Creative writing is not just words on paper. It is a journey that makes the reader go through characters, beliefs, and inspire emotions and feelings embraced through human imagination. You have to have answers to a series of questions. At the core of the story and characters is the purpose for the story.
A few initial questions to start…
- What is it that you want the reader to take away from the story at the end of reading it?
- What is the broad plot of the story?
- What are all the various characters (living and non-living) that you need for the plot of the story?
- Which characters play the plot in various stages – introduction or exposition, incitation (inciting incidents), rising action (complications or crisis), climax, and resolution/new status quo.
- What are their actions to get what they want? (for each character)
- Character development of each of those characters
- Who is this character? What is its core essence? What drives it?
- What is the character’s purpose?
- Where are they from?
- What are the impactful events that shaped their character?
- What do they like and dislike?
- What do they fear? What do they see as the biggest challenge?
However small or big a character is, the character has to be thought through. A well thought character is always going to be a great asset to the overall story. It adds a punch to things and every scene is accentuated by a well thought and developed character and storyline.
7 Key Stages of Story Development
So, the 7 key stages of any story development are:
- Introduction or Exposition
- Incitation
- Rising Actions
- Complications or Crisis
- Climax
- Key Takeaway
- New Status Quo
Introduction or Exposition
Begin this part with the current status quo of your characters. Like the world is normal and it is as it is and they’re going about their life normally in their own ways. This sets the context for various characters and what is happening in their life.
Incitation
The inciting incident or incidents is the first major event in the story. It is the disruption that happens to your character that disrupts their normal life or provides them some sort of a purpose. Now, the characters will start moving towards reacting and in a way to solving their life to take it back to normalcy from this disruption.
Rising Actions
In these characters trying to react to the disruption before, these characters will be doing some actions that are rising into (or preparing) them into a larger complication or crisis. These rising actions are the background buildup in the disrupted world for these characters. These are the smaller problems that the character is facing before the big complication arises. Like they’re preparing for a war or they’re preparing to go on a voyage or preparing to do something else. This is the rising action before they face the most difficult battle or challenge.
Complication or Crisis
This is the crux of the story. This is the main crisis of the story. This is where the characters and scenes come together and a main scene of crisis emerges. The protagonist and other characters react to the crisis that the reader barely notices the reaction as by this time the reader is completely indulged in the crisis world. Every character is challenged to make a crucial decision – to jump or not be kind, sometimes without fully understanding the consequences.
Climax
There is no going back here – it is a do or die for your characters. Some characters live through it and some die at the end. But, this is the fire through which they went through and they’re not the same anymore forever. They’re changed characters forever.
Key Takeaway
This is the resolution for the climax – the good vs bad or the rude vs. the kind or the hardworking vs. the taking for granted kind of battle that provides a lesson to be learnt in life. It is usually a philosophical lesson about the way of life that came over the top in this story.
New Status Quo
This is not always required, but this is the new status quo. The new status quo in terms of the new world that is again the new normal for you characters. The crisis is resolved and there is a new world that is happening for all your characters.
Take these seven elements and see if you can spot them in a story—whether it’s something you’re reading or watching right now.
Weave these seven elements with the broad plot of the story and you get the big picture.
The Storyline or Plot or the Big Picture
The story line is the overall plot of the story movement. It is the summary of everything moves in a story combining the literal actions, changes, and tactics of your characters. How each of the characters are trying to get what they want to accomplish and how they’re clashing with each other.
Download the Creative Writing Worksheet that helps to develop stories and ask questions in a templatized form that will help you to develop your creative writing.
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