Prepare a short primer for your fiction narrative. Describe the protagonist and locality. Determine the fundamental conflict. This summary should be two pages long, double-spaced. Please include section headings of character, setting, and conflict, and write each section in paragraph format (in other words, don’t simply create a list). These details might not make it into the final narrative, but it is your means, as an author, of getting to know the main components of the story. Your are developing the “iceberg”, as it were.
The Character: spending time imagining and describing the main character. Although there may be more than one important individual in the story, focus on the person who is most impacted by the narrative tension. Below are points you could consider in your description:
- What is the character’s name? Age? Occupation and place of work?
- What are the character’s key possessions? What is on (or in) her desk, kitchen table, wallet, fridge,et cetera. Why are these objects important? What do they say about her identity?
- What does the character eat for breakfast, et cetera? Where does he go grocery shopping?
- How does the character speak? Is he soft-spoken? Mumble? Does he have an accent?
- What are the mannerisms of your character? Does she gesture while talking? How doer she display emotion?
- Describe where the character comes from. Was she born and raised in the Bronx? In rural Minnesota? In Shanghai? Describe the character’s family and the relationship between this character and her parents and, if applicable, siblings. How do these relationships impact the character today? What was her experience in school like? What was her connection with matters of spirituality growing up?
- Did something tragic happen in this character’s life? How did the character overcome this event? Describe a personal triumph that has occurred during his lifetime. How did this triumph occur?
The setting: Spending time imaging and describing the primary location where this story occurs. Below are points that you could consider in your description:
- What is the name of locality? What is the character’s relationship to this place?
- What are the main features of this location? Which features make this space unique? (If the story primarily takes place within the kitchen of an apartment unit, what features make this kitchen different from the one next door? Is it the way the plastic ware is neatly stacked inside the cabinet?)
- What are the general weather patterns? What is the time of year?
The Conflict: Spending time imaging the main tension in this story. Below are points that you could consider in your description:
- What instigates the narrative tension?
- How does this event (or series of events) culminate?
- What is the ultimate resolution? How does the character change as a result?