Pat Carr’s Steps for Writing

1. Start with an incident, something that clangs in your head.
   
   1. Conflict
      
   2. An action, an experience that you have been to.
      
2. Develop a setting.
   
   1. Emphasis- Fight with brother is reflective in a raging storm outside.
      
   2. Contrast- Titanic is beautiful and is opposite of the death that it caused.
      
3. Choose your characters
   
   1. Limit yourself to five for a short story
      
   2. Limit yourself to fifteen for novels
      
   3. When you name your characters, choose a different letter of the alphabet.
      
4. Choose your protagonist.
   
   1. He must be a sympathetic character.
      
      1. The character thinks of other people
         
      2. He can love (his dog, his wife, anything reciprocal)
         
      3. He is vulnerable
         
      4. He is in jeopardy
         
      5. He's doomed and still noble
         
5. Give your characters Motive
   
   1. Why did someone do what he did?
      
   2. Remember: you don't have to motivate kindness, but you have to motivate cruelty.
      
6. Choose the person, either first or third.
   
7. Know where your story will end. Decide whether you will just quit, or tie up your loose endings. Always end with either: Action, Dialogue, or Image.