Coming Up With Story Ideas

What do you do when you’re starting to feel the urge to write an exciting story, but you don’t know where to start? You don't want to start a story just to find out six months later it doesn't have any real potential

How do we condense that lightbulb story idea into a promising premise?

To answer these questions, we need to look back, way back. Back to the first time a story was ever told.

Robert McKee points out in his book, STORY, that stories exist to seek answers to the ageless question Aristotle first proposed in Ethics: How should a human being lead their life?

We crave stories because we want to gain insight into how we should live and grow. When coming up with story ideas, our aim should be to establish a connection with the reader and explore Aristotle’s question. So we should think of these five elements when developing a story:

1. Character:

Who’s the hero of our story? Who’s this character that, through their journey, will teach us how to lead our own lives. And most importantly, what does this character want?

2. Goal:

For a character to take action, they must want something worth taking said action for. Ask yourself, what does my hero want to achieve? The goal should be something tangible, something that we could witness in a scene and easily realize the goal has been met. If the hero’s desire is to be happy you might ask yourself how the reader can witness that a hero has achieved happiness in a scene? If the answer is something along the lines of, by being with the person they love, then that right there is the goal.

But if our hero achieves their goal on page one, we don’t have a story. Which means we need obstacles.

3. Obstacles:

There are two types of obstacles that your hero will face in their story: flaws and opponents. Flaws are weaknesses within your character that keeps them from reaching their goal. Opponents are those who want to keep your hero from reaching their goal by using their flaws against them. If your hero wishes, for example, to avenge their family, then our hero needs a weakness that directly stands in the way of their revenge. Let’s say for a moment that our hero is a nun who wishes to avenge her family; however, she is committed to an ideology that condemns violence.

When developing an opponent for our hero nun, we need to realize that this character has to be the best character at attacking our hero’s flaw.

A hero is only as good as their opponent. By attacking their flaws and keeping them from reaching their goal, your opponent pushes the hero into a scene where they’ll have to overcome their weaknesses or die (literally or metaphorically). This character change related to overcoming their weakness is commonly known as the character arc.

4. Character Arc:

Your hero’s character arc is not a part of your story, it IS your story. When developing a story idea, the quality of your story strongly depends on the quality of your hero’s character arc. A character arc is nothing but the change your character goes through as they struggle with their weaknesses to reach their goal.

In our previous example, our nun will have to challenge her values to reach her goal and change from a harmless nun to a dangerous avenger. That is what the story will be about, the journey of becoming this menacing figure.

5. Values in conflict:

Your story will also show a clash of values between your hero and their opponent. When coming up with a story, you should consider what values will be opposed.

An example of some values in conflict are Love vs. Duty, Freedom vs. Safety, Justice vs. Peace, the Individual vs. the Collective, Success vs. Happiness, and the most common value in stories, Good vs. Evil.

On their own, most of these values aren't opposites; however, when put into the context of a story where a hero stands for one of the values, and the opponent stands for the other, they easily become opposing values.

For example, suppose your hero wants to be a skater (because he values his own happiness). His father (the opponent) wants him to inherit the family business (because he values success). In this context, these values become opposites for our hero because he can either pursue his happiness or become successful.

Only the values that survive this battle will teach the readers how they should lead their lives.

However, you don’t want to come across as a “preachy” writer. When handling values, you will want to be honest with your character's values. For example, instead of assuming the villain values greed, write that they value hard work and enjoy the fruits of their labor.

Be fair with the values each side stands for, especially your opponent.

6. Possibilities:

Here is where most story premises die. You have a character, that character has a goal, but they also have a flaw that keeps them from reaching their goal. Now you let your imagination run and list as many scenes, beats, twists, battles, lines of dialogue, symbols, and analogies that could possibly be in your story. It’s almost like writing a wish list.

Then, think about what genre fits your story best. What will be the tone? How will you tell this story? Will a character narrate what happens? Will you use headlines or news articles to describe the scenes? Will I use police reports to narrate other scenes?

If your list looks long, with diverse scenes, twists, and a unique execution, you may have a story in your hands. If your list is short or filled with repeating or similar plot beats, you may have to go back to the drawing board.

7. Motivation

Last but not least, remember why you’re writing this story. Write because your audience seeks to understand how to live a better life. Stories exist to prove each and every one of us that we can overcome our flaws and become the heroes of our lives.

If your audience learns something about themselves through your hero’s journey, you won. To achieve this, your story has to be meaningful to you. If you can find your own struggles, flaws, and values in your hero and receive insight on how to live a better life, it will do the same to others who share your flaws, struggles, and values.

May your stories be life-changing!