STORY YOU MUST DEVELOP (creative writing): 


Nazar, a Turkish veteran of 34 years, fought in Operation Euphrates Shield against Syrian rebels. He and his childhood friend, Umut, excitedly enter the battlefield, desiring to protect their country and family. The brutal realities of war shattered him and his squad's idealism, and Nazar witnessed the ruthless and merciless acts of the rebels, including the slaughter of his entire squad including Umut. Nazar returned home to Izmir, a broken man, seeking revenge against the Syrians. He joined a refugee smuggling ring and saw an opportunity to sabotage the boats, causing them to sink and kill hundreds of refugees at a time. However, as he continued his grisly work, Nazar found himself struggling with his morality and self-doubt. He wondered if his actions were just and whether the Syrian refugees were responsible for the sins of the rebels. As he encountered various characters, including the smugglers, refugees, and fellow guards, Nazar was consumed by guilt and self-loathing. He was faced with a terrible choice between continuing his path of vengeance or seeking redemption. In the end, he chose the path of redemption , after the traumatic experience of seeing a child and her mother drown when one of the poorly built rafts were demolished by the brutal tides near the coast of Izmir. He goes home that same day, killing himself with his handgun. 



Rules:


Use descriptive writing
Use the concept of “show don’t tell”
Extensive use of metaphors
Use the Third person point of view
Focus on morality of the character and his thoughts
Do not reveal too much until the end of the story
Build lots of tension
AVOID starting sentences with “he” or “Nazar”
Aim for around 4000 words
Focus on the description of scenery
Focus on the deep introspection of Nazar
Focus on the description of other characters



Examples you MUST follow:


To be concrete, descriptive writing has to offer specifics the reader can envision. Rather than “Her eyes were the color of blue rocks” (Light blue? Dark blue? Marble? Slate?), try instead: “Her eyes sparkled like sapphires in the dark.”
To be evocative, descriptive writing has to unite the concrete image with phrasing that evokes the impression the writer wants the reader to have. Consider “her eyes shone like sapphires, warming my night” versus “the woman’s eyes had a light like sapphires, bright and hard.” Each phrase uses the same concrete image, then employs evocative language to create different impressions.
To be plausible, the descriptive writer has to constrain the concrete, evocative image to suit the reader’s knowledge and attention span. “Her eyes were brighter than the sapphires in the armrests of the Tipu Sultan’s golden throne, yet sharper than the tulwars of his cruelest executioners” will have the reader checking their phone halfway through. “Her eyes were sapphires, bright and hard” creates the same effect in a fraction of the reading time. As always in the craft of writing: when in doubt, write less.
You can take something like, "He grabbed the bag and began walking."
and turn it into something like, "The bag was heavy in his hand, but he had a long way to go before sundown. The first few steps were always the hardest. Sometimes you just had force yourself. By the time he looked back, the house was nothing more than a smudge against the horizon."
Showing: When she wrapped her arms around him, the sweet staleness of tobacco enveloped her, and he shivered. Telling: The temperature fell and the ice reflected the sun

