What is a “Story?” This is a simple question with a very simple answer: a story is simply a way of telling someone something.

It can be short and simple, such as: My kitten disappeared this morning, so I searched and found her playing with my neighbor’s new puppy.

This is only one sentence, but it’s still a story. It tells the reader that a kitten disappeared, someone went to find it, and the kitten was safe and sound and having fun playing with a puppy. Not exactly earth shattering, but it tells the reader what the author wants them to know.

Every story is about a character trying to deal with some sort of difficulty or accomplish something. We like to read about people and their problems, as in the story of the kitten. The problem was that the kitten had gone missing. The solution was finding the kitten. An air of suspense could have been added if the puppy had been vicious and had cornered the kitten, or if it were late at night, or if it was storming, or if the kitten’s owner had to search for hours in dark and dangerous areas.

There are many things you can do to change even the simplest story. The exact same story can be written in many ways simply by changing a few things:

Era (the time period in which the story takes place)

Time of day

Location (small town, city, country, land, water, etc.)

Setting (house, castle, boat, etc.)

Atmosphere (dark stormy night, bright sunny day, wind, fog, blizzard, natural disaster)

A combination of many things sets the mood of the story.

For example: A group of people is touring an ancient castle. The castle is set on a high cliff and it is late at night, foggy, and there is a severe storm raging outside. It is the 1400s and their only source of light is a torch, which is carried by the tour group leader.

Now, it is the 1900s and the same castle is set in a small village and a group of people is touring the castle on a bright sunny day. The castle is the same, but moving it into a town and away from the cliff, along with the difference in time of day and weather certainly changes the story.

Exposition: This is the beginning, in which the author generally establishes the setting, introduces some of the key characters, gets the story moving, and answers the question: who are these people and what's their problem?

The central problem. Most genre stories revolve around one or more central problems. The central problem(s) is what the story is “about.” Will the mystery be solved? Will the protagonist survive? Will the antagonist be caught?

Begin with a crisis. You should begin with a character in crisis: either within the first chapter, the first page, or preferably, the first paragraph. It may not be possible to have the story’s main problem begin on the first page, but every story should begin with some problem, often with the first line.

End with a resolution. If the story revolves around a single central problem, it ends when that problem is resolved. If the story deals with a series of problems, it ends when the last problem is dealt with, or when all the most important problems are solved. The story can continue as long as there are problems to deal with.

What is Plot? Cause and effect. Stimulus and response. Plot is the structure of events within a story and the causal relationship between them. There is no plot without causality.

“Princess Ramona hid in a hollow tree in the Zerbadian Jungle.” is an event with no plot. “Princess Ramona hid in a hollow tree in the Zerbadian Jungle to avoid capture by the Bendarinian brigade.” has the beginning of a plot. The causal chain. The plot of a story is a chain of events, which are the result of prior events, and the cause of subsequent events. The plot extends beyond the bounds of the story itself. 

How does Plot develop? Things get worse. Until the central problem is resolved, the situation should get steadily worse— or more difficult— for the protagonist. Even if the protagonist’s situation objectively improves, the forces arrayed against the character should grow comparably in magnitude. If the protagonist picks up a bat, the antagonist should pick up a knife. If the protagonist picks up a knife, the antagonist should pick up a gun. 

Active Protagonist. The difficulties should steadily increase until the climatic moment, as a result of positive action by the protagonist. Characters should not sit and watch the world fall apart; they should have an active part in destroying the world around them. Every attempt to solve a problem should make it worse, or create a new, more tenacious, problem. Problems can worsen without interference by the characters, but the characters should always be doing something about the problem(s), and what the characters do should worsen— or at the very least, change— the problem(s) they are trying to solve. 

Complicate, Complicate, Complicate Things getting worse is not a matter of simply increasing the magnitude of a problem. It means a proliferation of new problems rippling from the old. It also means that the problem the characters were trying to solve is not quite the same as the problem they actually face. 

Character as Plot. Motivations, desires, goals. Characters do things for reasons, and those reasons form an indispensable element of plot. Every character desires things, and has personal goals, some of which may not have anything to do with the central problems of a story. Whatever these desires and goals are, they form the basis for your character’s motivation to act.

Conflict: Not every story has “conflict” per se, but we use this term to refer to the main problem of the story.

Tell us: Who? What? Where? When? Why? How? Who has the conflict? What is the conflict? Where are the story and the conflict taking place? When are they taking place? Why are they happening in this time and place? How will the story and the conflict come to a successful conclusion?

Types of Conflicts

The two types of conflict are internal and external.  

Internal conflicts are physical and emotional conflicts within the character, such as a character battling with his feelings and thoughts. 

External conflicts 

Person versus person.  It is obvious what this is. 

Person versus society.  This is where a person has to battle the views of society of how the society is behaving.

Person versus beast.  This is where a person has to battle an animal or monster. 

Person versus the elements. The elements are natural forces. 

Person versus fate.  In this conflict, a person has to deal with the hand the fates have dealt them. 

Person battles the supernatural: spirits, ghosts, demons

Person versus machine/technology.

Conflict is the main part of fiction and is what makes the story interesting. Sometimes conflict can be as simple as arguing over what movie to see, or whose turn it is to pay for the popcorn.

Conflict with others. A great source of difficulty for your characters is when their personal drives are at odds with the central problem in the story. A man who is living a quiet life and raising a family would be torn if he were drafted into the army. He would act differently than a man whose desire is simply to make each moment as pleasurable and exciting as possible. Place these two characters together in a combat situation and they will start arguing immediately. 

Conflict with self. The greatest source of difficulty for your characters is when they characters have goals and desires that are mutually exclusive. If both goals are illustrated in the story, and are of comparable importance to the character, the character will be in a constant state of tension that can border on agony.

How does Plot create Suspense? Certainty of threat. The first basis of suspense is the foreknowledge that something bad is going to happen. The reader has to anticipate some event for there to be suspense associated with that event. Often, in stories relying heavily on suspense, the reader will be given information that the characters don’t have. The reader will be told that a character’s car is wired to explode, and then will be given the time to think about the fact as the character walks through the parking garage. 

Uncertainty. Suspense can be defused completely if the reader believes the author will figure some way out for the characters in trouble. You have to convince the reader that occasionally, bad things will happen to good characters. If you let a good character die, you let the reader know it might happen again. 

Coincidence. Coincidence shouldn’t make things easier. You might get away with using accidental events in a story, like having otherwise unrelated characters at the same place at the same time. You can get away with this in two cases: when the coincidence is one of the initiating forces of the story. (The whole story is the consequence of this chance meeting) – or, when the coincidence makes things worse for the protagonist. (The protagonist is trying to sneak out of the country, and the guy he bumps into is a reporter who recognizes his face.) Coincidences seem contrived and false when they’re used to help the character. (The guy in the airport is an old college chum who’s more than willing to loan our hero the two grand he needs for an airline ticket.) Remember, it’s not a coincidence if it is a logical consequence of prior events in the story. (Our hero’s at the airport because he has an old college chum, who’s an airline pilot.) 

Lay groundwork for your revelations. Most events should be a logical consequence of prior events. The solution of mysterious should be the result of the bringing together of already known information with some final crucial element that brings the whole into focus. 

Never withhold information the reader should know: the identity of the point of view character, where that character is and what that character is doing, and all the relevant background information known about that character. Holding back these basic elements creates confusion on the part of the reader.

Whenever a major problem is resolved, it is a climatic point in your story, a point of high tension and drama. If the problem is a major one, or the central one, the climax must be comparably major. These events should be given weight within the text that is comparable to the weight the characters give them and should be dealt with in fully developed scenes. The resolution of the central mystery, even if surprising, should feel inevitable. Logically, it should bring together the facts and events known to the reader.

When you raise a question or a problem in a story, deal with it before the end of the story. You can acknowledge that the problem won't be solved within the space of the story, but the acknowledgment must be there so the reader won't think you simply forgot about it. 

By doing this, you have evolved from a character dealing with a problem, to a character dealing with a worse problem that’s directly and causally linked to the first. This is all plotting is; the evolution of the character’s difficulties, through the story, until a resolution is reached.

Epiphany: A moment of sudden understanding or revelation. Often a major character will go through some Transformation or come to some Realization.  This is when a character has an “Ah ha!” moment, that changes their life or their perspective on some aspect of life.