Writing a story is all about creativity. To be as creative as possible and come up with a good story, you have to break down the process into manageable steps. In this article, we’ll walk you through each step of story writing, from generating ideas to finalizing your story draft.
Additionally, we’ll also highlight how you can use an AI Story Generator for assistance and enhance the story writing process.
Following are the steps of story writing that will ensure maximum creativity.
A good story always starts with an idea. Sit down and think of what your story will be about and how it’ll pan out. A good way to come up with ideas is to brainstorm and try free writing.
Set a timer for 10 minutes and write whatever comes to mind. There’s a good chance that the thoughts you’re writing down become the base of your story. Additionally, while brainstorming, create a mind map so you can arrange your ideas logically. Focus on things you want to happen in your story and think about how you can make them happen.
You can also find inspiration and ideas for your story from multiple sources. Some of them are as follows:
Try finding ideas in other people’s works as well. It is quite common, even for prominent authors to find inspiration for their craft in other’s work. For example, J.R.R. Tolkien, the author of “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit” got ideas for his novel’s world setting from Norse mythology and the epic poem "Beowulf".
Tip: You can also find ideas to write your story with our AI Story Generator. Its advanced generative capabilities and artificial intelligence algorithms enable it to understand user prompts and provide them with a relevant story. The generated story includes many ideas that can be woven into your own craft.
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AI Story Generator Output:
Once you’ve come up with ideas for your story and have a general idea of what you want in it. It is time to start planning it.
Planning includes everything, from the outline, character development, setting, story type, and length. Having said that, creating characters for your story is the first thing to do here.
Think about the following things for each of your characters and settle with what you think is right.
Also, think about character arcs as well. How they will change throughout your story and grow. This will make them interesting and your story will have life. Don’t settle for boring characters, most people don’t read stories that have a lame protagonist, or even antagonist for that matter.
Give your characters a heartbreak, make them suffer, then show them light and make them work to reach it. These are some of the things that make them interesting.
Next up is setting the scene of your story. Think of where it will take place. Whether the whole story will take place in one location or it will change with progression.
Additionally, describe the time period for each action of your characters and include sensory details about the setting in your story to make it vivid and believable.
If you can’t seem to create a setting on your own, don’t forget that you can use real-life places as inspiration. It just has to be relevant and make sense considering the context of your story. A good example of this is “Spider-Man”, whose whole life is set in real-life New York City throughout the movies and books.
With the characters and setting described, you must decide the type of your story. While it will mostly depend on the plot you thought and the character arcs, some of the common story types are as follows:
You can choose one based on what you think will work best for your plot. For example, if you’re going to write a story that includes dragons and a made-up world, it’s going to be fiction writing rather than horror or any other type.
| Tip: If you’re confused about which story type you should go with, look towards the AI Story Generator here again. It offers story generation in up to 9 different types, as can be seen in the image below. You can generate your story by selecting each type one by one and see which one will work best for you. This will make your decision a lot easier |
Next up is to decide the optimal length of your story. The rule of thumb is to keep stories under 10,000 words. Anything above that is considered a novelette.
While the length largely depends on your preferences and your title, we would say a story of about 1000-1500 words is enough for first-timers or beginner story writers. You can try going above this threshold but it might be difficult for you, even with some help.
| Tip: If you’re confused here again about the story length, our AI Story Generator can be of great use. It offers multiple story lengths to choose from. i.e. Short, medium, and long, and also provides an auto adjustment option for those who want to let the AI Story Generator decide the optimal length of their stories. By generating stories on your topic at each length, you can decide which one will be best for your case. |
With everything else about your story planned out, it is time to create an outline for it. Doing so will help you arrange your thoughts better while writing and you won’t have to stop and think about what comes next. Your overall productivity and speed will increase this way.
Having said that, the basic outline for your story should be something like this:
If you want a detailed story outline instead of a basic one, you can break down each of the aforementioned sections into specific scenes or chapters.
Since the whole story is planned out now, it is time to finally start writing it. Sit down, take your pen and paper, and get ready to spend some time story writing.
Begin with an opening line or scene to immediately capture the reader’s interest. This counts as the hook of your story. Also, don’t forget to set the tone for your story through your writing from the start. Your style and word choice will define the tone. Keep it consistent and simple so your work is accessible to a wider range of audience.
Once you’ve reached the body of your story, or chapter 1 as they call it, start using descriptive language to engage the readers. Showcase the actions and emotions of your characters unfolding in the determined setting. Besides this, try to write realistic and meaningful dialogue that reflects the personality of your characters and advances the plot.
After you’ve gotten the hang of it, maintain your pacing. Write like this until the climax is about to be reached. Once there, mix action, dialogue, and descriptions to keep the story dynamic. Gradually increase tension and hit the audience with the much-awaited climax.
Tip: We understand that writing your first draft, even with an outline can be a bit tricky, which is why we suggest you take your time and learn how to write a story using the AI Story Generator. Since its whole purpose is to provide you with stories, you can create one and see how you’re supposed to carry the plot and characters. By observing and trying, your story’s first draft will be near perfect. To demonstrate how the AI Story Generator creates perfect story drafts each time, we asked it to write one on the topic “The reconciliation of a brother and sister”. You can see below that the draft generated by story generator has a perfect climax, the things that lead up to it are quite good too. |
Writing the draft isn’t all that you are supposed to do. The next thing is to revise it. Most people make the mistake of skipping this step, they think the first draft is well and good and go with it. You shouldn’t make this mistake; a draft almost always needs revision to make it perfect.
Read your story aloud to help you catch awkward phrasing. If you find something is off with the phrasing, fix it immediately and keep reading. Once this is done, ensure the details about the characters, setting, and plot points are consistent throughout the story. If more details are needed, add them. Similarly, if you’ve added unnecessary details to your story, be sure to remove them.
Also, see if you’ve made any grammatical mistakes as most of the time when you’re writing in flow, these errors can get overlooked. Typos and punctuation mistakes are the most common occurrences in a story’s first draft. Fix them if they emerge.
Besides this, add transitional phrases and words to your draft so it becomes more readable and its flow can be improved.
Lastly, after revising, it is time to finalize your story and be proud of yourself. First off, start by formatting it. Give proper headings (if needed), use a clean font, and leave consistent spaces.
If you’re a student and have written a story as an assignment, check the guidelines and see that everything is in accordance. Conversely, if you want your story to be published online, identify potential publishers and carefully follow their submission guidelines so the chances of publication increase.
Writing a story involves various steps that require creativity, such as generating ideas, planning extensively, writing the first draft, revising, and finalizing the story.
Creativity in developing characters, setting the scene, choosing the story type, deciding the story length, and creating an outline is crucial for a compelling narrative. It is also important to engage the reader with descriptive language, realistic dialogue, and a well-paced storyline, leading to a satisfying climax.
After this, the revision stage is necessary to polish the draft, addressing awkward phrasing, consistency in details, grammar mistakes, and enhancing readability. Finally, finalizing the story involves formatting, following guidelines for publication, and ensuring completeness in the narrative, ultimately resulting in a well-crafted piece of writing.
