What makes a good story?

by guest blogger & author, Chris Redding

“The foundation of a good story is inspiration, research, and the ability to develop an idea into a commercially viable product that audiences will want to see.” — Jason J. Tomaric, The Power Filmmaking Kit.

This is true in the case of a book, also. What kind of book are you writing? You should know that from the beginning. Are you writing for yourself or an audience. Either is fine. But if you want to make money doing this, you need to write to an audience.

So write what you know. Write what you’ve seen, experienced or lived. The scenes must resonate with your audience so you need to put a bit of truth into the fiction. You can do this if you’ve lived or know about or experienced the situation. The material will be stronger because of the truth in the lies.

This is an excerpt from a workshop I’m doing called, Lights! Camera! Bestseller!

This brings up an interesting point. You need to live. At one point in my life, I didn’t write for several years. I call them my living years. I graduated from college, married, lived overseas and even had a child. I need to have those experiences to write about life in general.

Go live, then come back and write.

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Chris Redding lives in New Jersey with her husband, two kids, one dog and three rabbits. She graduated from Penn State with a degree in journalism. When she isn’t writing, she works part time for her local hospital teaching CPR. Her website is www.chrisreddingauthor.com Her blog is http://chrisredddingauthor.blogspot.com She’s on facebook at www.facebook.com/chrisreddingauthor and on twitter at www.twitter.com/chrisredding Her new novel is Blonde Demolition. You can find it on Amazon  and  Smashwords. 

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Thanks for stopping by, Chris, and best of luck with Blonde Demolition. Love the cover!

Lise