Your Guide to Writing the Perfect Story

Planning Your Story

Before I get into how best to plan your story, I need to clear something up first.

I know that some of the people who will end up reading this probably think that they can just wing it with their story and somehow make one billion people fall in love with their work and have twenty publishers begging them to let them use it.

News Flash: The real world doesn't work that way. If you don't know where your story is going, most likely you won't even finish it. Ever heard of writer's block? No planning = writer's block for life.

Now, of course I am not saying that every planned book will make it big. Heck, I'm not even saying every unplanned story will be crap! But do your chances of being published increase by 99% if you do plot your story before hand? Hell, yes. Think of that 1% of books that were not planned that are published today.

Are you still feeling good about yourself?

Now that that messy business is out of the way, I will teach you how to plan your story. Quick note: these are simply guidelines. There are many ways to plan your story, but this is just the way that I do it and it works for me.

Step 1: Materials

Remember those old art notebooks you had when you were a kid? The notepads, boxes of markers, pencils, and pens? If not, what about that science notebook you never filled the pages? Rip the used pages out and store the rest away somewhere! Keep everything to do with writing and paper and even dividers in a drawer for when you might need them. Some essentials or more important things are listed below.

- Loose-leaf paper

- Spare notebook

- A pen

- A laptop/desktop

- Word (optional)

It is up to you whether you work best typing or writing. I like to write when planning, just because I absorb more and can easily flip through it when I want to.

Step 2: Getting Organized

I always start my notebook by creating a table of contents page. If you want to, you can even make a cover for your notebook. If you're artsy, that might help set the mood for your planning and remind you what you're there for, especially if it is themed. Keep all of your supplies together so you don't have to go searching. Number your pages and, if you are on Word instead of using a notebook, start a folder for your book planning and give a title to every section.

Step 3: World Planning

I'm going to assume that you have already decided on a plot for your story. Especially if it is a science fiction or fantasy novel, this is key. However, this part of planning is not limited to those genres. Every genre needs world planning because we need to know the climate, place, and other important details.

To start, you need to plan your world. It comes before everything else because you have to know how the world works so you can build off of everything. Some things to write about would go as follows (create separate sections for each).

History - Was there a war that ravaged the Earth? Who does the government hate? Do they have allies? Does it even take place on Earth?

Economy - Who runs the government? Are they dictators? Is the government representative? Is there a constitution? What do they do for the country? What must the country give in return?

State - What is the state of your setting? Is it wealthy or poor? Are there limitations on materials due to a natural disaster or such?

Inhabitants - Are they human or alien? Other? What is the average population? Are genders or age groups separated? How are people defined (eg. their wealth, position, etc)?