Elevation Centre: A Question for Storytellers

Question 1 - You use both your imagination and research. World war II is a broad topic and their are many different approaches. Research & finding your approach to the topical would be the first thing you do. With a World War II topic, you can generalize it to a topical about the whole war, a specific nation or army, you can take an even more specific approach and write in in the eyes of someone that is committing war acts for a certain nation or someone that has suffered through it like the jews in the camps. You can take the eyes of a leader or war general. Or a certain event like pearl harbor, the atomic bomb drops, or D-day. There is so many different approaches and you topical does not have to be completely historical either. It can be historical fiction. Your character does not have to be a real character, however, the history still has to be true in the events and details that happened. 

With saying that, another approach would be to view it from a hypothetical view point, if one thing happened differently what would be the events up until today. For example, if Germany won the war what would take place and how would the world be today?

^ Keep in mind to ask questions like these while you are writing. It will remind you of the path that you want to take and help you generate more ideas for your story. 

Question 2 - Absolutely not. Why would you be throwing punches in a story? When Herman Melville wrote Moby Dick, he didn't throw in subliminal sentences saying he told stories better than shakespeare. It's the same with battling, you want to entertain the reader. You want the best, original approach on the topic. Keep the technical writing skills at a high level and continue to learn different ways of writing in literature. Trust me when I tell you, that a topical and a normal story are one in the same. If you are great at one, you should be able to be great at the other as well. 

Question 3 - To be honest, the best way for you to learn that is to read other peoples topicals. It is not like a battle, you aren't setting up bars and metaphors in each line. You write to progress the story. It's just like a normal written story. Introduce the reader, tell the reader about your character, what is taking place, the setting, etc... Be creative and descriptive. Open up the story painting a picture that the reader can follow from the get-go. Make sure everything is correct as well. I see it all the time, just small minor details in a story that contradict each other and don't progress right.

For example, plenty of the horror based topicals I've read here will have someone torturing another than cut his arms off at the beginning but then towards the end is sticking toothpicks in his fingernails. It makes no sense, so make sure everything is logical and progressively connected. Use transitional phrases when you are moving on to another setting, character, or scene so that way it reads smoothly. Honestly, it's a lot to take in, if you want to be an outstanding writer. And furthering your learning outside of your typical english class will do you very well when writing here. 

Ahh yes. He is correct. I was not thinking in that form. When I was answering I was thinking of a battle punchline.