Developing story involves taking a seedling of a story idea and nurturing it into a fully-developed narrative. It’s a pre-writing process that allows writers to lay the foundation for their stories in terms of characters, conflict and setting before they ever set foot on the drafting table.
This is a time to define the world in which your story unfolds and establish its rules, whether those are magical, technological or societal. Investing the time to do this is essential to crafting a believable environment for your characters to navigate.
At this stage, it is also helpful to develop your character’s backstory, a comprehensive profile of the main character (or protagonist) whose journey forms the core of your narrative. This is because conflict flows from character, and the more you know about your protagonist’s strengths, flaws, motivations, and goals, the more compelling your plot will be.
You will also want to map out the progressive complications your protagonist will face, ideally leading them toward an inciting incident that sets the story into motion. This step may require some experimentation, as you might find that your original idea doesn’t work for your narrative. That’s okay! Just be sure to make note of the ones that do.
Having done this, you are now ready to begin drafting. Be sure to include the necessary details and action for your audience, keeping in mind that a human’s attention span is less than 10 seconds!