Planning Stories: A guide to getting a project from beginning to end.

More than once, this blog has asserted that a story is not the same as a character sketch or a vignette. It has characters and things move and change. Getting a story from the nugget of an idea to a completed manuscript is real work, and it does not happen without focused effort.

What follows is a guide to planning a story and getting it going. It can be used as a worksheet that is directly completed or held to the side as a strategy or approach.

THEME, MORAL, POINT
After someone reads your story, how will they be changed? How will they think (and perhaps act) differently BECAUSE of your story? Is there a quote you are illustrating? Is there a moral mandate you are promoting?

TIME SETTING/TECHNOLOGY
If a fantasy world, identify a range of historical periods that match your world’s technology level (e.g. Bronze Age, Industrial Revolution). While you can mix and match somewhat, having something to start with is a good idea.

If writing in the future, sketch out some of the science behind things in the story (ray guns, warp drives, etc.)

PHYSICAL SETTING
Where does the story take place. Depending on the story, you may need a detailed “world map” or just the sketch of a room.

POINT OF VIEW—also POINT OF VIEW CHARACTER(S)
For a short story, you better have a really good reason if you plan to change point of view.

CHARACTERS
Open a different document to be the “wiki” for your story. In a separate document, you can look back and forth easily as you write the story.

HOOK/ENDING
Writing to an ending always seems to guide the story, so starting with the ending (at least in a bullet form) is a good way to start. Starting with the HOOK probably feels more natural, but can leave you wandering around. Therefore…

COMPLICATING EVENT(S)What keeps the characters from simply waltzing through the story? What is in the way of them reaching the ending? 

BULLET POINT THE PLOT
To be honest, it is probably unlikely that you will OVER-PLAN the story. Bulletting the whole story before finishing the first page is NOT a bad idea. It will guide you and keep you on track. It will ALSO allow you to PLAN side-track sections!

WRITE, REVIEW, REVISE, and REPEAT
As you go toward the PLANNED ending, you will want to keep going back to review/revise what you have already written. You might need to change or add details in early scenes to set up and make later scenes make sense. 

FINAL EDIT(S)
So you are done. Now, fine every comma error, every misspelled word, and every other error… Fix them. Then go back and do it again, because you didn’t find them all. 

And get someone to do a critique!

Following this guide is not some formulaic approach to getting your story in order. It is a guide to the work you have to do.

Ultimately, writing a story of any length requires accomplishing the above tasks in some order. Following this guide will give you some structure to your planning and help you develop a roadmap to the story you wish to write.