Now that you have a pretty good story idea your all set for writing that story. Or are you? Yeah its really not that easy. You need to go through with your outlining process and firstly turn your idea into a story. Sometimes after you get an idea, the rest of it is so easy. Its natural. The story goes where it’s supposed to go. The other times it does not. The other times your stuck with that one idea. You have no clue where to go with this, and then after a while you decide this story is not for you. And that just sucks. Today I’ll be sharing with you my top tips on growing your idea into a story.
But before we start check out my post on how to come up with a story idea if you haven't already this post is about how you can expand on your idea not come up with one
1. Write it down
Use a whiteboard or a notebook and write this idea down. This could really help. Sum up your story in one or two lines. Make it as short as you can. Looking at your idea can do wonders. Read it out to yourself, this can help too.
2. Brainstorm
Good old fashioned brainstorming! Its really not that easy. To brainstorm properly you cant be afraid of writing down really stupid sounding ideas. But here’s the thing, it doesn’t matter. You are the most creative when you let go of these inhibitions. No one else as to see these crazy sounding ideas, they’re just for you. And besides most fantasy story ideas are crazy. Sixteen year old girl saves the world, we all love this idea so much and are so used to it that we don’t stop to consider how ridiculous it really sounds. But it does. And we all love this so much. Its fun to read about things we know can’t happen. Crazy ideas transports us to a crazy world where we go on crazy adventures which is so much fun! I mean how else can we go on epic and crazy quests.
3. Plot backwards
You may have an idea for an ending, start from there. How did the characters end up there. Play the ending in your head like a movie and expand on it. what scenes led up to this scene. Go over to the starting of this story this way. You may have a scene in the middle, that’s okay too. You can plot the story however you want. And the ending is so much more interesting than the straying and middle.
4. Learn more about your characters
Creating characters before you plot your story can be really helpful. If you know your characters well you can plot better. You know more about their skills and weaknesses. You know what situations you can put them in. What will hurt them what will make them happy? Whatever it is, it’s a scene. And it’ll be an awesome scene. Make sure that whatever scene you want to write has a purpose in your story. But we’ll tackle this step later. So, conclusion is learn more about your story and put your characters in difficult situations. Isn’t that what we all love so much.
5. Ask questions
Now that you have a couple of scenes and characters ask questions. How did they end up in this scene? Whatever happens in your scene should really affect your character, in whatever way it is good or bad. How does this affect him or her? Did their hopes and desires change after this scene? Is there any real significant change? Either they go into a scene and come out even worse that they were before or better. They can’t be the same. If they are the same there is no purpose for this scene in your story.
6. Books, movies and tv shows
This has to be one of my favorite things to do on this list. Its so much fun and it helps boost your creativity. What’s your favorite movie? Favorite book? Favorite tv show? Watch this and analyze your favorite things in it. Don’t copy it. seriously don’t. Sometimes its hard to see that your story is exactly like someone else’s. Really avoid this. It might not be such a bad idea to let your family or friends take a look ta this just to make sure.
7. Music
Just like the brainstorming process, music is great here too. Songs tell a story. Pick out your favorite songs and figure out what your interpretation of this song is. You could base a scene of off this. You do love the song for a reason. Music is so awesome and I love listening to music even while writing.
8. Eliminate
Any crazy tings that don’t fit in with your plot? Yah cut that out. Any awesome ideas that don’t fit in with your story? Save it for later. You could also write a sort story based on this. Pick your favorites and write them down in a couple of sentences on a post it. Arrange these post its on a whiteboard, table or just a wall. Rearrange this the way you want. And if your lucky you probably have your chapters. And if you’re not, there’s still a chance you have a few chapters. Repeat the process all over again. Brainstorm, ask questions and listen to your music. The questions especially are very important at this point. How did your protagonist get to that point they’re at? Could their change be more gradual. Are there any dark moments you want to add to your story? Do that.
9. Don’t procrastinate!!
When nothing works, stop procrastination. Pull up a word dox and begin to write your story. You’ll need to do a lot of editing but there’s a huge chance that plotting isn’t for you. I plot my stories before I write them but the actual story always derives from my outline. Maybe that’s how you work too. If you’re serious about writing your story you are probably ready to put In the effort. This method is going to take so much more effort during the editing process but your story might just turn out so much better.
I hope you guys enjoyed this and this
really helped you. If it did let me know. Sign up to my newsletter to get more awesome content straight to your newsletter. I also have free series templates which will make your outlining process so much easier!! Subscribe and grab them now Thank you so much for reading on to the end.