July 2006: Story Problems (cont.)

So the first thing I ask myself is, Who is this person and what is his or her problem? All else follows from there.

Let’s look at one of my novels, The Double-Digit Club. I began with a girl, Sarah, who has a problem. She has been excluded from an important club. She is nine years old, and during the past year in fourth grade one of the popular girls started a club called The Double-Digit Club. To belong, a girl was required to be ten years old. This is the beginning of the summer, and Sarah won’t be ten until late August. The real problem is, though, that her best friend, Paige, is going to turn ten the next day. Sarah is afraid that Paige will decide to join the club and leave her behind without anyone to play with for the entire summer. A clear problem.

Now, if Sarah handles the situation well, it probably won’t be much of a problem, which means I wouldn’t have much of a story. She and Paige are good friends. Paige will, most likely, choose Sarah over the exclusive club. Story over. But the secret behind many stories is that the main character is likable but less than perfect.

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