I was going to make this into a Youtube vid but it’s such a long-winded speech and a lot of the time my dad is in the room right next to me (darn dad working at home now). Besides, in text form, I can’t mispronounce things and you can refer back to this information.

So suppose you’re a person who wants to make an epic story for people to remember for generations to come (be it for a movie, book, game or whatever), like The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Seems easy, but to tell the truth it’s much easier said than done.

How do you do it? More importantly……Where do you start?


Step 1: The Idea

Well the best place to start would be the beginning, with an idea. I suggest you come up with LOTS of ideas, rather than just one, because there’s a rather high chance some of those ideas will be either:

   1. Crap
   2. Already done a million times by other people

It’s true. Great minds do think alike, and if you keep churning out “overdone” ideas all the time, your story won’t get a lot of attention and will be lost in the crowd. The big challenge here is to try and get an idea that’s DIFFERENT.

(NOTE: If you’re trying to get into the comic book industry this isn’t as important because Marvel and DC would either use their own characters over again or take old ideas and dress them up to make them look like new)

Unfortunately I can’t teach you how to do this. The only way to come up with different ideas is to expose yourself to as much “stuff” as possible to find out which ideas HAVE been overdone. So go see movies, rent DVDs, read comic books, play games, etc until you have a fair idea about that. Even if you end up getting an idea that has been done by someone else, try to add new elements to it to make your idea BETTER. Put an original twist into your idea. That way, over time, people will start to remember your version more than whatever used the idea first.

As for getting original ideas, well you can get them from literally anywhere…I mean ANYWHERE. Books, movies, TV shows, games, animals, places, life experiences, but the most creative ideas I have to admit, come from dreams. My teacher told me dreams brought on by meditation were more original but I haven’t tried that. So one step for getting a good story idea would be to keep a small notepad by your bed so you can get up and quickly jot down what you remember from the dream before the events of the day cloud your mind.

Also I suggest investing in Spore (or the creature creator), Sims or any simulation games. They are a good source of inspiration.

Some ideas will just come to you when you see something, you’ll be inspired by it. Others will take a little bit of work and thinking before you can churn it out.


Step 2: Story

This isn’t the last step. There’s still a long way to go from here. Just try to flesh out a very rough story concept based around your idea. eg. A lizard gets caught on flypaper (yeah that came out randomly), animals rule a house until humans come to stay in it.

Short and sweet. Nothing too fancy yet.


Step 3: Characters

Possibly one of the most crucial steps in the process. Sometimes movies are just bad because the characters are not BELIEVABLE! Your viewer needs to be able to believe that these characters exist somewhere in an alternate universe. (Ironic, when I was really young I thought Bugs Bunny and Super Mario really existed somewhere).

What you’re trying to do is create an illusion that the audience isn’t just watching or reading about the characters…they ARE the characters. To do that, you need to develop your characters so they’re deep and complex, and not just “mass produced” cardboard cut-outs.

So I guess it’s time I introduces you to an amazing piece of software I found. CELTX! *choir singing starts*

It’s a small program AND it’s a free download so there’s no excuse for not getting it. Go to celtx.com to download it.

This program is already used in industries (they never tell you which ones). It allows you to put all your pre-production stuff into one handy file (which unfortunately gets immense in size once you start adding pictures).

When you add a character, there will be a few boxes in their profile to fill out. The more info you can put in each of these boxes, the better a character you’ll have. Not all your characters have to be complex though. Hagrid in Harry Potter isn’t a very complex character. However if you want the character to be your main protagonist or antagonist, then yes, it would be wise to fully develop your character with lots of information and a complex personality.

The most important box would have to be the goal. You may have noticed that a lot of stories in the media are about a character WANTING something and overcoming incredible odds to get it. In the end, they either get it or figure out that what they were striving for wasn’t really what they wanted in the first place. If your character doesn’t WANT something, they’re not much of a character, because when we move, most of the time it’s because we want something. Next you have to type out how they plan to get what they want. This can be as simple as “struggling like crazy to get out of the flypaper” or a more difficult and unsure plan like “enlist the help of other animals to scare the humans out of the house”.

You’ll know when you’ve developed your character enough, because they’ll seem to “come to life” in your mind and start making their own material.


Step 4: Further Story Development

This is probably the point where these steps start to collide with each other. If you don’t have a story yet, but have a developed character that has inspired you, then you CAN make a story out of that, just visualise your character. What are they? Where do they live? What kind of environment is it? What problems does this character have (if your character doesn’t have problems, then YOU are the one who has a problem)? Does he/she have any disabilities? Has anything significant happened in this character’s past? Who are his/her friends? Why are they his/her friends? Who are his/her enemies? Why are they his/her enemies?

I suggest answering those questions for any character you’ve made for a story, maybe using a production notes or extra script in CeltX so you can just write down extra notes on characters.

Anyway, back on topic. Story structure. Every story has a beginning (orientation) middle (complication) and end (climax and resolution). The orientation introduces the audience to the main characters and locations in the story, while the complication is the point where the protagonist finds out they have a problem or they want something. In the climax, the problem is solved and more is revealed (like the true source of the problem) and the resolution is where the story winds down and all the loose ends are tied up (unless you’re sure you want a sequel).

For example. Cinderella is a story with multiple complications and resolutions. Cinderella’s parents died and she was adopted by her evil stepmother (orientation). Her stepmother turned her into a house slave (complication). The prince invites everyone to a ball but Cinderella can’t go because she doesn’t have a dress (complication again). The animals make her a dress (resolution). Her sisters tear the dress apart (another complication). Cinderella’s fairy godmother makes her a new dress and sends her off to the ball (resolution). While at the ball, the clock strikes 12 and Cinderella runs off, leaving the prince with one of her glass slippers (complication…I guess for the prince). And just to cut a long story short, the prince announces a search for whoever fits the slipper and Cinderella’s foot fits the slipper (climax). Then they get married and live happily ever after (resolution).

Until you flesh out your story some more, it’s best to stick with just ONE big complication and resolution and when you think you’re ready to put more events into it, then you can start sticking more in.

Just remember two things, tension and conflict. They will keep your viewer interested (maybe you should also consider what age group you’re aiming towards because kids won’t want to see a lot of blood and guts and sex in their story).

Tension is another word for suspense. It’s a state where the audience or viewer is uncertain or anxious about what will happen to the characters in a given scene. If you can make the viewer CARE about the characters and their situations, then you’ll automatically have moments of tension somewhere in your story (unless your character doesn’t have any problems to deal with).

Conflict in stories is a state in which your character(s) is in opposition with something. There are three different possible types of conflict in stories.

    * Conflict between two characters
    * Conflict between a character and their environment
    * Conflict between a character and themself

Say in the rough idea about the animals ruling the house until the humans come. Well, there’s already conflict between the animals and the humans. Let’s say the possums and rats want to enlist the help of the rabbits to drive the humans out, BUT the rabbits and possums are mortal enemies, and the rats are afraid the rabbits will take over the house once the humans are gone (more conflict). A hero sees their mortal enemy about to die, and they’re not sure whether they should save him. That’s when the character has conflict with themself. Conflict really helps to add depth to both your characters and story.

Other techniques you can use are flashbacks and foreshadowing. Flashbacks are a moment that takes place in a character’s memory, a moment that has already happened. They help reveal more about the character’s history and problems. Meanwhile foreshadowing does the opposite, it doesn’t actually show the future, just gives the viewer a hint of what MIGHT happen in the future, so when it happens, the viewer goes “Oh. So that’s why (object) was there”. Foreshadowing helps to keep the audience interested in your story, and what’s more, you can do a “red herring” with foreshadowing, and throw your viewer on a wild goose chase with a false clue, because there’s a fair chance that if your viewer is engaged in your story, they’ll be trying to guess how it ends, and you want to make that ending un-guessable.

And I guess it might be too late to mention this, but also think about what genre you want the story to be filed under. Is it a tragedy, or a comedy, or an action/adventure story?

Also make sure you’ve tried to iron out EVERY plot-hole in your story. There’s no doubt that your viewer will ask questions if they see something that isn’t explained in some point of the story.


Step 5: Get Feedback

Feedback is like GOLD, valuable. I recommend finding somebody who doesn’t work in literature, animation or filmmaking. Just an average Joe or Bob, because those are the kinds of people who will most likely view your work (also try to show it to people of different ages, because a young child might have different ideas from a grown-up). It’s amazing how other people can pick up problems or hitches that you couldn’t, and they might suggest great ways to improve your story. Don’t get too precious with your work. I know it may have taken a lot of work to get this far, but if you allow others to change it, the finished product will be even better than you expected and you’ll thank them for it in the end.


Step 6: Draft Story/Script

To be honest, you can do steps 6-7 in any order you choose (or even at the same time if you want). It doesn’t make much of a difference now that you have most of the “foundational” work done.

You’re ready to write up your first draft. Just keep referring back to your CeltX project and whatever notes you may have collected from your feedback and you’ll go fine. For ease of use, it may be better to type this IN your CeltX project, because CeltX can automatically break down your script and provide helpful hints while you’re typing it. When you’ve finished, show your first draft to whoever you shared your idea with for feedback. See if they like it or not. Once again, they might have more suggestions for improvement. Read through the script/draft story a few times yourself.

If you have the time (or you just feel like it), you can try to do multiple drafts of your script. You may even alter the story because a certain character is forced to do something that just isn’t like them (if a character is FORCED to act out of character just because your story demands it, then that’s a big problem).


Step 7: Concept Art

The worst thing will be getting half-way through a story or comic book production and wanting to “evolve” your characters because you think a certain design would look better than the current one. Concept art is the step where you avoid this.

Build a library of reference pictures on your computer (of course if you’re just writing a regular novel you can skip this step entirely and just describe what you think the character looks like). These are just photos and images of ANYTHING. Animals, people, clothing, environments, hairstyles, buildings, toys, statues, etc. Using a photo or picture from the internet as a simple reference IS NOT infringing copyright. Only if you directly reproduce or trace an image into your artwork are you infringing someone else’s copyright. So go crazy and collect whatever images you can find from Google.

I’ve seen a lot of artists online mention that they own a digital camera and they take it everywhere they go and take pictures of everything that inspires them. This is highly recommended, because you never know what you might find and it’ll boost your reference library without you having to go online and search for pictures.

When you think you’ve got enough pictures, go over your character profiles and imagine what they might look like quickly sketch out these thoughts as concept designs in either a sketchbook or on rough paper. Do a whole lot of these for each of your characters, and choose the one you like the most (or looks the most suitable, keep in mind the theme, environment and time period of whatever civilisation you might create, because that will also dictate what clothes they wear).

This is quite a long and drawn-out step because not only will you have to do this for all your characters, but you may find yourself doing concept artwork for your props and locations as well (even full-colour beautifully-rendered artwork, like the stuff you see from Pixar documentaries). Whenever a company decides to make a movie, there’s usually a pre-production book that comes with it, that spans hundreds of pages and has all sorts of beautiful art in it (and some of it isn’t even used). This is a stage where being able to do artwork quickly is critical, and it’s essential that you don’t get “attached” to your artwork, because in the industry, a good portion of the pre-production artwork isn’t used in the final movie.

Keep building up your reference library for inspiration, and save it for use in your next project (if you have one planned).


Step 8: Final Script

You might not even know when you’ve done the final script. It’ll probably be when your source of feedback can’t think of anymore ways to make it better. If you’ve done it outside CeltX, copy and paste it in and allow CeltX to break it down. Breaking down scripts makes them easier to read and shows you where and what needs to be in a certain scene.


Step 9: Production

Rather straightforward. You’ve worked SOOO hard to make it this far, now draw/write up that baby of yours! This might seem to be the longest (yet most important) stage of your project, but the more effort you’ve put into the previous steps, the easier and smoother (and ultimately quicker) this step will be.

Many industries make a mistake of reaching a problem in pre-production and instead of working it out (just to meet their schedule) they just assume they’ll be able to “fix it in post-production”. BIG MISTAKE.


Step 10: Post-Production/Publication

Wow. I never thought it would be 10 steps. Now that you have your precious story all written and drawn out, it’s time to seek out a publisher. If you have a comic you plan to print, make sure it meets appropriate A4 comic dimensions and that it’s at 300DPI (yeah I know it gives you a large file but it needs to be that way for print or else it’ll turn out pixellated).

I really don’t know much about publishers. If what you were working on was just a script for a movie studio, then you need to pitch it to them (in other words “sell” them your script). For everything else, you need to find a publisher that will agree to mass produce your work. You can self-publish comics and books online, but I heard there’s a whole lot of problems with that and the publisher takes a long time to respond to you when you fix up problems. At least face-to-face, you’ll get feedback instantly.



So there you have it. A whole story project from start to finish. I hope this has helped any aspiring storytellers out there get a grip on it. Just remember that writing a book/graphic novel and making a movie are founded on telling a good story and telling it well.