Ida the Tornado

November is National Novel Writing Month. That is why we are going to talk about the “8 steps to write a story”. Well, 8 steps that I use to write a story myself.

I started to write stories as a hobby until I realized how many ideas I wanted to put down on paper. But knowing that you have a story in your mind is an entirely different stage than writing it down. You know what they say; It’s not a story if it’s not written! Many people have good stories to tell, but a few write them down.

From romance stories to a mystery – my favorite – and Science Fiction, you can create the story if you have an idea. You only need your imagination, research, and commitment.

Everyone is unique, and everyone has different writing methods. But writing a story usually has similar steps but different results. Like baking a cake, you may add flour first or later; the cake will still contain flour, but adding it first or later will make a big difference at the end. 

It is your story, and you are the only person who knows when to begin writing. And remember, at some point, you have to start writing. Otherwise, it’s never going to become a story. 

Remember always to keep drafts. You would come back later to them and edit them. Become your own best judge.

In the following weeks, we will discuss each step more – the devil is in the details.

Now let’s start writing!

1- Create an idea

The first step is to create an idea. You might have an idea for writing right now or might even find one.

Read, Observe, Search, Imagine, Feel and then write down all the ideas that come to mind. Even the simplest words or sentences might be valuable.

You might worry that you won’t be able to develop the right ideas for a story, but ideas can come from anywhere. 

Then think about your idea, imagine it, embrace it. This way, you can expand the universe of your story around that idea.

Once you find the idea with the potential story around it, it’s time to proceed with your story’s identity or, as we’ll talk about it later, the story’s premise.

2- The Identity of your story – Genre and voice

Identity includes the genre you choose for your story and your tone of voice. It is a premise, a proposition supporting a specific conclusion. The emotional concept that not only attracts your reader’s attention but also keeps them engaged. The premise is the concept that embraces your whole story. It will bring everything together around a single identity.

You might ask yourself which genre should you write.

By choosing the genre of your story, you are telling your readers what they can expect to feel and experience. Your audience also can find you through genres. There are many kinds of Genres for writing stories: Drama, Mystery, Horror, Romance, Fiction, Thriller, Documentary, History, Educational, Nonfiction, Health, Body, and mind, And many other genres.

Find your voice.

In literature, “voice” refers to the rhetorical mixture of vocabulary, tone, point of view, and syntax that makes phrases, sentences, and paragraphs flow in a particular manner. Novels can represent multiple voices: that of the narrator and those of individual characters.

An author’s voice comes through to the reader in two main ways: either through third-person narration or through the point of view expressed in the novel.

–Writing Masterclass

3- Characters

Stories are about characters. A promise we make to our readers that these characters will be the center of this journey. Therefore, creating a clear and strong image of characters in the mind of your readers is very important. What is more important is to make each character unique. That is why you need to use characterization techniques such as physical descriptions, personality, background, etc.

4- Creating anchors for your story – Developing critical moments

What is it that keeps you from putting a book down? 

That’s right, curiosity. You might ask how it can happen? The answer is by triggering the reader’s emotions. By keeping them engaged. That’s when readers want to more and more. They want to see what is going to happen next. That is exactly what a writer wants from their readers.

In this step, we will create a strong scene and a strong bond between the characters and readers by engaging the reader’s emotions. 

What will engage the reader’s emotions more than a critical moment, circumstances, and events that happen to a character?

Arguing, Death, Drama, Betrayal, Failure, Surprises, History, etc.

Visualizing your characters through different scenes and circumstances for readers is the winning combination. To show who they are by showing their thoughts, decisions, and actions in various scenes. Don’t tell, show.

5- Research

Research plays a huge role in the authenticity of your story and the details your reader pays attention to. It is proof that you know what you write about. This is how your story will be more valuable. No one knows everything, so at some point, you need to find out about different things you want to use in your storyline, but you don’t have enough knowledge about. 

From the very beginning, you might have questions such as:

• How long should my story be?

• What are critical elements of …?

• How to become a …?

Depending on your idea, genre, and storyline, You might want to research characters, Events, situations, etc., to be more accurate.

Another advantage of research is that it will give you even more ideas to write. Maybe even give you an idea for your next story. 

6- Dialogues – details 

There are two places in a story to attract readers’ attention and extend their knowledge by visualizing characters and events in more detail. Dialogues and scenes. Never underestimate the power of a good conversation. You are the one who created those characters, right? No one, absolutely no one, knows them better than you do. There is an intimate relationship between you and your characters. By knowing your characters at that level and lots of rewriting, you can develop dialogues that not even grab the readers’ attention but also engage them so much that they put themselves in those characters’ shoes and start repeating those conversations in their mind – or out loud!

There are three places you can have dialogues:

• Conversations between characters – this one is obvious

• Conversations that are happening in characters minds, usually with themselves

• Conversations between the writer and the reader

7- Big picture – god view

Here is a tip, to have the best result possible, no matter what you do, sometimes you need to come out and look at everything from the outside. Look at the big picture. Have a God view. Be a third person. That is when you see how everything is working. What to Change. What to do more or less. What you missed. What you were obsessed about, etc.

This way, you can move to step 8, which might be the hardest step mentally.

8- Feedback and Edit

Read, review, rewrite. Give yourself the most difficult criticisms. Ask yourself challenging questions about your story and characters. Be ruthless. Question everything and give yourself clear and acceptable explanations. Edit and rewrite every part that is not going to convince your readers.

• Do the characters imaginable vividly in readers’ minds?

• Does this part have the impression I want on the reader?

• Is any of the events predictable?

And go on.

After editing it using your feedback, it’s time to have others’ feedbacks too.

Don’t build a guard around yourself when you hear feedback. Make them worth it. This is your story, so think about feedbacks, and if you see it suitable, use it. You can even generate more ideas when hearing about others’ feedbacks.

Another part of editing is the layout of your story.

There are general guidelines, but layouts may differ in different countries, such as specific formatting requirements requested by particular editors, publications, or competitions. 

1. Seasons, Chapters, Sections, Parts 
2. Number of pages
3. Titles
4. Right spacing
5. Setting margins
6. Right space between paragraphs

etc.

Last but not least, always remember the importance of reading and listening.

Read everything, read all the time. Listen to conversations, listen to people dialogues. Don’t get me wrong. Do not eavesdrop. Find your story writing routine. And Know that there’s no one “right” way to write a story. Your story your way.