The Starburst Method of Writing

This series of articles is intended for the beginning writer. It is filled with advice, exercises and pointers designed to help you take the raw clay of your imagination and shape it until not only do you know what your story elements are, but you have written a five paragraph, then a one paragraph, then a one sentence summary of your piece.

1. The Starburst Method: What It Is And What It Can Do

This article gives a roadmap to where we're going and why we want to get there.

2. The Starburst Method: Discovering Your Characters

We begin to get to know our characters, what they want, what they fear, what they do for a living, what their dreams are and, most importantly, what their goal is.

3. The Starburst Method: The Hero's Journey, Part 1

Here we go deeper into our characters and start transforming our knowledge into a narrative. We hone what we know about our characters until it can be expressed in five paragraphs that summarize our hero's journey.

4. The Starburst Method: The Hero's Journey, Part 2

A continuation of the ideas in (3).

5. The Starburst Method: The Hero's Journey, Part 3

A continuation of the ideas in (4).

6. The Starburst Method: Summarizing Your Story In One Sentence

In this, the final installment of The Starburst Method, we will distill the essence of our story down to a one sentence description that communicates who the protagonist is, what she wants, and what the central conflict is.