Irene Smith

When learning to paint, beginners often learn by copying the work of the great masters. Go to any art museum and you are bound to see at least one student sitting in front of a great canvas, sketching different portions of the work and, therefore, learning how to make a few lines and dots appear to have substance.

The technique I am about to describe is similar. I have used it several times more or less successfully and I have always learned something useful in the process. The results you achieve will vary and you may end up with something that you can’t sell because it is too close to the original. On the other hand, you may end up with something totally new. Therefore, this technique is probably more useful for short stories than for longer pieces because only a masochist would write fifty thousand or more words knowing that there is a good chance the final product can’t be sold.

Pick a story you like. Read it casually. Then read it again. Study it. Keep reading until you can state the plot in a single sentence. Identify the protagonist, the antagonist, and any other important characters. Then make a list of the scenes. There may be anywhere from one or two to a dozen or so scenes in a short story. Make a list. Record everything on paper or in a computer file and then go away and do something else for a few days.

Now it is time to write your own story. Don’t try to remember the exact wording of the original; just read over your notes and write the story step by step according to the blueprint you have created. You may want to use a similar voice or style just for fun, but the important thing here is to write the story.

The last step is to compare your story to the original. Did your version progress at the same speed? Did you alter the pace, the voice, or the ending? If you did make changes, does your story please you as much as the original? If so, you have won big time. If not, write it off as a learning experience.

What now? Pick another story and do the same thing or, and this is even more valuable, wait a few days and write another story from the same notes. Whatever you do, make this exercise your own and let me know how it worked for you.

By the way, I came up with this idea several years ago when I was reading Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography. He describes having learned to write newspaper stories by reading existing stories, reducing them to a single sentence, and after giving himself enough time to forget the original, writing his own version. At that point, although I had started a lot of stories, I hadn’t ever finished one. This exercise was, for me, the way to a complete story. I hope it does something as good for you.