Story ideas come to us in all different ways. Sometimes our spark of a story idea is a character facing a dilemma or making a hard choice. Other times, we might have an idea for a world we want to explore. This is especially common with fantasy or science fiction writers. Another common place for writers to begin is with plot. You might know that you want to tell a story about a girl who’s gone missing or a family going through a divorce. We also sometimes generate story ideas by developing a concept (Game of Thrones, but in space! Gilmore Girls meets The Godfather).
Whichever way your story comes to you, one thing is always true: There’s a lot you don’t know yet.
Maybe you have a fantastic storyworld or magic system idea . . . but no idea what happens in this world or who’s using this magic.
Or you know you want tell a story about a specific kind of character . . . you just don’t know what that character really wants or what will stand in their way.
Or you know you want to tell a closed-door murder mystery with a supernatural twist . . . but you don’t know who the dead body is. Or the murderer. Or the supernatural elements that you want to include.
Here’s is a very simplified explanation of how I usually proceed when I have a new book idea:
- Have shiny new idea—yay!
- Make notes about my new idea and figure out where the story begins.
- Write a chapter or two.
- Write a synopsis.
- Write the rest of the book and live happily ever after.
I’m in the early drafting stages of a story idea right now, and that cute bulleted list is NOT how things have progressed! The idea came to me as a concept, which is very helpful for pitching an idea to your agent or editor, but I’ve noticed can be more challenging for developing the idea into an actual story. There was a lot I didn’t know.
So, first I started making my story notes. I love handwritten notes for brainstorming. I don’t know why, really, but it’s my happy place. I use question marks and the word “maybe” very liberally in these notes. I’ll write things like, “Maybe my character has a brother who has diabetes, and she needs the money to take care of him? There’s an age gap between them, and she she feels responsible. Maybe she feels guilty about him having health issues?” Writing my ideas with question marks releases that perfectionistic tendency inside me, the one that says, “Only solid ideas belong on the page.” She has a very loud voice, but using “maybe” and the question marks can help her calm down.
I made all the notes I could, but I still couldn’t figure out where the story really began. I attempted a first chapter, but I could tell it wasn’t right.
Remember that writing advice you’ve known since grade school, when a teacher would tell you that you should “write what you know”? I thought, “What if, instead of struggling to write an ill-fitting chapter one, I instead write something that I know happens in the story? What if I write what I know?”
I knew at some point fairly early in the story, my main character was going to be interviewed by a private investigator about an event that took place before the book opened. So, I labeled a section of my Word doc “drafts” and started with my character walking into that interview. I wrote about seven pages of that . . . and I still didn’t know where the story started.
I asked, “What else do I know?”
I knew my main character had a special relationship with another character. While I don’t think their interactions will have much page time during my novel, I still need to understand the dynamic of their friendship. So, I started with the first time they really talked, and I free wrote various vignettes from that moment on. I wrote about 7,000 words in this manner. No real chapter breaks or scene breaks, just exploring. And as I was approaching an event that’s a major plot point, I had the, “Aha! The story should open here,” moment. Finally!
This made for an odd looking document. I’d written 10,000 words, which included a failed chapter one, about 7,000 words of backstory, and then another chapter one. My headings looked like this:
I’ve never had a manuscript file look this way, but for this idea, it’s what worked. Instead of fixating on allllllll the things I didn’t yet know, I decided to write what I did.
As a side note, one other thing I’m trying with this WIP is to write 1-2 sentence summaries about what each scene is. I’m hoping that will help me later when I need to find scenes quickly to change something or double-check a detail. Another benefit is it helps me to think about my purpose in including the scene. One of our Go Teen Writers Community members made a really helpful video about how to use Headings in Word. Thank you, Hannah! (This can be done in Google Docs as well.)
Do you think this method could work for you sometimes? Do you tend to write your stories in linear fashion (beginning to end) or do you tend to jump around and write whatever scene strikes your fancy and then fit it together later?
Stephanie Morrill writes books about girls who are on an adventure to discover their unique place in the world. She is the author of several contemporary young adult series, as well as two historical young adult novels, The Lost Girl of Astor Street and Within These Lines. Within These Lines was a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard selection, as well as a YALSA 2020 Best Fiction for Young Adults pick. Since 2010, Stephanie has been encouraging the next generation of writers at her website, GoTeenWriters.com, which has been on the Writer’s Digest Best Websites for Writers list since 2017. She lives in the Kansas City area, where she loves plotting big and small adventures to enjoy with her husband and three children. You can connect with Stephanie and learn more about her books at StephanieMorrill.com, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
I definitely relate to having a bunch of “maybe”s and question marks in my brainstorming notes. Sometimes it’s hard to just settle on one idea.
I think I’m going to try this method. I’ve been having a hard time nailing the POV for my contemporary WIP. Do you have any tips on whether to write in present or past tense?
I’m no expert, but I have noticed more YA contemporary is in the present tense. 🙂
Cathryn raises a good point, that different genres have different conventions. First person present tense is extremely popular in YA, but there are still many third person past tense books in that space as well. It really depends on what voice you feel best fits the book you’re writing.
It’s definitely worth a try. I have a lot of obscure things that sound cool but I don’t know how to turn them into a story. Often times a job – like a mineral watercolor maker or a figure skating costume designer. Or a concept like I’d love to write something with the feeling of the show Heartland. None of those things are stories & it gets frustrating. I just hope one day I find the stories where they fit.
Yes, that can be very frustrating! Sometimes I try writing those bits of ideas on index cards, shuffling them, and pulling them out two or three at a time. Sometimes they combine in interesting ways. Other times, they don’t!
I use headings for chapter titles (usually Chapter One, Chapter Two, and so on). I keep a separate file for my outline, which goes into further detail for each chapter. Of course, the outline isn’t always accurate all the way through, because things do change along the process of writing, but it’s a good place for me to play with ideas and see what potential plot points could work well.
Yes, having a separate document like that can be very helpful! That often makes me feel more free to experiment with a plot idea.
I’ve definitely experienced moments like this. I scrapped and rewrote the first 13,000 words of my WIP before I found an opening that worked and ironed out some of the plot line.
I had a very similar experience as well. Spent two or three years working on a WIP, with several thousand words (this was before I started counting), and got literally nowhere important before I scrapped the draft and started again, making significant progress within a few months. Funny of things like that work.
“Maybe”s and question marks are what I do during brainstorming too. I had a concept idea a few weeks ago from two of my favorite story characters: Arsene Lupin and Sherlock Holmes!
Sometimes I get a character without a story, or a story… but only tiny bits without a denoument, without an (obvious) antagonist… Very often I get settings without a story!!!
For me, it’s really hard to get rid of something I’ve worked hard on. Like an opening that took me forever to come up with, only to find that it’s just not the right cake mix to use in the cake.
This is so interesting, Steph. I will remember this next time I’m stuck. I have been writing scene clues in my headings. I love using headings in Word to help me. They’re a great tool.
Wow!! I can’t wait to try this with a current project!! Thank you for sharing! This novel has lots of those tidbits I know and a thousand more I don’t! It’s an idea that stemmed from a nonfiction book I’ve worked on for 12 years, until an award-winning author and editor suggested turning it into a novel. I grabbed a short story I wrote even before that and did some freewriting (personal brainstorming) and bang! The ideas hit for plot twists and characters and more … but no threads weaving it into one cohesive novel. I’m having surgery next week and will be out of commission (off my feet) for several weeks … a perfect time to work seriously on it, but I had no idea how. Now, I DO! Woohoo!
I tend to start writing a story, and then realize I haven’t thought it out enough and have no idea what’s going to happen. Then I usually go back to brainstorming, or sometimes I just start writing random scenes with the characters in them and hope that I find the plot again.
My story ideas usually start as characters with no plot, storyworld, or antagonist. When that happens, I draw. Sometimes I draw the characters I’ve already thought of, but sometimes I start drawing a map, or some weapons, clothing, or just random characters. As I draw I think about the idea, and usually something comes to me.
Like for a new idea I had a few days ago. I thought of some characters (a cheerful, optimistic, ever so slightly gullible newly undead ghoul, an inquisitive little vampire, and a good-hearted but inclined to be pessimistic ghost). I had a bit of a plot (I knew they would be escaping from the creepy haunted house they live in), but no antagonist, no storyworld, and no other characters. So I started drawing. I’ve been thinking a lot about characters who have been turned to stone, and I thought it would be fun to draw a white-marble angel. And then after I drew him, I drew an obsidian angel. And while I drew I thought more about my undead people. In my mind the two groups of characters got mixed up together, and I ended up with an interesting story that I am really excited to write about?!
That sounds really cool, Ainsley! I like drawing out characters and maps and stuff for my stories too. It helps alot to flesh characters out!
Thank you! It really helps to be able to see characters, especially when trying to describe them.