The Form of Story Processing Isn’t Going to Be the Same for Everyone.

For example, you don’t always have to write it out.

I am a textual processor. I truly need to write it down, preferably by hand rather than typing. That’s why journals are useful to me. However, several people in my life are verbal processors. Journals and freewrites don’t have the same pizzazz for them. They need to talk it out, preferably in person to a trusted person but texting or a phone call can sometimes work as well.

If that is true for you, then just substitute talking for writing. Instead of journaling about it, talk with someone, just as my mom, sister, and I talked about our experiences over family dinner in the story. If you are a writer who needs to talk out a plot snarl, you aren’t the only one. Team up with someone else who prefers to talk it out rather than write it out.

The practice of processing a story is much more important than the way it looks. As I mentioned in the section about tools, please adapt this method in a way that works for you.

But be aware: the more tools that you learn and try out, the more ways you have to see, understand, and structure a story.

Next, we’ll take a look at story currents, elements that are in play alongside the story structure.