How Do You Start to Write a Story?

My first writing tutor, the thriller author Sophie McKenzie, taught me a simple way to write a story. Sophie borrowed this from Alfred Hitchcock.

STORY = CHARACTER + OBSTACLE + GOAL

Try C.O.G. before you get bogged down in other more complicated structures, especially if you are a more intuitive writer who is not a fan of plotting.

Start with the three C.O.G. questions:

• CHARACTER: Who is your character?

• OBSTACLES: What stops them getting to their goal too easily?

• GOAL: What does your character want or need to learn? Obstacles can be one single thing, but they are usually a blend of these three factors.

• INTERNAL FLAWS: What is your character’s internal flaw? Doubt, fear, arrogance, cowardice, unrequited love? Inner hygiene is also useful for this step.

• ANTAGONIST: Who is their opponent? The baddie, wife, boss, children?

• EXTERNAL OBSTACLES: What are their external obstacles? Natural disasters, family, work, society, politics

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Lucy van Smit is an award-winning author, a screenwriter, and artist who regrets selling off most of her paintings to pay the rent. She got her BA Hons in Fine Art, blagged a job in TV, travelled worldwide for NBC News, flew on Air Force One with President Reagan, got surrounded by tanks at Manila airport during a coup, before she chilled and made documentaries for Canadian TV on writers like John Le Carre and Ian McEwan.

Lucy is dyslexic with a Distinction in MA Creative Writing. The Hurting won the inaugural Bath Children’s Novel Award and was published by Chicken House.