Story Shells
Mapping out fictional worlds and characters
Spontaneity defined every aspect of my storytelling in my early years as an aspiring author. This included world building and character development.
Whenever I dreamed up a new story idea, I'd grab a notebook and start scribbling or run over to my computer and start typing. Aside from jotting down a short single paragraph summary of my initial story idea, I put scant thought into anything story-related beyond the page in front of me.
I weave stories with a radically different approach as an experienced writer and published author.
Mapping out a fictional world and writing detailed sketches of primary and secondary characters come with the territory these days. Embracing story planning evolved into a necessary step. I work as a sports journalist for the Associated Press and my responsibilities include covering the Utah Jazz, Utah’s new NHL hockey team, the Utah Utes, BYU Cougars, and Utah State Aggies. As you can imagine, this job keeps me insanely busy through large stretches of the year.
If I did not focus attention on story development ahead of writing my first draft, I would have a flash drive and notebooks filled with half-finished abandoned stories. How do I know? That’s exactly what happened throughout my early years before I overhauled my writing philosophy.
Mapping a story
All of my stories travel a similar path from idea to publication. I invest considerable time in mapping out enough details about the main plot, subplots, characters, and settings to create a dynamic blueprint for story construction.
My story planning involves three phases: idea generation, character sketches, world building.
Idea generation:
I start with jotting down a short single paragraph summary of my initial story idea. This covers the basic main plot and nothing else. Think of the summary as an elevator pitch for your story.
My initial one-paragraph summary for my novel Alien People reads like this:
Aliens from a distant planet called Lathos trace a newly discovered probe back to a mysterious world called Earth and journey there to make first contact. These interstellar explorers are thrust into danger when US government and military officials, fearing a hostile alien invasion, set out to hunt down the aliens and make them prisoners.
In only a couple of sentences, I summarize the main plot that drives the entire novel. This gives me a nice succinct cornerstone for constructing a larger story.
Character sketches:
My notes for novels, novellas, and serials contain extensive sketches on primary and secondary characters. These essentially function as character biographies, sharing details on physical appearance, personality, relationships, interests, and life history.
Going into detail on each major character helps me identify which characters will drive my story and aids me in having a clearer idea of where the story will go based on character interactions. Characters are better able to drive a story forward when you, as an author, have made yourself familiar with what makes them tick.
World building:
Many of my stories share a fictional universe. A large percentage of my science fiction stories take place in the same universe where the Alien People Chronicles are set. Many of my horror stories are connected to Deer Falls — a fictional Colorado town serving as the main setting for both Pandora Reborn and Snow Dragon.
This makes world building a little simpler in some ways and more complicated in others. I can create a cohesive patchwork of backstory touching on history, biology, geography, religion, culture, folklore, and so forth. Then I can weave backstory threads through multiple stories. It also means taking extra time to ensure continuity and consistency, so I don’t accidentally retcon one story with another.
World building is a step you should never skip in story development. Real people are shaped by their background and environment. The same holds true for fictional characters. Treat them like they are real people from the start, and they will feel that way to your readers.
Story planning equals success
Five published novels (with a sixth on the way in autumn 2024) speak to my success in taking a more detailed approach to storytelling. Many of my sportswriting colleagues are impressed by my dedication to writing novels, serials, and short stories while simultaneously navigating day-to-day responsibilities of covering multiple sports teams. It’s not an easy thing to do, but embracing story planning helps me start out on the right foot with each book.
A few writers are quick to criticize story planning, believing it stifles creativity. You should just jot down whatever flows into your head, they say, and then sort out the details in later drafts. I’m not a fan of a stream-of-consciousness approach to storytelling. It actually creates tons of unnecessary work for a writer on the backend, forcing extra drafts to fill in plot holes and flesh out characters so the story isn't a meandering mess. It also frequently leads to writer's block and abandoned stories whenever life gets in the way (which it inevitably does).
Experience has taught me that developing my plot, setting, and characters ahead of my first draft stimulates enhanced creativity. I already have a good idea of where my story is going when I finally start a rough draft because I’ve invested so much time in building out the world that specific story inhabits.
The end result?
A compelling tale that readers love reading as much as I enjoyed writing.
Check out the My Books page at Strange New Worlds for further information on my published works.
I completely agree, I need to plan. I'm happy for charaters to take me off in another direction but I need to have that plan first. A security blanket, I guess