Story Development
-Characters- Every story has characters, whether they're animals or humans. There are a few aspects that may need to be covered when developing characters: *Age- obviously if they're 5 they aren't doing trigonometry, but if they're 18 and out of high school they most likely won't be putting the circle block in the square hole *Religious views- depending on the story you may want to include this as it may cause them to make certain decisions that may be important *Sexual Orientation- many stories include romance so this may need to be determined, although the story could include them deciding about this later. *Race- this may give certain cultural traditions or events within the story *Appearance- A picture is usually painted for the reader for who they're reading about. A full portrait isn't needed, you can leave some things to the imagination, but many readers may fin it hard to picture the story if they don't have at least a small description of the character. *Speech patterns- do they have a lisp, a stutter, do they sound like Jesus and Morgan Freeman had a baby? *Thought process- Do they think like Sherlock Holmes, practically and logically, or do they think more like the average person, emotionally and rationally? *Background- do they have a tragic history, or a sweet one? Did they have a life changing experience early in life? Background may affect how a person thinks or the decisions they make. Now obviously there are many more things that could be established with your characters but what you want to do with them is your choice. -Plot- *Beginning- without it there's no story. This is usually where a few characters, including the main character, is introduced, the problem/conflict may or may not be included yet. Foreshadowing is common here. The first setting is usually established, and the main character may express certain feelings about events happening/ about to happen or about other characters. *Rising action- this is usually where more characters, usually the antagonist, are introduced, the problem is most commonly established here. There may be more than one main problem. Foreshadowing may be used. *Climax- this is where the heat of the action is. Are two crazy kids eloping, or are the protagonist and antagonist having it out? Many books planning to be a series may end and the climax to create suspense but authors who plan to end with one continue on past the climax. *Falling action- usually the protagonist is trying to figure out an answer to the main problem here. This may also lead to the resolution where the problem is resolved. Mystery may be included to create an imaginative spark in the reader to get them wondering what may happen. The early foreshadowing may come into play here. *Resolution- this is where the action is falling until it's over. The problem is usually resolved, unless it's a series book. In a series like Harry Potter the conflict for that year is over, in a series like Divergent the book ends at the Climax. It depends on your story line and how far you want to take your book/series. -Details- *Setting- if setting isn't well established then the reader isn't going to be able to picture it, or may not understand the events going on around that area. Ex: "The church was big and had a garden, we saw the paint nearby scraped and found a box buried in the garden." Or "The church looked like a large white cloud, the flourishing garden next to it had beautiful flowers that we had never seen before. As we continued walking around we saw some of the paint of the church scraped off and caked with dirt. When we went to investigate we found a lump in the dirt, we brushed away the clingy dirt and found an old wooden box." *Date- if you're in the 1800s you're obviously not going to say "Yo man step away from the car" but if you're in the 2000s you're not going to say "speaketh now, or you shall forever hold your peace" You can of course add the details you want, but try to explain thoroughly yet leave some to the reader to picture.