The last few entries do seem to imply that there is a formula for writing stories. After all, they give a bunch of equations that LOOK like formulae:
S(tory) = C(onflict) + A(ction) + R(esolution)
C(onflict) = W(ant) + O(bstacles)
Need = Emotion + Want

It all looks so simple! Just put these elements into some set of words, and you've got a story!

The 'equations'� do help the writer create a story. It might be trite, bad, indifferent, but every story has them at a very basic level. But what the reader sees is something more than the basic skeleton.

Think of some good stage magicians. If you know how they do their 'magic'�, then the tricks are extremely simple. They look spectacular, but often the trick depends on simple sleight of hand, or distracting the audience or other such non-magical activity. The 'magic'� is that the audience does NOT see the props behind the scenes that make it all happen on stage.

This is where Oscar Wilde's adage comes into play, the one about Art depending on the Artist being invisible.

We all know that someone painted a masterpiece, or wrote a masterpiece, or whatever the right term is for the particular form of Art. It's all about the maker's hand in the creation not being seen or detected. The harder it is to detect the hand of the writer, the better the piece can be ' the READER makes it their own.

As writers, we all start with the same basic tools ' words. Most of us know how to spell, or at least look up the right spelling. We know the right grammatical constructs to convey what we mean to the reader (perhaps not the proper technical terms, like gerunds and machiavels, but we usually have our own names for the constructs). We know that we need to proof-read to correct the mistakes we often leave in a draft. It doesn't take much effort to look up how to format a manuscript, or to check the guidelines for submissions to publishers and editors. We might even use a style guide, or use a particular approach to references and bibliography.

These are details that are our props in making the presentation to the READER, after we have the story all set out.

But our real magic is in hiding the props, including the 'equations'� underlying the story.

We don't TELL the reader that 'C'� is the Conflict, 'A'� is the Action, 'R'� is the Resolution. We don't TELL the reader that 'W'� is the Want, and 'O'� are the Obstacles.

The Reader finds them as we have revealed them in the story we are telling. The less obvious our involvement in the revelations, the more the reader puts of him/herself into the story, and the greater the entertainment value of the story. We want the reader to forget that we are the story tellers, and feel that HE/SHE is telling the story to him/herself. We want the reader to BUY INTO the story we have told, to suspend disbelief, and make the story their own.

It doesn't matter about genre ' a good story is a good story. I've enjoyed stories here, even though I don't usually read pieces in the specific genre, or the specific style. What does matter is that we learn to hide the skeleton ' the equations or formulae ' in such a way that the reader is not aware of them.

If we can do it, then we are successful storytellers/writers. We might not get everything published. Perhaps nothing we write gets accepted by regular publishers, but we will BE the best writers we can be.

As writers, our job is to WRITE. If we don't WRITE, then there's nothing that can be published. So'�

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