7 Best Tips for Developing Your Story (that I've found to be Helpful!)

​© T.B. Cooper

I think the title is pretty Self-Explanatory...
These are 7 Tips I have 'found' or use, to develop my story lines... Feel free to lend some input!

#7 The "What if?" Exercise. I Absolutely love this one. You simply ask yourself (and your character) what if – this happened? Or what if (your character) did this? etc.… Just start it – it is an amazing tool! Keep going, keep asking... Like the annoying "Why" question that toddlers are famous for, the "What if" exercise proves useful in building your characters, their stories, and the world they live in. I've seen this mentioned several places, there's an entire book dedicated to it by Anne Bernays & Pamela Painter, and I've also seen it mentioned in K.M. Weiland's book "Outlining Your Novel," and you can find info about it online, as well. 

#6  Sentence Synopsis Method by Natasha Lester. I love this one also. It helps to centralize your idea, to pull together the bare-bones of your story… Plus, it doubles as a back cover book blurb! You simply answer six questions, and eventually try to whittle them down to six individual, sentence answers. For more info and the neat cheatsheat, click here.

Our daughter's cat Felicia... Showing her love of Storyboards...

#5 Picture boards for your story, either physical or on Pinterest. I've always been in to making visual boards of things that I want, desire, etc. So it was only natural, that when I started dreaming up my stories, that I would take little clips of pictures, of people I thought my characters should look like/scenes of locations where my story might take place… and paste them on to countless sheets of posterboard. But my goodness that takes up a lot of room! Then when I found Pinterest last year, it was only natural that I thought 'hey, maybe I should do some of my storyboard building on here'… Then, I saw that other writers were already doing that! In fact, the first one that I saw was from this lady that has even been nice enough to do a whole article on it. Her name is Laura, and she is the Ginger behind Ginger & Books. Click here to find out more about using Pinterest to help your story along.
​To see my Character Pinterest Board, click here.

#4 Read something/anything in your genre, and then read some more! You're not doing this to copy them, but for two main, but different reasons…First, you need to know what has already been done. You don't want to end up repeating it. When looking into my story ideas, I came across the "Worth of Souls" and the "Station" series… Both were close to my two separate ideas, but thankfully, not the same. Whew! But, reading them, also gave me the distinct impression of what I was already reading/seeing everywhere else – I need to write in 1st person POV. At least if it's for a YA/heroine story... Second reason, it's a good idea to see how other writers write. That's why you should read a few books, not just one. And not just from one author. Of course, if you like the way a certain writer writes, and would like to style yourself after them, then obviously you want to read their work, to get a feel for their technique, so you can further develop yours. But, what if that writer doesn't write how readers of your particular genre expect or like? Not that you should change for anyone, but if popularity is important to you, then it's kind of a good idea to know these things… Hence, it goes to say that you should also read reviews written about books that you have read, whether you like them or not. This way you can see what other people think… what they liked, what they didn't like, get a feel for the audience that you are attempting to write for.
(**And yes, Reviews for both Series (Souls & Station)will soon follow)

#3 Read Plot/Structure books and/or Blog posts – here's just a few suggestions…

Books
The Writer's Digest Guide to Science Fiction and Fantasy by Orson Scott Card
Outlining Your Novel by K.M. Weiland
Write Great Fiction Series: Plot and Structure by James Scott Bell
Structuring Your Novel by K.M. Weiland
The Plot Thickens by Noah Lukeman
Story Structure Architect by Victoria Lynn Schmidt PhD
​

Online Writers Blogs
Helping Writers Become Authors
Better Novel Project
Writers Write
Natasha Lester.com.au
Ginger & Co. Blog
Now Novel

#2 Find (or Create) Worksheets/Printables. I absolutely LOVE fill in the blanks. There is a satisfying nature to filling in a worksheet, that appeals to the logical side of my brain. Most days I have hundreds of conflicting thoughts, stories, ideas... running through my brain – EVERY SECOND, of EVERY DAY. It gets loud and confusing, AND overwhelming. Worksheet/dittos more than help me out. I loved math in school. I loved the very act of doing math. The base principle, that if you know and understand the formula and process of solving it, then the numbers are irrelevant. You could, in theory, plug in whatever numbers, and work on solving the equation. Granted, some may not compute or will create a nonexistent answer – but isn't that the same as plugging in your answers to a story worksheet and ending up with a Mad Lib, instead of an epic saga/instant classic? I Have worksheets for everything. When I say everything – I mean – EVERYTHING. Like, you could call me the Worksheet Queen. It's how I organize it all – Budgeting, Meal Planning/Prepping, Homesteading (all aspects), Christmas Planning, Blogging, Story Ideas, Story Outline/Characters etc., School Lessons, Recipes, Animal Records, Diet and Weight Loss Tracking… And all of these have their own organized binders, as well, with at least 20 to 30 different (work)sheets for each "subject." I've spent countless hours looking online for dittos that would meet my purposes, and I found a few that have come close… But usually, as with everything else, I end up taking an idea, elaborating on it, changing it, improving it, until at last it has become mine and no longer represents the page/thing that first inspired it. Usually, I'll find several ideas that I like, and find a way to incorporate the bits and pieces to make something new, that fits all of my needs. In my "former life," I held different office positions, where the use of spreadsheets (like Excel), were my specialty. This has most definitely carried over into my current, Precariously Balanced life... So much so, that I am constantly being asked for ideas on organizing, budgeting, tracking etc... In fact, I think I might eventually gather these (my collection of Worksheets)into their own blog page, sometime in the near future. First however, I need to get better at making actual Printables, like Pretty Ones that people would want… As a quick side note, this week, I'll be talking about the way I Meal-Prep, and I'll be giving away two more Printables to go with that topic, this month! If you missed my first one, see my World Building – Law/Rules Printable here)

#1 Ask What are the Mysteries that are presented/Questions that need to be answered? This is my own addition, that I haven't seen anywhere, so far. When outlining my Book #1 of my Hollow Mists Series, I started making a list of any question that a reader might have, no matter how small/trivial, from the very beginning of my story. As an example, why would this character hate this person? Or why does this person live here as opposed to there? Then I decided I should also keep track of when those questions will be answered. Especially since my Book #1 is part of a series (hopefully seven), I needed to know when, and if, these questions would ever be answered. Which that reminds me of a pin I saw on Pinterest that was labeled 20 things about your character, that your reader will never know, that I found useful. Of course, that is about Characterization, which I will cover in another post, later on.

Speaking of other posts... While writing this, I discovered that I have (probably) enough that I have learned/gathered from fabulously awesome Bloggers/Writers etc. regarding the structure and awesomeness that is, Harry Potter.... So, look forward to that soon, as well!!

Hopefully I've given you some useful Brain Fodder, especially with Nanowrimo right around the corner... BTW, are you going to participate? I think I've decided I will... I want to try again, and I'm going to use 'The Breeding Program' as my story to work on, since I've only gotten two chapters done, and I need the push to get it moving... 1st draft only, of course! Wish me luck!

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