Learn how to develop story concepts into wonderful tales
I often hear practicing writers ask, "What if I can't think of anything to write about?" Sometimes they even have notebooks full of observations, but they feel that none of them are good enough for a whole story and they are unsure of how to develop story ideas into amazing stories.
I felt the same way, but there are more opportunities or seeds for story ideas in our notebooks than we think. It could be a picture, an excerpt from a conversation we overheard over lunch, or a social problem that contradicts us. Once we have the seeds, how do we take these seeds and develop them into stories?
How to develop ideas for stories
I love hearing how writers develop story ideas into full-length projects. It's a part of the writing process that often remains mysterious. Sometimes a writer isn't sure how an idea is developing and then says, "Oh, I'm just writing," which makes the rest of us feel like a failure if we sit down and nothing comes.
Sarah Gribble shared a great way to sketch fiction, but what are you doing in the space between "I noticed this thing" and "sketching the story"?
Some might say, "Oh, that's the magic. You can't teach that. It's too formulaic. It just happens." That may be true, but I can't leave my classes of novelists waiting for the magic. I have to teach them how to do magic. (Do I have a great job or what?)
Here is one way I can help my students turn a story idea into an outline and draft.
Choose something specific
When students try to come up with ideas for stories, they inevitably pick something too big.
"I want to write a story about how technology makes us less human!"
"Global warming!"
"True love!"
"Space Opera!"
These are all themes and subjects that could make great stories, but they are too broad and too general. We have to get much more specific to grasp the humanity of these issues.
As I browse my notebooks, I am looking for a vivid picture, event, or conversation. Here is an example I found recently:
So nice to have my sister here. Strange conversation tonight that stayed with me. She said her children may not need to learn how to drive self-driving cars. She said, "They use information from satellites, traffic cameras, and even other cars to minimize user error and death." It's hard to imagine.
What interested me was the idea of minimizing deaths. Who can decide which person can be "minimized" so that the others can live in a car accident? I took the idea of self-driving cars together with one sentence from our conversation: "Minimizing deaths".
Find the heat
Once you've chosen a specific idea, find the hotspots in it or create one. A hot spot is a place where the temperature is higher or "a place of significant activity or danger. “This can be the inherent conflict in a conversation or the weirdness in a picture that can lead to or expose a disaster.
Again, the specificity is your friend. Some examples:
You hear a conversation: "So help me, if you go with the hamster and espresso machine, I'll …"
Or a headline from the news with a strange (and heartbreaking) picture: "A woman who has gouged out her own eye stood next to the church."
Both moments offer immense potential for storytelling because they lead us to ask "Why?" And "What if?" The emotions behind these little hot places can be great places to come up with an idea. If you can capture the emotions behind a moment, you can build any world you like around it.
A character as a hot spot
Maybe your idea is not a picture or an event, but a person. When starting out with a character, you can follow the same process by asking a few specific questions.
What does this character want from the moment we meet him?
How far is he willing to go to get it?
How can the fears, anger, or insecurity of this character get you into trouble?
You can shorten this by building from someone you know or using an actor or guy. Then get specific. I can start with my uncle John because he's weird and open to technology, but I have to change that and give the character some details that are only his.
Also, remember that you are not writing about a character's life, but about their problem. Certain, vivid details make the character jump off the side.
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Your story is not about your character's life. It's about your character's problem.
An example
What interested me most about talking to my sister was the idea of minimizing deaths. Who can decide which person can be "minimized" so that the others can live in a car accident?
I asked a few questions: who is responsible in a car accident involving a self-driving car? The driver or the car company? The tech company that created the algorithm? The satellite company reporting the data?
What if a new IT graduate buys a self-driving car and her grandfather disapproves of it? What if the same girl has a fatal accident?
There are a number of hotspots in this idea that can lead to conflict as a crash and the element of responsibility brings so many emotions with it. From here I am ready to outline my character's goal, conflict, and climax that will guide my story.
Once you've explored the possibilities, it's time to sketch out the key beats of your story and start drafting.
Do you have a method to get from seed to train? Do you have any tips on how to come up with story ideas? Let us know in the comments!
WORK OUT
Pick a specific picture, conversation, or event that you recorded (or remember well). Take fifteen minutes to complete these two steps and create a scene based on this idea.
First, identify (or create!) A hot spot in the idea. Where is there potential for conflict or emotion?
Then, write a scene where the character experiences the hot spot in order to achieve their goal. It could be a self-destructive attitude, a social or financial problem, or some other character, but it could be specific.
When you're done, share your practice in the comments. Be sure to leave feedback for your note-takers!
Sue Weems
