Franklin: Writing for Story

I first read “Writing for Story” about a year ago and a lot of what Franklin wrote was effective for me. His writing was influential enough for me to reference it in my Comps essay that I turned in a couple of weeks ago. It doesn’t take long to see that Franklin is a good writer. For example, in his acknowledgments he gives a character description of his editor that goes like this: “Vern, the news editor of All Hands magazine, was an expert, acerbic and ancient (perhaps fifty) old man with a bad stomach and a mobile face capable of showing ten thousand different grades of disgust.” Find me a better character introduction and I’ll be impressed. The statement he made that was most influential on me though, was when he wrote, “True revolutionaries, the ones who actually DID change the world, used different instruments. They used words, typewriters, and paper.” This struck home for me, helping me realize the importance of a profession that I’ll probably take up some day. I like “Writing for Story” because, to me, the story is the most important part of a piece of writing. The story is what keeps the reader reading and what makes the reader interesting. Franklin chooses a couple of interesting pieces to include in his book.

Mrs. Kelly’s Monster: I like the tension that the writer creates in this piece. It reminds me of a scary movie with the good guys going into a dark cave where a monster lurks. The pop, pop, pop of the heartbeat does a great job of holding this tension. I also like how the author gets into the lives of both Mrs. Kelly and Dr. Ducker.

The Ballad of Old Man Peters: I like how this story starts from the beginning of Old Man Peters life. It works well with his growing idea of a dream that sometimes fades to a fantasy but starts up again small and continues growing until it’s a reality. The author also does a good job of showing Wilk’s never-ending thirst for knowledge, first by describing his dream of going to college, then by showing how he wants to travel everywhere in the world.

Throughout the rest of his book, Franklin continues to feed us useful information. He knows they’re good because he sets them aside in italics so that they stick in our mind. But there is plenty of other useful advice that might go unnoticed if you don’t read carefully. Just a couple of examples: “Complications and resolution are absolutely necessary to identify and define the story, but beyond this is a good story depends on action.” And, “actions in literature as in life, speak far louder than words.” From the outline to the structure to the polishing Franklin’s advice can help us form a story that will keep the reader reading.