Light will prevail in the collaborative story #BetterStories

We have arrived at the end of the Mastodon-exclusive #storytelling course. Today it's day 28. During the whole month of February you have seen tips on plot, structure, character definition and many more.

NOW LET'S WRITE

Let's aim for 2-3 pages, untangling the web we just created poll after poll.

Who is the first to give it a go? Enter this page and look for the "WRITE HERE" cues, and... write there!

https://notepadr.com/p/BetterStories_by_Mastodon_users

In our collaborative story in #BetterStories we have the type of plot, the time when the story takes place, the size of the community affected, the geographical setup, how we want the hero-ine to grow, which light and dark secondaries we want in.

Now, day 27, let's look at the ending.

Across the action, our protagonist will:

- Confront the dark forces, growing in the process, evolving in their weaknesses

- Get help from the light forces, learning from their mistakes

- Save the day
(cont.)

This is day 26 of #BetterStories and we have just decided how the protagonist of our collaborative story is like.

Now, let's look into the light secondaries. See Day 12 for the theory about light secondaries.

https://mastodon.online/@rafa_font/113989855381452868

We'll take the two top results. Vote here!

So according to (my interpretation of) the results, we don't care about strength nor lack of it, but the hero-ine is very disorganised. They are aware of the others' feelings but they fail to label their own.

We're writing a collaborative story in #BetterStories

This means that, throughout this Quest, the hero-ine will find a way to know better how they feel and also a way to get their life in order. While going on a trip that will solve some issue that the mountain village where they live has

Can they identify what they're felling? Say "I'm happy" when they are, or "I'm sad"?

Finally, what is their stance towards the others? Can they understand what the others are going through?

Remember, their weaknesses are what will drive the story

See you tomorrow!
#BetterStories

So, how's (physically and mentally) our hero-ine?

And, what about their mindset? Do they have their ideas in order?

The story will make the hero-ine grow their weaknesses. #BetterStories

How should the main character be? Day 25 of #BetterStories, we're writing a story all together.

Let's apply the toots from Day11 and Day12.

https://mastodon.online/@rafa_font/113984116952844149

https://mastodon.online/@rafa_font/113989855381452868

Let's vote on the hero-ine characteristics, one by one. The point is to find 2 aspects in which the protagonist is in need of growth.

If we were to grow the protagonist only in 1 axis, it would be too simple. If we were to grow them in all 4, it would take 3 volumes to do so.

So this is how our collaborative story starts

====
It's around 23:00. We must be crossing the German border now. I'm on the European Sleeper night train service from Brussels to Berlin, going there to spend a long weekend with some friends.

Keep on reading here:
https://notepadr.com/p/BetterStories_by_Mastodon_users
====

Let's keep on defining our story. #BetterStories

Our collaborative story is going to be a quest! (in a small village in the mountains in a dystopian 2225).

Day 24 #BetterStories- We now decide to whom we tell our story

This is advice from Tom Vaughan, Story and Plot https://storyandplot.com/

"You are not trying to please everyone. You are writing to one single individual, and your relationship is with them"

To whom are we writing?
Suggestions:

We need two votes to decide this as there's a limit of 4 options per poll.

This is day 23 of #BetterStories and we're deciding together the plot of the story we're going to write.

You can vote as many options as you like in both polls

The votes are in! The collaborative story will take place in the year 2225, in a small village in the countryside or in the mountains. Now let's keep on adding details. #BetterStories

Hi friends! You have interacted with #BetterStories across the 3 weeks we have been running it. Would you like to participate in the collaborative writing of the story? See the thread!

@alvizlo
@isblagi
@peterbrown
@SylviaFysica
@JProl
@ellibrero33
@triptych
@dahie
@aserramonner
@Rui_Sequeira
@blogwerk
@YouSweet42
@debby
@nemobis
@osfa_2030
@troublewithwords
@Binder
@candy_mountain
@oa
@ocana
@antondelatorre
@WanderFool
@indegsal
@kudashevs
@loowiz
@islomar

Looking forward to your input!

Use this tip today:

When telling your story, instead of building up a skeleton of the story based on the blocks, spend more time defining the main character and the surroundings.

Once you have done that, let the character roam around and see what happens.

Stephen King compares writing with excavating a fossil: as you progress, you don't really know what you're going to find.

Tomorrow we'll see more plot structures on #BetterStories

What about one of non-Western inspiration?