Ah, the common, ever frustrating question. You have an idea, you have characters, but where do you begin?

Well, there are a few things to take into consideration before you start writing anything. I’ll try to make this as confusing as possible.

Do you have a solid idea?

What I mean by that is, do you know what you want to write about? Well sure, that’s why you’re even here, right? The thing you should think about is this: Is my idea vague? Can I get a plot from this? In most cases, the answer to that second question is yes, so I’ll skip over that for now.

The first question is important. It’s your starting place. If you have an idea, make it concrete. Develop it some more. What do you want your basic plot to be? Are there any themes you want to cover? Plot is the most essential element in every story – without it, you just have a hot mess disguised as a story. Your plot doesn’t have to be super complicated, mind you. Sometimes the best plots are the simple ones. It’s always nice to have a healthy balance, though.

Also keep in mind that no story is completely original. Let’s face it, because it’s true. You have to pull inspiration from somewhere. The key is to make your story unique enough that it doesn’t sound like you plagiarized a novel or other author’s story. It could be anything from your characters to plot twists or relationships in your story. I’ll touch on all those topics later.

So don’t beat yourself up if you think your work sounds like something else you’ve read/seen/heard before. It’s bound to happen – we’re not all creative geniuses.

Okay, so you think you have a plot. Now what?

Characters?

Do you have your characters established? Before you begin your story, you need to know what each and every one of your characters is going to be like and the role they will play. Before I write, I make sure I have everyone from the main character down to the passerby on the street figured out. Reason being that, for me, characters help you develop your plot.

I’ll go into more detail about characterization and whatnot later. It’s a lot to cover. But what I mean by characters developing your plot is that you have to ask yourself even more essential questions.

What kind of backgrounds do my characters have and how do they affect my story? I’ve put them in this situation, but why would they be in it in the first place? What would they do if faced with something else? Why would they say/do that? Why, why, why? “Why” is your starting point.

Do you have your entire plot figured out?

Never, ever, ever begin writing a story unless you know exactly what you will be writing about from start to finish. Yes, this will take time and it might get frustrating. But it’s even more frustrating when you’re halfway through a story and suddenly have no idea where you want to go with it. I wrote an Infinite story a while ago that I’m discontinuing because I don’t know where I’m going with it. I didn’t plan far enough ahead.

There is a basic structure that all stories follow:

Exposition → Rising Action → → Falling Action → Resolution

The exposition is your introduction. You introduce your major character or characters and set up your story. The key to a good exposition is to make it interesting. You shouldn’t be giving us all the information about your character in a list or a chart (word of the wise: character charts? Don’t even think about it), but instead give us a glimpse of what the character(s) are like. Help us get to know them a little, but only just a little.

Next is the rising action. Your rising action is the chunk of the story that’s going to build up to the . In any story, it should pull the reader in. This is also the part of the structure that you can use to develop your characters a little more.

The is obviously the most important part. This is known as the turning point in the story – whether it be an emotional turning point for your character or a turning point in events in the story like, say, somebody important dying or turning evil or something (also known as plot twists). All the prior events of your story should lead up to this moment.

After that comes falling action. These are the events after the that lead into the resolution. The falling action is the part of your story where you tie up any loose ends or reveal information that helps the reader understand parts of the plot that may have been confusing.

Finally, the resolution. It’s exactly what it sounds like – it’s your conclusion. It could be anywhere from a chapter to an ending paragraph, but it should neatly wrap up your story and give the reader closure. The resolution should never be left open ended, unless you’re going to write a sequel.

When it comes to developing your plot, you don’t always have to start at the beginning. Crazy, I know, but it’s true! A lot of times, I start at the end and figure out how I’m going to get there. In my experience, the beginning and the end are easy. It’s the middle that really sneaks up on you.

Like I said, take your time. There’s no rush to get anything done. Would you rather have a story updated quickly with less quality, or a story that’s well planned and well written but maybe not as quick to update? I would choose the second option every time.  

What if I can’t figure out what to write in this chapter?

It all depends on how you want to break your stories up. As much as I don’t want to constantly use myself as an example, I can’t think of any others at the moment. When I start the story development process, I tend to plan my plot by chapter. I don’t always do it, but it’s been helpful lately. I’ve found that I usually end my chapters in some sort of cliffhanger or lead in to the next. When I’m figuring out my plot, I usually think of where to break up my chapters.

This is by no means mandatory. None of this is. They’re called tips for a reason. Each author has different methods and different styles. Figure out what the best way to plan is for you as an individual. Don’t copy someone else’s process if it’s no help to you.

This is just your basic starting place. I’ll be going into more detail about planning and techniques and all that later. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, it’s a lot to cover.