What Makes a Story?

What makes a story? Many people have asked this question before. But, the truth is there is no set answer.

The “making” of a story varies for every person. What one person feels “makes” a story might not be the same for someone else. For example, some people feel a relatable and genuine character makes a story whereas some people feel a powerful plot makes a story.

In my opinion what really makes the story isn’t something specific, it’s the book in general. My favorite book is The Fault in our Stars by John Green. This book is my favorite because it is a book about cancer yet it takes a comedic form. Despite the fact that the book is about something as sad as cancer, it still never fails to make me laugh with its sarcastic and witty humor.

I also like that in the book John Green has the ability to create quotes. I love when I read a part of a book and I can find a quote that I really like. Some of my favorite quotes from the book are, “That’s part of what I like about the book in some ways. It portrays death truthfully. You die in the middle of your life, in the middle of a sentence” and “As he read, I fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly, and then all at once.” The way an author writes a novel obviously has a lot to do with the making of it. If a novel has a great plot but it’s written awfully then, it’s a wasted plot, in my opinion.

In books I feel having a strong character makes the book that much better. When the character is relatable or has a strong personality it’s much more interesting to read. In the book, Hazel was a teenage girl with a terminal cancer but you would forget that when reading because she is so sarcastic and sassy! The fact that she is not the cliche "cancer kid" makes her interesting.

Overall to me, what “makes” a story isn’t something specific. It’s the combination of everything; the plot, the characters, how well it’s written, everything has some part in the “making” of a book. When someone likes a book they like everything about it and sometimes there is nothing specific. But a “good” book fluctuates from person to person. Finding your favorite book is something special. No matter how many times you read it, you always discover something new! And re reading it, never gets old.

Book Review: Into the Beautiful North

The novel Into the Beautiful North by Luis Alberto Urrea is a modern day quest story. Urrea takes a serious topic, the Mexican border crossing and he makes it a comedic and light read. He creates characters that everyone can relate to, a nerd, a Goth, a gay man and many more! With his mixture of Spanish and English he leaves you feeling like you know the characters personally. The novel has a variety of situations that make the book complex and interesting. There are heart-wrenching moments where you feel empathetically for characters such as when the gay man Tacho gets sexually abused and contrastingly where you feel happy for characters like when the heroine Nayeli saves everyone from the rapist. Overall the novel provides insight to the troubles regarding the Mexican border crossing while still making the book interesting, moving and informative.

Image Inspired Short Story

B&W

He rushed to work when something grabbed his attention. He stared. This simple thing captivated him.

Black and white. Vague. Simple.

This is our world, one big black and white wall. We are the stripes. Each and every one of us are the same. Same distance apart same color same size same everything. Everything in our society, our world is one big standard set.

Although we preach diversity and embracing what makes us unique, we are all still the same.

We loathe one who expresses himself. We disown and judge and look down upon him until he is no longer a black strip in our colorless world.

But we are not to blame. We were brought up to be the way we are. Boys act one way  girls act another. Dad goes to work while mom stays home. But we have the ability to change this. We have the ability to create ourselves to be any geometric shape we desire to be. We have the ability to not be just one long strip in the black and white society that is our world. 

 

Reaction

     Recently I read an article titled Why Writers are the Worst Procrastinators by Megan McArdle. While reading this I found myself relating to many points being brought up. Especially the point about being a good student but when it came to doing something out of your comfort zone we froze up. Partly because as writers we are afraid of being judged and not being good at something.
     I also liked how she talked about our education system being wrong due to their trying to teach everyone the same and not conforming to each individual students unique needs.
     Another point was how we as aspiring writers never get to see the "rough drafts" of novel. We are only exposed to the final perfect copy so we began to think that writers write great on the first time. It would be interesting for the final copies of a bestselling book to be exposed to the public just so we can see the stages of drafts a work goes through before publication.
     Overall I think this article opens peoples mind to the vulnerability of writers especially when publishing something new.  This would be a great and informative article for everyone to read

500 Word Story

He fixed his tie fitted to his neck. Chris smiled a faint smile. Tears in his eyes. All of their memories flashed before him. The love of his life, Rachel soon to be in a white dress. He wondered if she was nervous. Well she has to be he thought it’s her wedding day.

Rachel slipped into her wedding gown. Tears filled in her crystal eyes.  She thought of her fiancée, future husband. She was happy, genuinely happy.  She couldn’t wait to be his wife.

The church started to fill up and Chris made his way in. He was anxious.

It was time. The bride was on her way to the rest of her life. But there was a delay. A shock of confusion came to everyone’s face. Where was Rachel?

Rachel stood crying. She didn’t even know why. Everything was overwhelming. So many thoughts were circling through her mind. She was questioning her own decisions. Was she even marrying the right guy? Finally she pulled herself together and made her way down to the doors.

She smiled a fake smile and looked around as she walked down the aisle of her family’s church. Suddenly she locked eyes with Chris. So much emotion in each of their eyes. It was inevitable.

Rachel made her way up to the Pastor. She looked sick. She was forcing the look of happiness and failing miserably.

Chris felt ill. A sudden rush of fire came from the tips of his toes to the fine ends of his dark hair. Rachel the love of his life, his best friend, his one true love was marrying someone else. He couldn’t handle it. To hear her say ‘ I do’ and to be so in love with her was unbearable. He didn’t want to believe that she felt this way about someone else.

He felt like his world was crashing down upon him. This whole time it didn’t feel real to him. He always thought that he could get Rachel back after the terrible mistake he made. But he didn’t. Suddenly right there in that church, everything became clear. He was never going to get Rachel back. Rachel was getting MARRIED! She didn’t want to be with him and at that moment he finally came to that realization.

            He stood up reluctantly. All eyes turned back to him. Chris just turned and walked out of the church. That took everything he had but he did it. He just wished that he could talk to Rachel and tell her his true feelings. Maybe then she would listen.

            He stood outside on the church steps. Hoping by any slight chance that she would come after him. But of coarse she didn’t.

            Inside Rachel was in utter shock. When she saw Chris she felt something. She wasn’t sure if it was sympathy or pity. Chris had cheated her 4 years prior and she couldn’t forgive him for that. He never got over her though. He seemed to have gone crazy. The whole town knew it. He got kicked out of his apartment and he turned to alcohol and drugs for all of his problems. Rachel felt bad but he did it to himself.

           

A Book Review

     Face Relations is a collection of 11 fictional short stories which deal with racism and prejudice. There is a wide variety of situations in the book that several people can relate to. Whether it's being fat, a liar etc.
     One story in particular is "Phat Acceptance" by Jess Mowry. This story is set in a classroom on the first day of school. The point of view is in a white boy named Brandon. He writes in a journal describing everyone he sees solely based on their physical appearance. He is racist as well because he sees an overweight black boy an he judges him. But when Brandon actually gets to know the boy they become friends. I like this story because it shows how your first impression of someone could be completely different from who they really are. This is a very rateable story for many people especially in out judgmental society today.
     Another story that really stuck out to me was "Skins" by Joseph Bruchac. this story was very unique because it didn't deal with the stereotypical black and white racism. It dealt with a Native American boy and a white boy. In this story there is a huge shocker at the end that makes it worth reading.
     In general this book is an eye opener to the  racism in which we all encounter daily.This is a quick read for anyone interested but especially teenagers like myself.

Micro Fiction

 Skeletons in the Closet

She crawled into bed with a devilish smile spread across her face. She hugged the man lying next to her. Something felt wrong. She moved her small hands to his head to feel straight smooth hair, the wrong hair. She jumped sporadically out of the bed.  Suddenly noticing his blood covered hands.

“I thought you left,” She whimpered.

“I did too” the man replied with a smirk.