How to Write Inspirational Stories
Inspirational stories are tales of hope, promise and encouragement. They evoke emotion in the reader, building a connection between reader and writer. The primary objective of an inspirational story is to inspire within the reader an emotion of positivity, whether that be a sudden sense of motivation or feeling of hope in a desperate situation. Inspirational stories come in many forms, and writing one is not very difficult. Still, any newcomer to inspirational writing can benefit from tips provided by other writers.
Use emotion in your story. Inspirational tales are supposed to reveal personal details about someone's life. By nature, they are filled with emotions, some sad, some funny. Do not downplay the character's struggles or triumphs.
Write about true stories. Inspirational tales speak to the reader, because they are not some work of fiction concocted in the mind of a fiction writer. They inspire, because they present the possibility that change can happen and hope does exist. These emotions will be conveyed to the reader only if they story they are reading is true. Do not try to boost the fantasy of your story by adding false or unknown details. These may get the reader thinking that the story may as a whole be false, disillusioning them from the point of the story.
Write a story with a point. Inspirational stories need to follow a basic plot of a person who endures hardship but comes out of it triumphantly. This plot can usually be wrapped into a lesson or concept that conveys hope to the audience. If the triumph comes from unrelated events, there is no connection. For example, consider a man who lost a child but won the lottery. Those events do not have a connection, because even though the man is now rich, he has lost his greatest possession. This does not represent a truly inspirational story. A story that would be inspirational could involve a man who lost his son finally having a second child after years of his wife's barrenness. There is hope, and it triumphs.
Interview relevant persons involved in the story for details. Filling the story with details you made up is a bad idea, but talking to the people who actually endured the story and finding out true details from them will give credibility to your tale. It will also make it easier to write as you will have more material to inspire ideas.
Writer Bio
Bailey Richert is a 2010 graduate of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute with a dual bachelor's degree in environmental engineering and hydrogeology, as well as a master's degree in systems engineering. After several years in the environmental consulting industry, she is now attending MIT for graduate school. An accomplished traveler, she has visited 23 countries and published her first book about international travel in 2014.
