Develop Your Story in 5 Steps


Fleshing out a story is both painstaking and fun. For me, it begins with turning an idea into a scenario.



1. Develop a scenario and focus. A scenario is a conflict or a simple event. What happens? How is it interesting? Does it have the potential for a focus? A story’s focus is what you want to draw attention to through your scenario. What are you passionate about? What disturbs you that disturbs no one else? What do you have to say that’s never been said before? Why are you saying it through this story in particular?

Example for Frankenstein:
Scenario: A man scientifically creates a hideous monster out of dead matter.
Focus: How people treat what they don’t understand. The essence of human nature. The consequences of arrogance. How our families affect us. Where the boundaries of scientific research are.

Example for The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe.
Scenario: Three siblings go through a wardrobe and find a magical world where a wicked witch has coldly reigned for far too long.
Focus: The consequences of sin despite its enticement. True forgiveness and sacrifice.

2. Consider specifics. Who is your audience? In other words, who will naturally gravitate to your story? How do you want them to feel while reading it? Who will publish your story and what is your goal word count?

3. Discover your characters and setting. Who are your main characters and where does the story take place? How do the setting and characters contribute to the story and its theme? How do the characters and setting interact with each other? What symbols or motifs do you have the opportunity to inconspicuously develop? Consider which point-of-view would best serve your vision for the story and how readers will feel about the story.

4. Find your plot twist. Of course, there may be small twists throughout the story, but one world-shattering twist near the end can give it more depth and complexity if you pull it off right. Consider the different types of twists and how they might affect the theme(s) you’re developing: a character realizes they aren’t who they thought they were, the villain is not who the readers thought or was one step ahead the whole time, and the story world is different than the readers thought (for example it was all a dream or it was all more deadly than the protagonist imagined).

5. Outline. Brainstorm main events that are key to the story and plot. Then brainstorm moments leading up to them that would make those main events more intense or powerful. For each scene, consider the characters’ goals, the obstacles to those goals (which will create conflict), their reactions to the resulting dilemmas, and what actions they will take that will create their goals for the next scene.



How do you flesh out story ideas? Does it differ based on the type of project (novel, short story, etc.)? Leave a comment below!

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