How to Plan a Story
When writing a story, there are many ways to start. You can start writing without any direction, you can make an outline, or do all the above and just go for it.
When I get a brand-new idea, I usually write it all down in one go. This is how I make sure I don’t forget anything, and I get all my ideas on the page. Next, I build an outline. Today, I want to show you how I come up with a simple outline!
The Character
I always start with a character first. I pick a name, age, and their personality. This can be random, it can have meaning... whatever you like!
Character Name: Lizzie Madison
Age: 24
Personality: Chipper, thoughtful, overwhelmed
Next, what do you think I should pick? You might be thinking about what she wears, what she likes to eat, maybe how she talks... but I want to guide you to something even more important. What does Lizzie want? You can dress your character up and make them very detailed, but what does that have to do with the story? Will the color of her shirt push the plot along? I don’t think so.
Lizzie’s wants: Lizzie wants to get a promotion at work.
Now, in real life and in a story, the character can’t always get what they want. If it was that easy, there would be no story to tell. For the next question, I ask myself, what is stopping Lizzie from achieving her goal?
Lizzie’s Obstacles: A mean co-worker, Lizzie is often late to work, and Lizzie is a klutz.
Poor Lizzie, it sounds like she can’t catch a break. Next, I ask myself, what is Lizzie willing to do to get what she wants?
Lizzie’s abilities: She kisses up to management, she is a good worker, she will try to revenge prank her mean co-worker.
Now, we know what Lizzie is trying to do and how she is struggling. Let’s look at the details provided above and expand on them. Instead of adding brand new ideas to the story, I always build off of the prior details, so everything feels natural. Here are some questions I came up with based on the above information to help me brainstorm my plot.
Why is Lizzie late to work?
What kind of klutz is Lizzie?
Why is Lizzie’s co-worker mean? What do they do to Lizzie?
What is Lizzie’s manager like?
What role does Lizzie work?
Where does Lizzie work?
What prank does Lizzie pull?
Then, I answer everything to flesh out these ideas. Keep your answers simple.
My answers: Lizzie is late to work because she has to babysit her little brother while her mom is at work. Lizzie often rushes around and tries to get things done too fast (in an effort to perform well) but this can lead to spills and accidents on the job. Lizzie’s co-worker likes to increase Lizzie’s messes. The co-worker (Fred) thinks she is not qualified for a promotion they are both competing for. Fred will spill stuff on purpose and trip Lizzie.
Let’s pause and look at my above answers. They all build off each other. For example, Lizzie babysitting shows responsibility. I chose this to make her late. And if she is trying to do well and means well, she might rush around to get everything done at once which can lead to her making mistakes and being a general klutz. If Lizzie is trying her best but is struggling to get a promotion, a potential obstacle can be a jealous co-worker that wants her to lose.
Lizzie works at a fast-food restaurant and in order to get back at her co-worker, I imagine she will reverse the tables. Set up a spill or accident so bad that Fred gets reprimanded. Being a sweet girl, Lizzie will probably be convinced into this path or revenge by other co-workers that are her friends.
Another important detail is that things never go right on the first try. For example, if Lizzie tries to prank Fred, it’ll probably mess up. This will lead to her situation getting worse and her chances of promotion being lowered. Then she will have to try to recover and figure out how to get out of her situation. Maybe she can learn how to be the bigger person here and know it is wrong to stoop to the mean coworker’s level. To try and try again is important in storytelling.
From only a few questions, we now have a whole story and a wealth of details! When I get to this part of the story, I usually write out a tiny outline focusing on the start, end, rise of conflict, and the climax of a story. Here is my mini outline:
Lizzie is running late to work again after her mom gets home from her job.
Lizzie arrives at work and slips in a spill. Enter Fred who laughs at her.
Lizzie tries to get through the day. Manager announces they are leaving and will be promoting someone to take their spot.
At home, Lizzie tells her mom about the job while helping with brother.
Next day at work, Lizzie is working with a co-worker friend. They discuss the position and how to stop Fred from getting it. Fred comes in and is mean.
Lizzie sets up a prank to get back at Fred.
Lizzie launches her prank.
Lizzie’s prank fails and the whole kitchen is a mess.
The manager punishes all three workers.
The next day, Lizzie comes to work earlier than normal and overhears Fred talking bad about her.
Lizzie mopes at work. Fred is mean but takes it too far and does something in front of a customer. Lizzie stands up to Fred and defends the customer.
Fred gets fired for his actions and Lizzie is apologized to by the manager.
Lizzie gets promoted.
Does this sound like the most exciting story? Probably not and it is so cheesy! But I wanted to show you how you can simply build an outline from scratch. From here, you can add more details and really flesh out what you want to see happen in the story. If it is a short story, I go ahead and add additional bullet points of information. If this is a longer piece of fiction, like a novel, I’ll split these parts up into chapters and continue to plan from there.
Conclusion
That’s about it for today! What steps do you take when planning a story? What questions do you think are the most important to answer when planning?