The failure of story writing is mostly due to not having enough experience on the subject intellectually and fictionally. If we define life as a set of stories; We realize that it is not difficult at all to transfer our experiences and observations that we have internalized in any part of life on paper -with the help of certain clues and criteria.
Sources:
The clues presented below and the assumptions discussed from different angles can guide the writer candidate who is just starting to write a short story. It should also be noted that professional story writers continue to follow all or some of these presentations.
1. Reading
Writing effort in all branches of literature is directly proportional to reading continuity. The more you read, the more chances you have to write.
The young story writer has to be selective in the act of reading. Starting with the "story genre" is more harmful than beneficial. Because; Every story with a well-established theme, plot, meaning integrity and style often leads the writer candidate to the conclusion that "I can't do this job". However, in reading a "novel", this process works in the opposite direction: The novel, which contains many stories in terms of its structure, leaves a semantic integrity in the reader's memory when it is read and finished. This integrity, which is extracted from the pages of the article, seems easy to the writer candidate as if he would say "I can do this job". If our writer takes a pen in his hand and starts to write the novel he reads again, adding the connotations in his imagination; He will have started his first story trials. While these essays are mostly summaries of the novel, they will help fuel the writer's imagination.
After reading and summarizing the novel, it is possible to switch to the “poetry genre”. Each line knitted with melodic images in the poem stimulates the imagination of the author. The writer candidate, who explains each line of the poem he reads like a story paragraph in 5-6 lines, expands the form he narrowed with the novel with poetry. So now he can control his imagination and intellectual ability. Well, it's time to read the story.
Read stories!.. Read lots of stories from the long to the short, from the right to the left, from the socialist to the individual. Not just stories; read their writers, that is, the storytellers in your readings… Did you immediately think of a topic, “How would Sait Faik have written this?” Build it in your head. If your fiction did not satisfy you, open Sait Faik, read it again…
2. write
You have a nice topic on your mind, pen, and paper in front of you and your mind is completely set to write… But, you cannot write because you do not have enough strength to start. "Inspiration!" Don't say it, it only knocks when you master it. You lack the habit of writing. Because; When we say novels, poems, stories, we only gave you the habit of reading; It's up to you to get into the habit of writing…
Forget about the subject in your head and start transferring the events of the day, your observations, and your feelings on a blank page. Don't worry about "my sentence formations are terrible", "what if someone reads these", "how simple words I chose" because when the page is full, you will tear it up and throw it away...
Is the page full? Then open a new page and transfer what belongs to yesterday. Then the next day, then the next… I think your hand is tired. Tea-coffee break and music… When you think you've had enough rest, open a blank page again and try to rewrite the events of today (including these writing attempts) from start to finish. When the page is full, fold it up nicely and put it aside to read after tomorrow's writing attempt.
3. Taking Notes
Not every person has a superior memory. Many events during the day and the emotions in these events often fly out of our minds in a short time. For the writer, a strong memory is associated with his ability to take notes.
Even if you're wearing shorts and shirts, get a notebook big enough to carry around. Take your notebook and jump on the passenger ferry that makes the Eminönü-Kadıköy voyage if you are in Istanbul, on the Konak-Karşıyaka ferry if you are in Izmir, or on the Gar-Sincan train if you are in Ankara (to other documents in other cities)… The most chatty couple you have ever seen (over 40 if possible, Let there be two ladies; one of them is traditionally covered and the other is lightly make-up, what's wrong!..) sit in front of him. Try to write all the speeches as fast as you can. Do not forget to leave enough space to write at least two sentences at the end of each speech:
“—Last Leylas came with their children… Blessed are the monsters, not the children!.. One of them gets on the buffet, the other plays with the TV… Especially the girl… a mobile phone in her hand; He's texting and squeaking."
“— Ya, ya… Now all of ours have this mercury. We see the boy's face from table to table. He takes his cell phone, enters his den in the evenings…”
Oh yes! As you write these speeches, look at your subjects from the corner of your eye from time to time. Because you will fit the descriptions and descriptions left in your dreams during the speeches in the gaps you left in between.
“While the brown mole fingers of Ms. Elif were navigating the keys of an imaginary mobile phone, the rheumatic snaps coming out of her knuckles gave the effect of a keystroke.”
Didn't it? Why do you think it didn't? Because the dialogue we designed in our minds was far from reality, my mental description that complemented it looked like a patch to this fiction. Remember; real dialogues are always clearer and more fluid than what was conceived in the mind. At the same time, the above description contains too heavy phrases for the story genre to handle. The further the story strays from the phrases (it is the novel's job to be close to them), the more transparent it becomes. You best observe the real dialogues and record what you see with short descriptions in your notebook.
A sentence in a line while watching a movie, a word in the lyrics while listening to music, Macule Sister's son, who plays with muddy water, goes straight to his mother-aorta; yes, why not all of them be the subject of a story you will write in the future? Take note!…