How to Create an Awesome Story? Tips and Strategies

When watching movies and reading books that feature really amazing narratives, you might have a question: “How are these amazing stories born?” Of course, every author has individual techniques and strategies that distinguish him or her from all the others. This is something that really makes storytelling unique. However, you need something to start from before you have developed your own strategy.

In this post, we will share some useful advice on how to create a good story. Hopefully, they will not only make your writing easier, but also help you look deeper into your own discoveries of this art.

A good protagonist = a good story

Sometimes, a truly good character you have developed can lead the entire story and make it great. Deep and unpredictable characters are the best plot-movers. Your protagonist should dare to make decisions and take risks. He or she has to make a decision to get into a situation, face the crisis, and decide how to get out of this mess. Don’t neglect using the archetypes like the villain, the master, the fool, or anything like that. These are strong and effective images to put into the basis of your character.

Strong dialogues

Dialogues make a good half of your story’s success. There are main ingredients of a catchy dialogue: deep understanding of your characters and a thousand of revisions. Your characters have to speak differently. When you are done with a line of a dialogue, ask yourself, if this line sounds like your character’s. If you are not sure, rewrite it. Do it again and again, until you are 100% sure.

The drama and conflict

Your story should have a dramatic question. Think about it. This might be something like, “Will he manage to do this?” or even something more general and deep, like, “Are human beings able to change?” Your characters should have doubts, suspicions and inner conflicts to create the suspense.

Actions instead of words

Showing is more effective than telling. If something in your story changes the character’s perception of the world and himself dramatically, don’t just write that this is something that have happened. Show it! It is interesting to see how your character have changed in a concrete scene.

Know how to break the rules

It’s great when you know the rules and follow them. However, it is even better when you know how to break them smartly. We don’t say that you have to become chaotic or something like that. Instead, you should think about breaking the common rules as if you are creating your own rules on that basis. You have to find your own way of treating the rules. It means that you should mind and respect them but develop your own approach to a story.

Good stories involve death and tragedy

Think about some famous stories that became legendary. In how many of them a main character dies? Authors use this turn because death is something that bothers all of us and it really has a narrative power.

Editing is no less important than writing

One draft is never enough. Write three, four and more of them. As a rule, the first drafts are not even worthy to be shown to other people. They are just your attempt to grasp the ideas and figure out what your story is about. The second draft is all about structuring the plot, defining the ideas, and building the characters. Create as many of them as needed until you feel that this is it. Editing doesn’t mean polishing, but rather rethinking.

Fight the writer’s block

If you cannot move any further, then you might have a writer’s block. The most common reason is a lack of confidence that you are doing something really good and valuable. Or a lack of fresh ideas. There is one way to get through the writer’s block – it’s writing. You don’t have to be perfect, you just need to continue. Remember, you cannot learn and become better if you stop.

Indeed, the main secret of writing a really good story is practice. Be patient, stay hydrated, and write.