the life of a character doing normal things without challenge or excitement but you probably won't feel satisfied at the end because there'll be no conclusion, you can do better I'm sure.
So! How to begin? Think about the PUBLISHED(not on Wattpad) books you've read, how did they begin? They began with a decision, they began with the main character doing something or having something happen to them that will mean their story is worth telling(NOT WAKING UP FOR SCHOOL OR A FLASHBACK OF SOMETHING INCONSEQUENTIAL). Perhaps you have a rich, reckless woman who decides to take a short cut down a backroad, crashes her expensive car and is then a ghost. Okay, that's your beginning, that's how it all started for her. That's the foundations built.
-- Don't tell us backstory. No one but the writer is interested in her University qualifications, how her mother was verbally abusive or how she dated a guy called Tim who was a jerk. IF IT'S NOT IMMEDIATELY RELEVANT DO NOT INCLUDE IT --
So now for the middle, the bulk of your story. Don't potter around, get right in there. Maybe your ghostly character realises she can come back to life if she possesses the body of a close relative, but that beloved relative woud resultantly die. Houston, we have a conflict.
The rest of your story will have sub-plots surrounding this main issue. All sub-plots MUST be resolved by the end of your story.
The resolve, the conclusion, the finale, the end; this is where your main character makes their final choice. It's up to you whether they succeed in beating this problem or whether they fail or simply give up, it's your story, but your MC MUST do something.
So our ghosty girl decides that she can't hurt her relative, she decides to let herself fade away in eternity, sacrificing herself for love. And voila, you have not only concluded satisfactorily, but you've shown CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT which is needed too. Our ghost girl has gone from impatient, selfish and spoilt to selfless, loving and enlightened.
Put your character in painful places, make them struggle, cause problems for them, then resolve either positively or negatively.
YOU ARE READING
For The Forgetful- The Complete Writer's Guide
Non-FictionIf you're struggling with punctuation, dialogue, spelling or grammar, have a read of this simple guide to the components of writing, copyright, and publishing. [UNEDITED VERSION- Full, edited version to be released soon!]
