Writer's Workshop - Launch Lesson 5
Today, we are going to learn how writers “zoom in” on the essential moment- the most important part of the memory.
I’m going to re-read my story and ask myself “What is the most important part?” and I’ll check to see if I really zoomed in on that part.
It is important to get to the heart of our stories and to avoid focusing on unnecessary information. As you can see, my second story is clearly “zoomed in” on the important part and tells it in great detail rather than telling lots of parts that come before the essential moment. This might mean that you are writing about something that doesn’t take all day to happen, but happens in only twenty minutes or even just three minutes.
Now that you know how to “zoom in”, you can use this strategy in your own writing. Look at your lists of moments. Choose a moment and ask yourself, “What is the most important part of this story?”
Start writing a seed story remembering to start close to the main event.