Story Building Blocks
When you want to write a story, you may already have some ideas about its characters or the setting or the plot. Use the following questions to guide you to incorporating your ideas into your overall story.
Characters
Questions to explore
What is your character’s story goal? What change does your story want to see happen by the end of the story?
What makes your character unique or interesting? Consider unique or unusual strengths and flaws.
How do your character’s strengths benefit their world? What allows them to thrive in their setting?
How do your character’s flaws create difficulty for them?
Does your character’s goal conflict with the goals of other characters? If, not how can you tweak some of your character’s goals so they do not align with those of other characters?
How do your character’s strengths and flaws cause conflict with others?
Setting
Questions to explore
What details make this setting unique or interesting? How is it different (or the same) as your reader’s everyday world?
What kind of characters thrive in this setting? Do any of your characters have qualities or strengths that give them an advantage to living in this setting?
What kind of characters struggle in this setting? Do any of your characters have qualities or flaws that make it difficult to live in this setting?
Are there aspects of this world that can create conflict? For example, there might be food shortages, dangerous storms, or dangerous routes.
Note: sometimes a character departs their ordinary world and sets off (voluntarily or not) to a new setting. Their strengths and flaws may help or hinder in the new setting.
Plot Events
Questions to explore
Are there any particular scenes you’d like to play out in the story? If so, how do the characters and setting fit in?
How can you maximize the conflict for those plot events? Can you tweak the plot event so that it becomes a bigger struggle for one or more characters? Can you tweak the setting to create more hardship in this scene?