How to fill your story containers

With 350 delicious words.

“That’s such a good container,” said my writing mentor (yip, I have one too—we all should!)

“Do you know what I mean by container?”

I shook my head.

Should I know?

I’ve been writing for well over a decade. But I love having a career where you never stop learning!

She went on to explain and suddenly I had a word for something I’ve been doing for years.

I always tell writers: a good story has a little of the end in the beginning.

But this is even more.

A container is the situation which holds your story.

It carries it.

You might weave around all over the place in your story:

✒ Jump back into childhood.

✒ Detour around to a movie you saw last week.

✒ Sink inside your head, expressing all your worries and anxieties.

But it’s all nicely carried by the situation we start and end in.

The container!

Your container might be an argument with your partner, a night out at a bar with friends, a ride in a rickshaw.

It’s a single scene. A situation.

It’s the grounding action that frames your story.

You’re probably already doing it in your writing. Now you have the word to describe it too.

See why mentors are so great?

Another thing my mentor does is motivate me to…

sit down and actually write.

I write in a beanbag, but I wish this was my view! Although, no wifi…

I shouldn’t need encouragement, but we all do at times.

It’s so hard in our busy lives to make time to write, even when we really really want to. Even when we have writing deadlines or projects to finish!

Do you need some encouragement too?

I’ve got you.

My team mate Ash Jurberg and I are launching a focused writing hour in April.

We’ll jump on a Zoom call, write to a prompt for 10 minutes, a couple of people can share, we’ll give encouraging feedback, then we’ll repeat for another 10 minutes.

It’s called S20 for 20 minutes of story writing time.

And because we’re trialing this it’s…free!

Email me with a “I’m keen!” and I’ll pop your name down.

That’s all for this week,

Now go fill your containers with lots of yummy stories!

Kelly