A good story is a good story is a good story and every good story must have a plot. Spicing that story with enhancers becomes the essence of storytelling. They lend richness and fullness to every tale that you tell. Since man was able to master language, he has been a storyteller. First came the oral tradition to pass stories on, from one person to another, from one group to another, then one generation to another. Oral storytelling gave way to the written word fairly recently in man's history. Through written language the storyteller is able to reach people on a wider scale.

Enhancers are the spices one uses to round out stories. There are thirteen of them, which are as many as the proven story motivators. We won't cover them all in this article but we will discuss them all by the time the year is out.

Deception: As we said before, in other segments on this subject, deception is the story enhancer for the plot motivator of betrayal and vengeance. The dictionary states that to deceive is to mislead by false appearance or statement, to delude, to beguile, to ensnare, to trick, to ensnare. Deception can be honest or dishonest. It rounds off a story carrying with it elements of conflict and tension. Using it, as a story enhancer, will keep your reader wondering if, when and how your plot succeeds. What a delicious mix! A dozen storylines come into my mind as I write!

Conspiracy: People plotting together towards the same results. It's the fodder that churns today's mill for mystery novels. It provides the plot material for a billion dollar industry. All you mystery writers out there need is a hook to sink into the mill. As I heard a creative writing professor say once: Consider conspiracy; one person standing alone is benign, two together make a war.

Suspicion is a conflict-laden condition. It occurs in the mind of your character. It is created by distrust, an imagined belief of the existence of guilt, it connotes a vague notion of something, carrying with it a positive tendency to doubt the trustworthiness of appearances and therefore to believe. Again, if you, as the writer can delve into the paranoids of the human condition then suspicion is your tool.

Try out these three introductory enhancers. I expect to see a lot of short stories in our next batch of e-mail.

EDITOR'S NOTE:
We are currently soliciting short stories for E-Publication. Please see our submissions page. You can contact me on site; http://www.4pointspress.com or direct your email to the Editor.