From Idea to Story: 3 Methods to Develop Your Story Idea

I have this great idea. But that's all it is. Just an idea, not (yet) a story. It needs a beginning, middle, and end to become a story. The mysterious (and intimidating) process of fleshing out the idea into a story — there's the challenge. 

How do I develop a story from just an idea? There are three ways to develop a story, depending on your preference, mood, or — in some cases — the idea itself: the Outliner, Pantser, and Character methods.

1. The Outliner method involves following a Narrative Structure (also called a Plot Diagram or a Beat Sheet). There are many narrative structures, but they typically involve three Acts which we could call Act I: the Challenge; Act II: the Complications; and Act III: the Conclusion.
   
   
2. The Pantser method (writing “from the seat of your pants”) lets the story grow organically from the idea, discovering the story as you write (and rewrite, and rewrite).
   
   
3. The Character method takes a central character through a character arc — or transformation — based on the idea, developing the story around this character transformation.

Let me give you a little more detail about each of these three methods, and you can decide which is best for you. 

Before we start ...
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The 3 Ways to Develop an Idea into a Story

You can use the Outliner, Pantser, or Character method (or a combination):

OUTLINER

If you're someone who prefers plotting the story, then follow this three-act narrative structure:

This is a very simple outline: challenge, complications, conclusion. Let's flesh it out a little bit.

I call the outline in the diagram below the StoryBuzz 3x3 FictionMap structure. Each of the 3 acts has 3 key story elements (i.e., 3x3 = 9 plot elements), and each act and each element starts with the letter ‘C,’ just because alliteration is fun. 

• Act I, the Challenge - introduces the context or “setup” of the story, which includes the situation and setting in the world of the characters “before” (sometimes called the “ordinary world”.) Then, some form of catalyst (the “inciting incident,” “trigger event,” “call to adventure,” “opportunity”) turns everything upside down. Your characters have a will of their own, so before they go along with the change, show them reacting to the catalyst, which typically involves some form of initial refusal, debate, then acceptance and commitment to go forward, which we can call the conversion, moving the story along into Act II.
  
  
• Act II, the Complications - focuses first on establishing the contrasts of the “upside-down” world your characters now find themselves in because of the catalyst from Act I. The contrasts with the "ordinary world" can be external, dramatic, and action-oriented -- think action scenes, victories, defeats, betrayals, twists and turns -- or can be more quiet, internal, relationship-oriented elements (and ideally both external and internal contrasts carry the story forward). They build to a crisis moment where a major turning point appears to be either a big victory or a big defeat. The crisis is followed by additional conflicts (more set pieces, chase scenes, bad guys closing in, consequences from the crisis point, higher stakes, bigger threats, and more and more problems stacking up, playing out the major conflicts of the story) before entering Act III.
  
  
• Act III, the Conclusion - where one or more insights, revelations, reversals, or another form of change moves the story forward until everything comes to a head (the climax), followed by a resolution or “denouement,” an opportunity to explain and reflect, giving closure to the story. In some cases, you may choose to add a cliffhanger if, for example, you are writing a series of stories and want to hook the reader for the next installment.

As inspiration, here is a very short (flash fiction) example of a story that was written by using the "Outliner" method (and the FictionMap 3x3 narrative structure as a guide): "Getaway".  After the story, there is a link to a blog post that shows how I used the "Outliner" method to develop the idea into the story.

The benefit of the “Outliner” method is the structure it provides. But that is also the drawback because it can feel constrained and not very inspiring.

PANTSER

If you are someone who feels that too much structure is stifling, or perhaps you just need to write your way into the story, then, by all means, try writing from the “seat of your pants” (I.e., be a “Pantser”).

One way of doing this is to just make a very simple list on a single sheet of paper (let’s call it your “idea-catcher”) with a few main character names (just the names, nothing else, no character profile), and perhaps a few notes of ideas for elements of the story, then jump in: write the first scene, then the next, and as more ideas for story elements or characters come up, just put brief keywords on that idea-catcher sheet of paper so that you’re not missing out on good ideas, but also not slowing down the creative process. (Of course, the idea-catcher doesn’t have to be a physical sheet of paper, by all means, use your favorite electronic note-taking app if that’s your thing.)

If you get inspired to flesh out a section that comes later in the story, just insert a few notes in the manuscript about what needs to happen between the scenes you’ve already written and this later scene, and then skip forward to write that later scene (without having yet filled out the missing pieces in the middle).

For example, if you are inspired by how the story should end, go ahead and write something like “** MORE STUFF HAPPENS **.” Now go ahead, skip to the end, write the ending, then go back and fill in all that “more stuff” in the middle.

As inspiration, here is a flash fiction example of a story that was written by using the "Pantser" method: "His Wounds Green". After the story, there is a link to a blog post that shows how I used the "Pantser" method to develop the idea into the story.

The benefit of the “Pantser” method is its sense of freedom, playfulness, and fun. This makes it a very attractive way to start the process of writing a story. The drawback is getting stuck down a blind alley, then abandoning the idea as a half-finished story.

So, when (yes, that is when -- not if) you feel stuck, take a break, get a cup/glass/bottle of your favorite beverage, then try writing some more, or go back and re-read and rework what you’ve written so far, and keep adding ideas for story elements and characters to your idea-catcher cheatsheet.

If you really get stuck, consider stepping back and using the Outliner or Character methods (or both) to get yourself unstuck. Since by now you have written yourself into the story, you will likely have a much easier time creating a sketch of an outline or describing the character arc for one or more of your main characters.

CHARACTER

If the Outliner method feels too constricting and the Pantser method feels too loose, try the Character method.

Pick a character (usually your protagonist or antagonist, but it could be any central character that you really want to flesh out). Now consider both your character and the story idea, and freeform write about how this character will go through a transformation (a character arc) based on your core story idea.

It can be helpful to think about it as: before (who is your character before the story), after (who does the character become at the end), and the turning point (what is the moment somewhere in the story when your character will begin turning from the “before” to the “after” version)? Picture each of those key points as a scene, an image of the character, before, after, and at the turning point. See it as three snapshots, freeze-frames from a movie, and describe your character (and perhaps other characters that appear) in each of those three snapshots.

It can be helpful to think about what your character WANTS versus what your character actually NEEDS, and show how the transformation brings your central character from focusing on these “wants” (in the “before” snapshot) to recognizing and making a commitment to the real “needs” (in the “turning point” snapshot), and how the character is at the end when those needs are met (in the “after” snapshot). (And, of course, in a downbeat story, the character may not actually end up having their needs met, but at least they “died trying’.)

Now, step back and think about what other characters are needed in order to make this happen (who will help, hinder, or in some way challenge and push your central character go through this transformation). They don’t need to have names yet, just what their role will be during the story, and how they will affect and interact with your central character.

For example, in the story of the frog prince, this other character is "The Princess," and her role is to kiss the frog so that he becomes a prince.

Next think about what story elements (action, victories, defeats, betrayals, twists, turns, etc.) are needed to make your central character go through this transformation.

With this, you can either start writing (as in the “Pantser” method), or you may want to sketch a simplified outline first (as in the “Outliner” method).

As inspiration, here is a flash fiction example of a story that was written by using the "Character" method: "What Could Be Worse?". After the story, there is a link to a blog post that shows how I used the "Character" method to develop the idea into the story.

The benefit of the “Character” method is that you get to know the central character and the story idea comes to life through a personal journey. The drawback, especially in some genre fiction (ex. mystery/thrillers, science fiction) could be that it is really the plot’s twists and turns, perhaps along with setting & world-building, not a single character’s journey, that will make the idea come alive.

The FictionMap: One Way (of Many) To Structure Your Plot

Other than at the very simple level of the “three acts” (which goes back to Aristotle, by the way), there isn’t just one single “standard” plot. Even the “three acts” is not universally agreed on, and many prefer a “four acts” structure (essentially cutting the second act into two parts).

However, I have put together the information in the table below so you can see that there are in fact a lot of similarities between different takes on narrative structure. By seeing these different versions of narrative structure side by side, I think you will get a better sense of the different ways you can think about your plot.

As you can see from the above table, the three-act structure I propose (3x3 FictionMap with 3 acts and 3 key elements for each act) is a simplified version of other, more complex narrative structures:

• Blake Snyder’s “Save the Cat Beat Sheet” has 15 beats. Although this structure formally uses three acts, there is a split into Act IIa (up to beat #9 “Midpoint) and Act IIb after that beat, so it’s essentially a four-act structure.
  
  
• John Truby’s “22 Building Blocks”— as the name indicates — has 22 plot elements.
  
  
• Christopher Vogler’s “Hero’s 2 Journeys” has 12 plot points, but for each plot point, there is an external and internal dimension, so 24 plot elements to keep in mind.

There are several other structures, and in a future post, I will include a more detailed analysis of several of them.

I encourage you to select at least one of these narrative structures and actually see how it fits with your idea, whether you actually use this to develop a full outline (the “Outliner” method), as inspiration when you feel stuck as you write freely without an outline (the “Pantser” method), or as a way to think through a main character’s transformation journey (the “Character” method).

Resources

These are some great resources if you want to dig deeper into developing your idea into a story, with a focus on the "Outliner" method:

MY FAVORITE ALL-PURPOSE RESOURCE

The Writer's Treasure Chest - everything in one place, curated, organized

SAVE THE CAT!

These are focused on screenwriting, but the structure works for any story (novel, short story, film, television):

• Save the Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need -- This is the first in the series, laying out the structure with plenty of detail. 
  
  
• Save the Cat Goes to the Movies: The Screenwriter's Guide to Every Story Ever Told -- This is a great companion to the original book because it applies the structure to movies you are (most likely) familiar with (across different genres.) It really makes the narrative structure come alive. 
  
  
• Save the Cat! Writes a Novel: The Last Book On Novel Writing You'll Ever Need -- This is actually not written by Blake Snyder (who sadly passed away in 2009), but by a novelist, for novelists. It "translates" the screenwriting methodology to novel writing.

22 BUILDING BLOCKS

• The Anatomy of Story: 22 Steps to Becoming a Master Storyteller -- This is an excellent book by a story consultant to the film industry (films include Scream, Shrek, and Sleepless in Seattle). Movie studios bring in John Truby as a "script doctor" to fix scripts that have problems, so consider getting his counsel via his book.

THE HERO's 2 JOURNEYS

• The Hero's 2 Journeys -- This is an audio workshop on Christopher Vogler's and Michael Hauge's practical application of Joseph Campbell's "hero's journey", combining the "Outer Journey" and the "Inner Journey."
  
  
• The Writer's Journey -- This started as a memo Christopher Vogler wrote for Disney Animation executives regarding "The Lion King", and evolved into this comprehensive theory of story structure.

BEYOND THE PLOT

These are blog posts that may be helpful as you write your story:

• Write Fiction Faster! — How to Speed Up Your Story Writing 
  
  
• Need a Great Idea for Your Next Story? Try the Story IDEA Formula
  
  
• How to Write Characters Who Stick in the Reader's Mind 
  
  
• What Makes a Good Story? — Great Scenes! Here's How to Write Them
  
  
• Make Your Story Sing — Write Great Dialogue!
  
  
• Flash Fiction: How To Use It To Supercharge Your Writing 
  
  
• Blast Through Writer's Block: How to Get Unstuck 

FREE COURSE, GUIDE AND WORKBOOK

Do you want to write fiction faster, while practicing your craft and your writing process to consistently get better? Check out this link to the "Write Fiction Faster ... and better" guide and workbook, which comes with a companion course with 23 bite-sized video lessons and 4 worksheets.