Writing True Stories: Using the Winning Formula P MS to a T
By B. J. Taylor, 2015, 142 pages
If you, like millions of other people dream of being published in a Chicken Soup for the Soul book or a Guideposts publication, this is the book to get you moving toward that goal.
B. J. Taylor, a well-known workshop leader and author of several books and hundreds of articles, has cracked the formula for writing riveting stories. She takes the mystery out of the process by explaining it in easy steps that anyone can follow.
Her formula P MS to a T is the key to unlock a good story. B. J. explains that P stands for the problem of the story. Every story starts with a problem, a dilemma that a person faces. MS stands for multiple scenes. That’s the middle of the story. It gives the reader vivid pictures that makes her feel like she is in the situation. B. J. shows the reader how to bring these scenes to life.
T stands for both turnaround and takeaway. She explains that someone must change by the end of the story. That’s turnaround. Takeaway is the feeling that readers have when they finish the story. B. J. says, “We want to end the story with something that gives the reader a warm feeling, a change of attitude for the narrator, or a way of looking at something differently….”
B. J. Taylor, however, having cracked the formula, doesn’t leave the reader on their own. She takes their hand and walks them through the process, showing them example after example of exactly how it works.
Anyone who has a story to tell, and everyone does, will find B. J. Taylor’s formula an easy one to follow.
The Oregon Christian Writers Conference is always a highlight of August for me.
This year I shared about my new book, Amazing Youth of WWII. It’s half finished now, and editors and agents begin to get interested at that point.
Some have asked to see the full proposal. Some want to wait until it’s complete. That will be another year. The research is very consuming. Here are some photos of my time there at the conference.
As I celebrate the fact that my book, Amazing Youth of WWII is about 50% complete, I want to tell you the story of one of the people who is featured. Chiune Sugihara is unique in that he was the Japanese consul in Kovno, Lithuania, and Japan sided with Germany in the war.