The Unicorn Puzzle Story, and How I Came Up With It

This post tells of some of the behind the scenes work that I do for my stories.  This one is using the story The Unicorn Puzzle, as an example.  I would recommend reading the story before reading about the behind the scenes work.  This post I have written is to encourage children (and adults) to try writing their own stories.  I have divided up my post into sections, telling step-by-step how I write my stories.  Each step has a section.  If you are only interested in one part of my story-writing process, you do not have to read this post all the way through.  Let us begin.

How I began my story…

My story, The Unicorn Puzzle, began in my mind.  It all started when I was bored – very bored.  I was flipping through a horse book of mine, and I saw a picture of a unicorn.  Interested, I read what the book said about unicorns.  It was not very much information, but it was just enough to make my mind wanna write a story about a unicorn.  Story ideas bounced around inside my head (where my brain is supposed to be) all evening.  I thought and thought while I set the table, ate dinner, and thought some more.  I found a piece of scrap paper and began to write on it my ideas for a unicorn story.  I wanted to bring someone like me into the story, and have that girl who’s like me find a unicorn.

How I titled my story…

I thought about what a unicorn puzzle would look like, and decided to have a puzzle of a unicorn in my story.  Therefore, it should be called The Unicorn Puzzle, I decided.

How I decided to write my story…

From the beginning I had wanted it to have three parts, and had a sentence or two written up about each part.  Also, I knew that there was going to be a lot of action, so I wanted to write the story in present tense and from first person, to help make my readers feel like they were in the story, not like they were some granny telling the story – then you would know the main character survived the perilous adventure.

How I thought my story through…

There was one thing I just couldn’t figure out – where and why was the unicorn in my main human character’s world?  I puzzled over those two important questions for quite a while that evening.  Then I got an idea!  The unicorn could come out of mythology because the main character girl had called it!  From there part one of my story began to take shape in my mind.

How I typed up my story and thought deeper…

I began typing it up once I had gotten the plot line straight in my mind.  I didn’t have the entire part one figured out when I began to write it, so I just added details and stuff as I went along.  Part two of my story took some thought, because my main character and her unicorn friend are in a new land.  I had to decide everything about this new world, and what problems I wanted my characters to face.

How I came up with my names in the story…

I came up with names on the spur of the moment.  Since I wasn’t in a very creative mood when I had the unicorn tell the girl her name, I just had the unicorn introduce herself as The Unicorn – no name could possibly ever fit her better!  Another name I came up with was for a kind of ship, called a Daring Ship.  I called the ship a Daring Ship because the people on board it were daring to go to the end of the world – or die in the process of it (none of the ships ever returned).  I came up with other names like Puffy-lip Woman, and Unicorn Thief Man, for lack of better names.  Then there was also Cotton Ball.  I can go on about names forever.

How I did the finishing touches to my draft…

After I finished one part of my story, I would read through it and make changes, and fix typos (there were an awful lot of them).  I don’t usually do that to the stories that I write at home for me only, but when I am writing for other people, I do edits.  If you want to see what my work looks like when I haven’t done edits, just read Tilda’s Babyshower Blues.  Someone told me that there were a lot of typos, but I haven’t corrected them yet!

How I kept myself motivated to keep going with my story…

I really, really wanted to finish my story.  I kept at it every afternoon after school.  But I sometimes took a break from it on the weekends.  I think that there is an important balance between writing and doing other activities.  Depending on how much I wanted to finish my story would depend on how hard I worked on it.  All my stories I’ve at one time or the other wanted to finish.  But I take breaks, and make sure writing is an enjoyable thing if there is not like a deadline for my stories.  Also, I only write when my mind is fully functioning.  It would be really strange if one part of a story was written well, but the next part looked like a baby unicorn had tried to write it!

Writing can be fun and enjoyable (to me, anyways).  If you really want to be good at something, you’ve got to keep working at it.  A lot of the activities I choose to do will help me later on in life, not just today.  That’s why I’m not a big fan of video games – they waste my time with something that I enjoy today, but that will do nothing to help me tomorrow, or when I’m grown up.  I try to find things that I enjoy doing, and then focus on those things.  Of course, though, I goof off every now and then (about twenty times each day – at least).  Whether it’s writing you enjoy, or any other constructive work (not video games), enjoy it, and have fun!