In the end, you have written a story.
But first, start with this.
A podcast featuring Night Vale creators Joseph Fink and me, Jeffrey Cranor.
Each episode we discuss a topic and then give you two assignments.
Something to consume and something to create.
Start with this.
Narrative structure.
Art is hard.
Starting is hard.
If you want to start somewhere, you can start with this.
You can start with this.
As writers, we're not trained to think visually.
We use words to convey ideas and stories and leave colors and architecture to painters and sculptors.
But there's one element of writing that is always a visual endeavor.
For me, it's narrative structure.
You, of course, remember from 8th grade English, the pyramid, showing you the direction of classic literature.
It starts low with the inciting incident, then rises with action, and then at the apex, the climax, then falling action, and finally that denouement, which I'm still slightly uncertain of its meaning, but it makes total sense in the context of that diagram.
Often the teacher or textbook draws this as an equilateral triangle with the climax firmly in the top middle.
But that's not where the climax usually falls.
I mean, if you reach the climax at page 150 of a 300 page book, then you're probably in for a meandering landing.