Story development
Story development is a generative process where ideas, themes, and unique characteristics tend to surface through iteration and reflection. It is also a technical process, where common elements are added, subtracted, combined, and transformed to convey meaning, encourage insights, and intensify excitement or tension.
Show, don't tell.
When drafting a story, it is often best to convey information and ideas indirectly. For instance, you could write, "Xavier was a very nice person." Alternatively, you could write, "Xavier spent his weekends volunteering at a local shelter and working part time as a nurse." Both methods communicate the kind of person Xavier is, but the latter is typically more engaging for the reader.
You can extrapolate this concept to practically everything you make. You want to let your viewers choose to connect the dots or leave some dots unconnected. If you don't give their brain any work to do, it can make for an extremely dull experience. Ask them to do too much work, and you risk giving them an experience that is confusing and frustrating.
Direct vs informed conversation:
When using direct conversation, a writer can more easily use the show don't tell method.
"Bob, stop that! I hate it when you do that!" yelled Linda.
This dialogue is an example of direct conversation, where we are shown that Linda is upset because Bob is doing something that she disapproves of. Alternatively, the audience can be told the same information like this:
"Linda yelled at Bob in a loud voice. She wanted him to stop and told Bob that she didn't approve of what he was doing."
Arguably, the direct conversation method is more engaging and can let us see the personality and emotion of the characters.
Audience
The audience is who are you writing the story for, and the way you put together the story elements should have your audience in mind. Story genre fan bases are essentially consumer markets. When a storyteller is complicit with fan service (fulfills the expectations of fans), it means they are catering to a market that buys a particular kind of story, which tend to be valued more by publishers as products rather than creative and expressive works. This exists heavily in literature, film, cartoons, video games, and other forms of media.
Story Elements
Setting/environment
The setting is the environment in which the story takes place. The setting helps establish the tone, story genre, and often foreshadows future events in the plot. In some video games, the environment is also a narrative device, providing context for the world the characters inhabit.
Point of View (PoV)
Who is telling the story? Who are you experiencing the story through? Depending on the point of view, the author can create a sense of intimacy with the story, or a more objective and distant perspective.
- First person: (I, we)
- Second person: (you)
- Third person: (he, she, they)
Character
- Assign characterization types to characters
- Develop character profiles
- Identify tropes to apply to characters or change characters to avoid unwanted tropes
Plot
- Write critical beats (decision points)
- Supports critical story path
- Include elements:
- The way it was
- And then one day...
- Raising the stakes
- Moment of change
- World as it is now
- Write optional beats.
- These become possible branches in your narrative.
Structure
- Choose or design a structural model for the narrative.
- The narrative structure should support critical story path and desired supplemental story interaction
- If developing an interactive story, the structure might be on a dynamic scale between linear and non-linear. In games, cut scenes tend to be linear while gameplay and interaction tends to be non-linear.