The only purpose of your activity is to get results. — Charles C. Johnson

What Every Writer Needs To Know About Writing a Story from the Foundation Up

Every successful writer has these habits

My wife and I just purchased our first home in Albuquerque. We were so excited about finally “putting down roots.”

We came upon the house when it was still just a skeleton; and we watched as they slowly added the ceiling and walls, plumbing, electricity, flooring, windows, and doors.

We had the opportunity to select the color of paint for the walls, the style of countertops, and the tile and carpeting for our floors.

What a different look for our home when we added on to the foundation and filled in the skeleton!

The idea stage — start with a foundation

Writing a story, whether it is a short story or a novel, is just like building a house. You must first start with a foundation. This is, of course, the idea stage.

What story do you want to tell? If you are experiencing writer’s block, try to write about what you know. If you have never been to Spain, then don’t try to write a story about Spain unless you plan to do extensive research on the country.

Build a skeleton

Once you have set up your foundation, you will need to build a skeleton. Jot down your thoughts and ideas in an outline and build on them.

This stage is an excellent time to create your characters for your story and to develop their attributes.

Are they tall? Do they have brown hair? What is their position in your story? As you create your outline, you should also be thinking about the setting of your story and how your characters fit into that setting.

Add your walls and ceiling

Now it is finally time to start adding your walls and ceiling. Begin to put your characters and settings together to tell your story.

A good story usually includes a protagonist and an antagonist meeting in a controversial moment.

Think of your story like a roller coaster ride. Start rolling your story uphill to the climactic event, and then fly downhill to end your story.

Paint the walls and choose the type of carpet you want

Once you have created your story, you can start painting the walls and choosing the type of carpet you want.

Read your story again and add extra meat to your characters or to the theme.

Consider creating more dialogue or changing the ending. Ask for someone you trust to read your story and offer constructive criticism.

The Takeaways

Now that you have built your story, start selling to prospective buyers.

Send your manuscript out to a wide variety of publishers, remembering to not be discouraged by the number of rejection notices you will receive.

There is someone out there looking for your story if you will be consistent in your search.

Remember to follow these tips, and you are well on your way to becoming a writing success!

I hope you have found my article to be helpful in answering your questions concerning what every writer needs to know about writing a story from the foundation up

Please share your sentiments in the comments section. Thank you for reading! My thanks to Sahil Patel for publishing my article in his stellar Reciprocal publication!

I would like to recognize the work of three incredible writers,

Divya Goswami, Ellen Baker, and Sahil Patel

whose writing is over the moon!

Please read their blog posts — they are consummate storytellers:

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