How to Write an Adventure Story

Writing an adventure story should be as entertaining and fun for you as the writer as it will be for your readers once you're finished. In this article, I'll show you the basic process including character development, setting, and plot structure.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

1. The majority of adventure stories have solid lead characters--be sure you have yours well developed before you start into your plot.
   
   Under the resources tab, I'm going to link you to a fictional character template you can use to create profiles of your characters. This will help you as a writer get to know them better--which in the long run makes the story much easier to write.

2. Don't hesitate to put your character in more than one form of danger.
   
   Building conflict and a sense of urgency can be done on many levels within the same story. For example: A hero may only have a certain number of days to locate and rescue a friend, but he or she may have someone following them for different reasons. When you compound conflict, you can resolve smaller issues while leaving larger ones looming in the background. The result is your reader stays interested as the story progresses.

3. If dealing with exotic locations, make sure you get your facts straight.
   
   There can be a tendency to be so engaged in your plot that you may overlook details that could throw informed readers out of your story.

4. Sensory details will add a richness and realism to your story.
   
   With the rough draft of each chapter, go through and find places where you can add sensory details. Most authors address sight and sound very well, but don't ignore taste, touch, and smell.

Resources

• Fictional Character Development Template
• Writer's Library--Over 45 Writing How-to Articles and Resources
• Web Writer Central
• Patricia Gilliam's Author's Blog
• Patricia Gilliam's Twitter Page
• Books by Patricia Gilliam (Amazon Kindle/Apple iPhone format)
• Books by Patricia Gilliam (Paperback/Adobe .pdf eBook formats)

[chriswarren]

on 7/9/2009 I was delighted to find that Patricia's guidelines on writing a good adventure story were all factors I had built into my new book - Randolph's Challenge.

I believe her recommendations are the foundation of such a book and without them the story will lack substance.

Good pointers Patricia, I will keep them in mind for book two.

Chris Warren
Author and Freelance Writer