Tag Archives: writing techniques

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What is a Story? – Writing Exercise

I love the question, ‘What is a story?’ It’s both technical and philosophical, and seems especially pertinent to the current epoch because it raises the subsequent inquiry: can AI truly write one?

A notebook, tablet and coffee on a wooden table, Gail Owen's favourite writing tools.

Fiction or Storytelling?

Can a large language model make something up? Most certainly, (often when it’s been asked to accrue facts!) but I will argue over the next few posts that a work of fiction does not necessarily a story make.


How to Define ‘Story’?

When I introduce my students to writing techniques, I take pains to make clear that creative rules are not mandatory. Writers choose specific forms to achieve desired effects. I then go on to say, however, that if what you desire is to write a story, there is one non-negotiable rule: your characters must undergo change.

The Philosophy of Change

That journey, from one emotional point to a wholly changed emotional point, is simultaneously character and structure. To achieve it, storytellers underpin their inspiration with technique. AI can simulate such change in protagonists, employ the same techniques. But the enduring popularity of storylines, the human need to witness character development again and again, suggests to me there’s a reason we keep demanding stories, and that reason makes fiction created by AI redundant. AI ‘stories’ don’t serve the purpose stories are meant to serve.

Writing Exercise Options

I hope you’ll let me examine the human need for fictional character growth in future posts. For now, here are three writing exercises for exploring the non-negotiable rule of ‘change’:

1/ Your protagonist is delighted to spot a £50 note on the pavement. Gradually, their feelings about this ‘lucky’ find change.

2/ Your protagonist is contacted by an old, old friend they’ve not seen in years. On meeting up, their feelings about this person slowly change.

3/ Your protagonist is woken in the middle of the night by a loud knock on the front door. At first moved by the plight of the stranger standing there, on helping them, your protagonist’s feelings start to change.

You can aim for approximately three paragraphs, but it really doesn’t matter how long or short your piece ends up being. Let it simmer. I’d love a comment to let me know how you got on, and I’ll post a new writing exercise on the 1st of next month.

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Blog, writing prompt

Writing Prompt – Floating Opposites

Because my students have such a wide variety of tastes, I’ve started developing either/or prompts for them. Some like gore and action. Others like world-building. Then, others of my students delight in closely observed personal interactions.

Open notebook on classic, rustic, wooden table waiting for your story ideas inspired by a writing prompt from Gail Owen writer.

Writing that Pulls in Two Directions – By Design!

Following on from my last blog post, on the subject of ‘Floating Opposites’, (see Can Creative Writing Be Taught? Part 2,) whichever of the exercises below that you choose is a chance to put that theory into practice.

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Blog, creative writing

Can Creative Writing be Taught? (Part 2)

When I tell people I teach creative writing, they frequently reply, ‘Isn’t writing just inspiration?’

Well, I don’t disagree with the inspiration part.

A child in a striped pyjama top under a striped duvet, reading their book with a torch. This is something that I, Gail Owen, did a lot as a child. I loved stories and reading so much that after my mum had told me it was time to go to sleep, I would pull my duvet up over my head and keep reading my book with a torch.


That Page-Turning Effect

I was one of those kids who can’t put a book down. My mum would tell me to go to sleep and I’d wait for her to leave so I could pull my duvet over my head and keep reading with a torch. As if she couldn’t see the big glowing hump on my bed. A little less romantic when I think about kids reading tablets and phones under the covers, but I hope some of them are reading stories instead of social media posts.

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Blog, writing prompt

Writing Prompt – Dialogue

One of the most common worries my students have is dialogue, and it’s true that writing authentic dialogue is hard. It almost requires a different skill-set from crafting a story, because great dialogue begins with listening, in many ways a passive activity.

Three friends in conversation, their dialogue making them laugh together.

When we’re in conversation, we’re in the moment, responding emotionally and intellectually. We’re not psychopaths, not mentally recording people’s gestures and sayings as we chat. By contrast, when watching TV or streaming a series, we only listen. We don’t talk back. Kids, with their sponge-like brains, especially absorb how people talk on-screen.

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Blog, creative writing

Can Creative Writing be Taught?

Well, teaching ‘creative writing techniques’ and learning ‘creative writing techniques’ are both tough propositions, for many reasons, but today I’m going to focus on one: invisibility. When writing is most effective, technique is invisible.

Classic, large, black, tall typewriter: imagine Faulkner tapping away, writing his novel, working on his masterpiece.


Invisible Force

Feeling gripped, carried away by a story, following the tribulations of characters we love, or love to hate… is like being compelled by an invisible force. To learn how to harness that force, we must deconstruct it. But how does one deconstruct something invisible?

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