The Writer's Guide to a Good Story

Blueprints

So I've talked about developing characters, avoiding two-dimensional characters, editing, and preventing the Bad Boy Shane virus from infecting your stories, but one thing I haven't covered yet is what you do before you put the pen to the paper. Or in some of your cases, the finger to the keyboard.

If you're anything like me, you'll think of a new story idea while you're in class or doing homework or at any other inopportune time when you should be doing something else. Maybe you'll get in trouble for daydreaming about what your story's doing to be like, or for writing out character descriptions when you should be listing the characteristics of the reproductive system instead.

But enough of that. I know you guys are good students, and would absolutely never do anything like that.

So obviously, before you even begin to plan your story, you have to have a general idea of what it's going to be about. You have to want to write a story before you begin to do it. 

But just like there is no one way to edit, or there is no one way to write a story, there is no one way to plan a story. What works for one person may not work as well for you.

Believe it or not, making it up as you go along may actually work for some people. These are the ones that plan without structure, without an outline. They simply barf it up, and it may actually end up being a good first story. Or a good first draft, at any rate.

Chances are, however, that it may not work for you. 

I'll be honest. In my humble opinion, too much planning can definitely suck the fun out of writing a story. I've had advice from people telling me to create files for my characters, plan out the exact number of chapters, and carry your supplies in a briefcase. Now, if this is what works for you, that's fine, but I understand that some people may not be as organized in their approach to writing a novel. 

Here is what I think are some basic and pretty general steps to getting started when you need to:

-Brainstorm. Like I said before. You should have a general idea of what you want your story to be about before you begin to write it. Begin to think about what kind of characters you want for your story, or whether you want it to be in first person or third person, or whether or not it should be in past or present tense.

What kind of story do you want it to be? Action? Adventure? Romance? Or maybe a combination of all three. That kind of thing is important, because if it's an horror story about a man in a batman mask that goes around shredding people to pieces and stuffing their body parts in his attic, it's definitely going to be written differently than another story about Bob and Sue falling in love and sharing tootsie rolls on Fridays. 

-Assign roles. At this point, I usually start writing down what kind of traits I want in my character. I focus on general personality, and what kind of problems I want that character to overcome.

I think about my protagonist. Who is he battling against? Himself? Another guy? What's his or her motivation?

What about my antagonist? What's their motivation? World domination? Or maybe it's something a little less...overdone. 

One thing I do not do, however, is write down my character's looks, favorite color, or the color of their phone case. While you may write these things down if you want to, they are usually not important to the plot of the story right away. 

You can always wait breathe life into your characters once you get started on your story. Then you can start thinking about things that set them apart from others, like hair color, likes and dislikes, and hobbies.  

Oh, and did I mention plot?

-Work on plot. You don't have to plan out every aspect of your plot right away, but there are two important things you need to remember:

The first is the inciting incident. What made your character's day different today than any other day? Why is their story important? Start off with the event that had an impact on them or leads to their later development in the story. 

The second is the character's goals. What do they hope to achieve by the end of the story? Or rather, what do you, as the author, want to change by the end of the story? It doesn't have to be something big, like them saving the world or banning chocolate from every country on the planet.  It could be something as simple as them needing to build a better relationship with their parents, or for them to gain self-confidence or a better perspective on life. 

You may also want to plan out how long you want your novel to be. Now by that, I don't mean you have to know exactly how many words this story is. But do you want it to be a 400 page long fantasy? Or a 200 page about a simple romance? That kind of thing is important to planning your plot. 

And then, finally, you get to the end of the story, where the plot is finished. A really good ending often leaves readers thinking, but still gives a sort of sense of finality. As in, you can tell that the story is over, but the message that you were trying to impart will stay with the reader for quite a while. 

And then of course, if you're writing about something you don't really know much about, you should do a lot of research before you actually start to write. If you're writing a story set in a country that is different from yours, study that country's culture and make sure you know enough about it to write the story of a character that actually lives in it. 

Make sure you know enough about your setting. If it takes place in the past, hit the library and do some research. If it takes place in the future or in another world, make some basic decisions. Who has the power? What kind of technology do they have there? What is the history of this world? How did it get like this?

The thing about planning, though, is that some people work better with as little of it was possible. You should know what you are doing, but you don't necessarily need an outline to succeed. At some point, you will eventually just have to stop planning and write. If you find yourself spending too many months planning without actually ever writing, it is time to either move on to another idea or to put pen to paper. (Or finger to keyboard).