Develop Your Story Idea in Eleven Simple Steps
There’s an exciting new story idea stuck in your head. But how can you expand that idea into a well-developed story you’re ready to write?
The answer to this question depends on your personal approach to the pre-writing process. Some writers, called plotters, prefer to develop their stories in intricate detail before putting pen to paper. Pantsers, on the other hand, often complete very few pre-writing tasks before drafting, preferring to discover their stories as they write. Many other writers fall somewhere between these two extremes.
If you’ve found your way to this blog post, then you’re likely interested in developing your story idea to some degree before drafting. If so, you’re in luck. Today, I’m breaking down eleven foundational steps writers can take to bring their stories to life before hitting the blank page.
Step #1: Write it down
Have an idea that’s been swirling around in your head? Though we aren’t likely to forget our best and most thrilling story ideas, it’s nevertheless important to write your idea down ASAP. It’s all too easy to let the fruits of our imaginations grow fuzzy in our minds — and all the easier to whip up something magical when we make our ideas manifest on paper.
Step #2: Tease it out
The ease and excitement with which you can expand a new story idea is a sure sign of its potential, so don’t wait around for the muse to strike. Take time now to explore and expand your idea.
Can you spin that flash of a scene into the beginnings of a plot? Get some flesh on the bones of that character that came to mind? Find a way to add a little depth and movement to that setting you envisioned? Now’s the time to dive deep into your creative sandbox, my friend.
Step #3: Identify the key players
Character lives at the heart of every story. It’s the main characters’ actions that drive the plot, their motivations that lend meaning to the story, and the trials and tribulation they experience that keeps readers turning pages.
As you work to tease out your story idea, search for your key players: the protagonist(s) and antagonist(s) who will create your story’s central conflict. Begin to develop these characters in earnest, exploring key characterization elements such as their…
Step #4: Define your story’s GMC
With your key players on the field, it’s time for the games (or rather, your plot) to begin. It’s okay if you’d rather discover your story’s events as you draft. But to ensure you won’t run into any dead-end plot lines or lack of direction along the way, take time now to establish your story’s GMC. Ask:
Goal: What do my key players want?
Motivation: Why do they want it?
Conflict: What’s stopping them from getting it?
With your story’s GMC in place, you’ll have established a strong foundation for your plot. Allow your characters’ goals and motivations to drive their actions, and conflict will arise naturally, allowing you to develop and draft your story’s events with ease.
Step #5: Paint your backdrop
Don’t let your characters’ journeys play out in front of a literary green screen. Now that you’ve established a strong foundation for your story, take a moment to explore where it will be set. Can you visualize your story’s backdrop? How about the settings where many of your scenes will take place?
If you’re writing speculative fiction, then you may also wish to develop your story world at this point. Take time to define your world’s geography, cultures, religions, and other important facets of your fictional universe.
Step #6: Develop a premise
With your story’s characters, conflict, and setting becoming more realized by the moment, it’s time to ensure that your story idea has true narrative potential (i.e. the ability to sustain a full-length plot) by developing a premise.
Crafting this short statement, which distills the essence of your story into just one or two sentences, is vital regardless of how much or little you plan to plot your story prior to drafting. If you can develop a simple, concise premise that hits each of the necessary story elements, then you can take the next step in your writing journey with confidence and a clear sense of direction.
Step #7: Map out your major beats
With your premise in place, you can now (if you so choose) begin to map your story’s major beats (i.e. events or turning points). Complete this step in as much detail as you see fit.
If you’re a plotter, then you may enjoy using the 3-Act Story Structure and one of my favorite outlining methods to plot your story. If you’re a more free-spirited writer, then consider establishing the following six major beats, which can serve as landmark events to aim for in your drafting process:
• The Hook: This opening beat shows your protagonist experiencing an everyday conflict that highlights some flaw in their world or within themselves.
• The Inciting Incident: This early event changes everything for your protagonist, providing them with an opportunity (or forcing them to) address the external or internal flaw the hook identified.
• The First Plot Point: It’s during this event that your protagonist’s journey truly gets underway. Whether by choice or circumstance, they’re now chasing their goal in earnest. (Note: Sometimes, the Inciting Incident and the First Plot Point are the same event.)
• The Midpoint: Roughly halfway through your story, a momentous event changes your character’s perspective on their journey, often reinforcing their commitment to their goal, highlighting what’s at stake should the antagonist succeed, and/or opening their eyes to the consequences of their own fears, flaws, or false beliefs.
• The Climactic Sequence: This intense conflict serves as the finale of your story, in which your protagonist achieves their goal and/or overcomes the antagonist.
• The Resolution: This scene or short series of events concludes your protagonist's journey, addressing the consequences of their experiences and establishing their new normal.
Step #8: Identify your story’s internal arcs
Conflict breeds external and internal consequences. If you haven’t already, take a moment to establish the major internal obstacle that will complicate your protagonist’s journey.
Is there a particular fear, flaw, or false belief that will hinder their ability to achieve their goal or overcome the antagonist? How might this internal roadblock impact their actions and reactions throughout their journey?
This inner obstacle will serve as the foundation of your protagonist’s character arc, the internal sequence of events they’ll experience. Determining whether this sequence will be positive, negative, or static in nature can help clarify the direction of your story as you develop or draft it.
Step #9: Determine your story’s themes
Literary themes aren’t just for English class. In fact, a theme is nothing more than a topic a story explores, and most themes arise naturally from the events of the story’s plot and character arcs.
The messages that readers might derive from these arcs are called thematic statements, and it’s these statements that lend a story meaning. Establishing your story’s themes and thematic statements before drafting can help ensure your characters’ journeys will pack a powerful emotional punch from the start.
Step #10: Develop your secondary cast
With all the major aspects of your story in place, it’s now time to add a little depth and complexity to your narrative, beginning with your cast of characters.
Unless your key players are living in a bubble, they’re going to have strong relationships that impact their journeys. Take time now to explore the nature of these relationships and how they lend value to your story.
If you can remove a character without impacting the plot you’ve developed, then they likely don’t serve enough purpose to deserve a place in your story.
Also, make sure to develop your secondary characters fully. There’s no reason your key players should spend their scenes interacting with cardboard cutouts and caricatures.
Step #11: Devise essential subplots
Subplots are secondary plot lines that lend complexity to a story. Rather than existing for complexity’s sake alone, good subplots arise from your key players’ secondary goals (when applicable) and the goals and motivations that drive your secondary characters.
Despite their secondary nature, good subplots play an integral role in a story’s core conflict, complicating the protagonist’s external and internal journeys.
If you can remove a subplot from your story without impacting the central narrative, then that subplot is likely more fluff than integral storyline. Ensure you develop powerful subplots that lend complexity to your key characters’ journeys, and you can’t go wrong.
Congratulations, writer! In completing these eleven steps, you’ve taken that tiny seed of a story idea and nurtured it into a well-developed narrative, one with compelling characters, immersive settings, and powerful themes — oh, and a gripping plot, too.