How to develop a story idea part 2

If you missed it, earlier this week I posted a piece on how to develop a story idea (ok, it was a lot of things and not just that.) If you haven’t checked it out, please do so here, and let me know what you think.

https://www.writingforums.org/entry/how-to-develop-a-story-idea-section-1.64210/

If you did the work from that post, you should have your list of characters, and hopefully, you’ve done your free writing so that you know more about your character. You should’ve asked this person(character) a few tough questions to try to figure out who they are. Maybe you’ve even taken that step to find an inspirational photo.


To recap, I chose to use the woman who cut herself off from magic. When I started this process, I quickly realized one question caught my attention and drew me to that character specifically. Why would someone willingly cut themselves off from something like magic? Reasons:

*tragedy, depression, misery, fear, loss,

I knew I didn’t want to go the usual route, blaming it solely on a tragedy. Yes, something bad would’ve happened to drive my character to that point, but it had to be more than that. After all, car accidents happen, but people still muster the courage to get into vehicles. So, what if the thing that happened made her so scared that she was afraid she might hurt someone else again and was something she was lead to believe that she couldn’t control?

I also realized I didn’t want to write a young character. I’m tired of reading about twenty-somethings doing things in fictional versions of our world. Who says a woman can’t still kick ass in her thirties or forties? So, here is a brief account of what I have so far:

Character name: Aisly Dalton Age: 34

Family: Mother and father divorced after a tragedy happened, both are still living, and character is close to them in a way. She keeps things bottled up and doesn’t talk much about what she goes through, has been institutionalized (mental health possibly) for some time on an unrelated matter, and only talks to the family once a week or through letters.

Of course, this left me with many many more questions, but this will at least give a general idea, this process can be pretty lengthy, but it brings me to the real meat of today's post, part 2: Setting.

I primarily write urban fantasy. So, in some ways, my setting is already sort of a done deal. Thanks to my character building I also already know that I’m going to need multiple places in the real world that this stories scenes will take place. (More on how I came to that realization in my next blog.)

So, much as I did for the character, I brainstormed several places where I might like to write a story. These could be towns, cities, or even states depending on what you’ve come up with so far. Heck, if you were writing a space opera, they could even be space stations, ports- you get the picture.

Here’s my list:

Colorado Denver Aurora

Texas Dallas San Antonio

Michigan Detroit Upper P

New Mexico Ruidosa Albuquerque Santa Fe


I'll be picking one for my next post and sharing that then. If there is some way I can better help you, please let me know. I'll be posting more frequently over the next two weeks or so, I'd like to really get the ball rolling with this story.

Also, a big THANK YOU to everyone who reads these. If you'd like free content, check out my website, it's in my signature. Anyone who does and signs up for my email list will be receiving free material, like how to get a jump start on platform building (I've learned some cool things in the last few weeks which I haven't covered here.) And how to DIY materials to save yourself some money as an Indie.

As always I hope these posts help some of you and happy writing!

-Corbyn