Fiction story plot ideation reference
This is meant to be a handy reference of everything I try to remember for coming up with fiction stories. These notes come from various sources.
The Essence of a Story
Story is all about conflict.
A character has a goal or a problem and they want to solve it, but it’s very difficult.
Story Structure
A basic story structure goes like:
Once upon a time there was ____. Every day, ____. One day ____. Because of that ____. Until finally ____.
Protagonist wants X → They search for X, realize what they really need is Y→ Protagonist searches for Y → They achieve Y.
It must be very difficult for the character to achieve their goal or the story will be boring.
Theme
Theme is all about what you are trying to say through the story. You want to cut out everything that muddles or distracts from the theme. Choose something you really believe in or have interest in exploring. Particularly something that is meaningful to you because then you can stand behind it.
Story Pyramid
In order of importance:
- Conflict and Resolution
- Characters and Setting
- Plot
- Design
Thesis, antithesis, and synthesis. Compelling conflict.
Seven Main Story Beats
- Normal world. Show what the normal world looks like for your character. Show how they are and how they would likely always be if it were not for the following events in the story.
- Inciting incident. Something happens to your character that causes them to react somehow and in the process they are given some sort of goal to achieve that they want to accomplish.
- Break into Act 2. The character’s reaction to the event sends them into a series of events that can’t be stopped. It’s like a snowball effect.
- Midpoint. In the middle of Act 2, something happens to your character that raises the stakes of their goal. Things are now set into motion that make accomplishing that goal really difficult for the character.
- Break into Act 3. The character has to fully commit to accomplishing their goal, even if it means sacrificing their own life or everything they hold dear. It is put on the line. It’s do or die at this point.
- Climax. The character accomplishes the goal they set out to accomplish.
- Resolution. Show your character adjusting to the new reality, having learned something through the events of the story.
Stories Should Make Us Feel Something
The best stories make us feel something. They elicit an emotional response. The best way to get a person to feel something is to show them change. So show something changing in front of them, or reveal something to them that they didn’t expect.
To start thinking about a story like this, think of a story that could do at least one of these four things:
-
Show a change in your character. They could move from good to bad or bad to good. Or something like they could be apathetic and finally become empathetic.
-
Show your character inspiring change in another character or group of people.
-
Reveal something significant about your character’s nature. Show something we didn’t know about them or something about their past. Or maybe something about their future that the character doesn’t know is going to happen.
-
Reveal something significant about the world your character inhabits. We learn about how the setting might affect the character in the future or it might be the reason why they are the way they are.