The story can grow into anything you like, but only as it relates to the actions of these characters. Regardless of the story you want to tell, you have to tell a story comprised of various characters with different ideas and personalities interacting with each other during a specific period of time.

If you look through the tables, you can see we start off with the story beats, but most of them focus on the characters. This base organizes all aspects of a story and the world it lives in. If you don’t already have an Airtable account, create one (a basic account is free) so you can make a copy of the base we’re working with. Getting startedīefore we can jump right in, we have to set up a couple of things. You don't have to force yourself into any boxes. Use the tools and tips discussed in this article to work with your writing style. If you hate outlining, however, you don't have to-you can focus on establishing character relationships and traits instead. If you like a standard beat sheet or a Save the Cat-style outline, for example, we'll discuss how you can create those outlines more quickly. Either way, what we'll discuss here should work for you. Some writers love to outline and others hate the rigidity of the process. Here's how you can organize every detail about the world where your story thrives. When writing a screenplay you can make it a basic blueprint or a portal into a world of your creation, but you cannot accomplish the latter without preparation. That's the outline of my go-to worldbuilding work! I find it helps me generate additional plot ideas based on the information there as well.Organize all aspects of your story, your characters, and the world in which they live. What are common stereotypes or beliefs that exist in the world that might impact your characters? What does morality look like? Be creative in this section! Additional Notes It's generally a list of places with notes underneath regarding what it looks like and relevant information (major options at a college, jobs at a cafe, etc). Write about non-family relationships to the overall character you are discussing. Other Relationships: Follow the format above potentially. (Insert relationship to other characters): A brief description of their relationship.Īdditional notes (about the family member being written about).Any notable things? Did they descend from someone relevant? Do they have familial beliefs? Financial status? The way other people view them?

The Past: What is their family structure like? When and where were they born? What was their childhood like? Are there any notable memories or moments that are relevant to the story? What beliefs do they have about the world and themself? Did they have friends? What was school like? What did their parents do for work? What was the financial status? What are their hopes for the future?įamily: I generally start with a summary. Physicality: What do they look like? What is their style like? What do they carry on them (ie: if they carry a harmonica, do they know how to play or is it part of an inside joke?)? Are they neat or messy? How is their hygiene? Do they have notable posture? How do they walk? How is their eye contact? Are they socially aware? Do they have any notable conditions or disabilities? How is their health? Do they fidget and in what ways? Do they talk with their hands? Are their facial expressions notable or do they underemote? What is their smile like? Their laugh? Their writing?

Occupation: Where do they work? What job do they have? Give a quick blurb about what the job and place are like.

Education: What schools did they go to? What is the highest level of education?.

Place of Birth: Were they born where the story takes place? What was their place of birth like? What was it known for?.

I sometimes talk about the way they view their gender.

Gender Identity: I also include pronouns.

Does it have a weird pronunciation? Is there a history behind the name?

Name: I generally put the full name and details about it.

I generally keep it to the main characters. Give the characters' names and the inciting incident. It doesn't need to be detailed, just a quick summary of what is happening. I generally start with a quick rundown of the plot. I don't always include all of these sections and I don't answer all of the questions. I personally use GoogleDrive and divide the sections with headings so it'll generate an outline that will let you click into a specific section.

In the future, I'll walk you through each step of the planning with my own work. This week, I'm going to give you my outline. Every writer has different planning when it comes to characters and worldbuilding.

Story planner for writers