How to Write

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Journalists are taught to think in terms of who, what, where, when, and how when they are writing a coverage of events. This is to ensure that they have given their readers all the facts. The who, what, where, when, and how format can be useful when writing short stories too, but it also makes an interesting writing game or writing exercise at a creative writing group.

INSTRUCTIONS:

Pass a sheet of paper around the group members.

First person – write a who / the main character’s name.

Second person – write a what / an interesting object which should appear in the story…..treasure chest, murder weapon, antique, teddy bear, car, false teeth. Be imaginative.

Third person – write where / the place the story is to take place…..someone’s house, a town, country, mythical place or planet.

Fourth person – write when the story takes place / the time of day, event, season of the year, year or century, past, present or future.

The how is up to YOU. This should tie the whole story together.

EXERCISE:

Using the who, what, where, when, list, and your own how, make a few brief notes of your proposed storyline. A short paragraph will do.

EXAMPLE:

Shirley Matthews. A stuffed deer head. The top of the Empire State Building. 31st December, 1999. How?

Shirley has been chatting over the Internet with Greg from Wisconsin. Their favourite film is Sleepless in Seattle. They’re both romantics and Greg wants to meet her for the first time, on top of the Empire State Building, for a romantic beginning to the new century. Shirley wants to bring him a gift she knows he will appreciate. He has always talked fondly of his Grandad’s hunting lodge in Maine and of how he loved the deer in the woods there. She spots a stuffed deer head at a garage sale and buys it thinking that this will impress him. Will it, or will Greg turn out to be anti-blood sports and the sort of guy who only loves to see deer running about wild and free?

Image via Wikipedia

Journalists are taught to think in terms of who, what, where, when, and how when they are writing a coverage of events. This is to ensure that they have given their readers all the facts. The who, what, where, when, and how format can be useful when writing short stories too, but it also makes an interesting writing game or writing exercise at a creative writing group.

INSTRUCTIONS:

Pass a sheet of paper around the group members.

First person – write a who / the main character’s name.

Second person – write a what / an interesting object which should appear in the story…..treasure chest, murder weapon, antique, teddy bear, car, false teeth. Be imaginative.

Third person – write where / the place the story is to take place…..someone’s house, a town, country, mythical place or planet.

Fourth person – write when the story takes place / the time of day, event, season of the year, year or century, past, present or future.

The how is up to YOU. This should tie the whole story together.

EXERCISE:

Using the who, what, where, when, list, and your own how, make a few brief notes of your proposed storyline. A short paragraph will do.

EXAMPLE:

Shirley Matthews. A stuffed deer head. The top of the Empire State Building. 31st December, 1999. How?

Shirley has been chatting over the Internet with Greg from Wisconsin. Their favourite film is Sleepless in Seattle. They’re both romantics and Greg wants to meet her for the first time, on top of the Empire State Building, for a romantic beginning to the new century. Shirley wants to bring him a gift she knows he will appreciate. He has always talked fondly of his Grandad’s hunting lodge in Maine and of how he loved the deer in the woods there. She spots a stuffed deer head at a garage sale and buys it thinking that this will impress him. Will it, or will Greg turn out to be anti-blood sports and the sort of guy who only loves to see deer running about wild and free?