You may be writing a Guide Entry, as most of us here are wont to do from time to time. Or you might be writing to a friend about something that happened that they don't know about. Or you might be writing fiction – as many here do – and need to tell a true story for background. Any way you slice it, you'll liable to end up trying to tell a factual story. And it starts to give you a headache. Why? Because factual stories, unlike made-up ones, are messy.

Reality doesn't tie up neatly. It doesn't follow the rules of fiction plotting. If there's a gun on the mantelpiece, it doesn't always go off, because Reality hasn't heard of the rule of Chekhov's gun. Justice is not always poetic. There's not a reason for everything, at least not in the sense fiction writers understand reasons. Not only do hope and history seldom rhyme, they often don't even make grammatical sense. What to do?

Don't panic. There are ways to get through this. Let's make up a flow chart.

1. Assemble the facts. Make sure you've got them right. There was a bank robbery. First, where was the bank? Springfield? Springfield, Illinois, or Springfield, Massachusetts? Get the details right. You may not need all of them, but get them right first.
2. Get the timeline right. Who did what, with what, to whom, where, when? What was the outcome? As much as these things are known, check and double-check your chronology.
3. Source your information. Think like a journalist: use three sources, if possible. Make them reliable sources. I don't care if you prefer to read the Mirror because you like its editorial stance: that is not a good source for facts. Snopes.com is, no matter what you think of their perceived bias or what you've heard about the Mikkelsons' messy divorce. Find people who have a reputation for getting dates and names right. Then, double-check on them. I just read a book by a retired New York Times writer. He got an issue date wrong on a reference. It took me half an hour to find the article I was looking for. So double- and triple-check.
4. Now comes the fun part. Figure out what you need to tell.
   

   I said 'need'. Not 'want to'.

   
   
   Nobody's going to read or listen to an information dump. Sort things out.
5. Ask yourself, 'What is the point?' In other words, what do you want the listener/reader to take away from the narrative? Write it down for yourself in one sentence. Then take out all the parts of the narrative you don't need to make that point. Example: You want to use an example that's about a famous person that leads up to a quip they made. You'll need all the info necessary to set up the quip so that it's effective: what the situation was, what prompted the saying, what makes it particularly memorable, etc.
   
   You know what you don't need? The information that you met that person once. Unless, of course, that was when the quip took place.
6. Now you're ready: figure out the least amount of this information you need to tell the story….without telling any lies. Don't pile on unnecessary facts, but don't falsify the narrative by leaving out important ones.
7. Now you've got your story. Don't worry, it gets easier with practice.

Want some practice?

Watch this scene from Jaws. Make a list of the facts you learn in the middle of this fictional tale. Then ask yourself, what is the take-home point the filmmaker wants us to remember? How do the facts as related accomplish this purpose? How does it help build the drama?

Now watch this news story and interview with a survivor of the Indianapolis sinking. Compare the way the fictional film's script handled the story to the facts as presented by someone who was there. Ask yourself, what is the take-home point for this version? What do you learn from it? What facts from this true story were used in the Jaws scene? Which weren't relevant to the action?

Now, go and find a story you're interested in. Doesn't matter what it is: it could be dramatic, mildly amusing, shocking, or banal. Practice telling the story using the flowchart above. Then, give it a brief fictional setting, such as the beginning of a fireside tale. If you care to, write it down for us. Post it below, or send your finished tale to the Post. I think you'll find this a worthwhile exercise.

Writing Right with Dmitri Archive

Dmitri Gheorgheni

08.10.18 Front Page

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