Developing Ideas into Stories | Writers Start Here

Lots of videos that teach you about writing only talk about the words on the page or the structure of the story. But, there's another step before that.

This video discusses how to come up with story ideas, how to write a story, how to plan a story, how to plan a book, and more. Coming up with an idea for a book is one thing, but how do you take those ideas and turn them into something ready to write? This video talks about the order of operations that I follow when writing a story.

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[DJMKFULLER]

My go to way of writing is: write a basic version of every major moment in the story, and then figure everything else the fuck out later.

[perogun]

some of my most crucial plot points came from very silly ideas

like i once had an idea for a villain group named after wine brands and it somehow led me to implementing the greek humorism theory as an actual in-universe concept

i've been working on my world for years and this idea came to existance last month

[quagsiremcgee]

14:53. I've collected a 60 page lore document. It initiated all the characters a bunch about the setting and a starting plot that doesn't do too much yet.

[psychoalice]

I actually got inspiration from one of my favorite YT artists. One of their ideas in particular, using colors for power levels and shaped creatures. A basic idea that can go a number of directions.

[tdd]

Wow. This somewhat mirrors a blog post I wrote recently entitled "Pantser-friendly Story Planning"

[samanthazerkle]

Thanks for the advice. I’ve never written a book before, but have always wanted to. I finally have an idea that I might build off of, but I’m almost afraid to try… I’m so new to this whole thing, but reading has always inspired me.

[NoShyira]

Abby Eamons has a great video on how to get an idea for a story you'll actually use.

The basic instructions are:
- Write down 4 stories you've loved recently (if you're going to write a short story, then write down 4 scenes instead).
- Label each with the 4 pillars of story: character, plot, genre, theme.
- Now go write that story.

So like twilight (the character of Alice), the hunger games (plot) acoutar (genre), and GoT (theme)

Uuuuuhm ok so

Alice Cullen is a fae creatures who can see whatever path the world is on at the moment. She ends up in a battle royale style game where she might die, but she's gained the notice of 2 hot guys (I'll be real, I didn't read ACOTAR sorry lol).
She must balance keeping to her personal code of conduct AND her lofty ambitions (GoT) to win the game and achieve uuuuh something sexy and valuable. A wish? The kingdom? Idk. You get the point.

[JustClaude]

I usually start a story with an image that intrigues me. A lot of them don't go anywhere, but I file them away in case I need them again. A hero searching a room of an abandoned manor is startled when an ogress bursts through the door waving an axe. He chides her for nearly giving him a heart attack, which is not what a wife is supposed to do to her husband.
Recently I had a dream about walking through a desert when a huge monster attacked me. When I squeezed its neck it collapsed into a pile of rats and mice. When I woke up I thought about who would create a spell to do that kind of thing, and why.
The rest of the story is building from there. It's coming together surprisingly well. When I realized that the mayor of the town is a noble person willing to make whatever sacrifices are needed to save his town, I knew he was the one who was going to get everyone killed if the heroes didn't defeat him.

[JasmineMGorton]

And I also might add motivation. As a writer myself I struggle with motivation to finish projects, let alone writing the, anymore

[Riotlovesdragons]

My inspiration for my newest tale comes from an dream. I was being yelled at by my writing professor because “abused prince who was cast out by his father joins a gang and gets therapy” is supposedly a cliche, and that I should have added romance. I yelled back that the entire point of the story was that he didn’t get with anyone.

I decided to use that, but twist it.

[thebratwurst]

I'm not developing a book, but rather a story driven RPG, where willpower is an in game stat that could improve healing and status condition resistance/potency. But then I thought, what if willpower had an actual effect in universe? My goal for the main cast of 8 is that no one is alike, no two characters have a similar background: A Half-cyborg, a trapped soul, a manifestation of "the darkness" gone rouge, etc. These unlikely heros don't really like each other, but need each other because they couldn't make through harsh worlds without each other. Over the course of the story they gain learn to appreciate one another and that "they might have been wrong", and that comradery brews even more willpower between everyone. By the end of the game (in the non-100% ending) you defeat the main villain, who's ultimate downfall is that they don't humble themselves, and might have been wrong.

[futurestoryteller]

The most typical avenue I take for developing a story is to start with a theme...

[kaitlinowens]

One of inspirations I got for a story was from the movie Tolkien when him and one of his friends are talking about ideas for stories and he says something and she suggests a story about a princess with what he said as her name about a princess who was bored with her life until he says that he thought that what he said said worked better as a name of a place.

I liked the idea of a princess who was bored with her life and went with the idea that she was bored because her father was limiting what she could learn despite the fact that she’s the heir to the kingdom. Thus started work on the runway princess.

[emidemi]

I have an ever-growing list of "story ideas" that I shamelessly steal from real-life scenarios/other stories I find really interesting. Every time I think of an idea, I think, "Where can I fit this one...?" Sometimes it's in a story I have already (mostly with worldbuilding stuff), but most of the time I just throw it onto the list and let it simmer until I have time for a new project.
In the short term, it does work; I probably have enough seeds for 6-8 books sitting in that document. In the long term... we'll have to wait and see lol.
I like the "braindump" idea. That's going to be very helpful for generating rough plots quickly, I think.

[PaulRWorthington]

Another excellent video!
(But I'd turn down the music background and chose non-vocals - it sometimes sounded like someone was singing in the next room.)

[Fhchxib]

Nice guy in video which I don't know your name but I already like you and followed your channel. I just want to say read a wizard of earthsea, it has great character, great world building and story and character arc, which I wanted to share with you because you taught me a thing or two

[colbyreader]

I was raised reading Orson Scott Card books over and over again. Some I can repeat mostly word for word. I read a lot of authors but his are my favorite because of their re-readability

[somegamerchick]

Some of my writing ideas come from what I'm writing. Some came from some of my favorite book series. One chapter and another book were inspired by two books I absolutely hate. But mostly, I just start writing the story and follow it along.

[Dragon]

I never really thought about the theme of my stor(ies) for a few years until I started watching videos like this. Never chose the theme, it just kind of happened, and it seems I'm REALLY interested in the concept of found-families and not fitting in/dealing with racism (basically).

[imjustvi]

Hiya! I'm not a real writer, I'm more of a person who writes on occasion for fun, but this is how I write:
I like the serial format. Maybe this is my short attention span, maybe it's because that's how most online writing or fanfic sites work, I don't know but I prefer to live in the present than the future. Anyway, with this style of writing, you don't really go through a lot of drafts, just some simple revisions.
I know it's not for everybody, I'm just one of those mfs who likes to spitball my stories and gain inspiration along the way. Can't write with only one idea, but often times, one's all I have! One's enough for a start, though, and then I can add to it when I think of more.

The starts that I won't/can't finish never see the light of day lol. Seeing the light of day is when the commitment for it starts.