Creating Juicy Tales: Cooperative Inquiry into Writing Stories

Many writers hope to create compelling stories but may fail to build effective conflict or tension among their characters, thus causing readers to drift away. To improve their practice of writing dramatic narrative, seven middle-class American white women journey through the process of Cooperative Inquiry—a qualitative research methodology—to learn from the experience of forming key questions and specific action plans focused on the topic of “creating conflict in story.” Over one semester’s time, this small group moves though deepening cycles of action and reflection, building their craft skills from the inside out, and discovering along the way how writing juicy tales is like making love. Their discoveries include inner and outer methods for writing stories containing tension as well as experiential “felt” criteria for recognizing not only when they are in the process of writing compelling stories but also when their output demonstrates successful achievement of such stories. Writers who want to keep readers hooked will find guidance and inspiration here, along with story structure tools such as the author’s original “Hot Spot Grid.”