Start With a Big, Captivating Idea
Start With a Big, Captivating Idea
Maybe it is all of it and maybe none of it. But, why does the main idea need to be captivating for a story in the first place?
Do you think J.K Rowling, Stephen King, or any of the biggest selling writers could serve the purpose of their books the way they did if it wasn’t for the great ideas behind their stories?
Every great story needs to have a captivating idea to back the rest of the story. The entire universe that you create in a story can only make sense when it really has a reason and captivating idea behind it.
It Is the Foundation of Your Story:
You may design the best characters, write the most thoughtful lines and create the most amazing twists in the story, but it can all go in vain if your story does not have a captivating idea. There needs to be a reason for the characters to be going through, what they are going through in the story.
If that reason and idea are not worth all the hazard, the story does not simply serve the purpose.
The Big Captivating Idea Serve as a Purpose to the Story:
Any thought that pops up in your head, any right idea or solution you are waiting for, has to have a purpose beforehand. It is the purpose that leads our lives and opens a space for new possibilities and decisions in our life.
A purpose serves the same for the story you are thinking to write. That purpose is what you call in your story a big, captivating idea. The characters in your story need to be serving that big scheme of the plan.
Your Entire Story is Designed Around It:
You can design characters and their traits in the most memorable way possible but will never make a story memorable. The fact is that only remains in the minds of people when it gives something to be remembered.
Your story is not serving the characters, but your characters are serving the story.
You need to build the themes, characters, and details after you have built the story mainly.
Take Your Time Working On It:
The best stories do not happen overnight. Yes, we agree when we say that a big idea is a need in order to make a story captivating but to support that idea, you need to examine every step and explore every possibility for a story to make it great.
A big idea needs a compelling story in order to hook its readers to keep on reading. Your idea and story are not great enough until it is able to move, inspire and captivate their readers.
The more time you take building your story the better and more satisfying results you will have.
Research is the Key:
The next thing that supports your great story idea is your research on the subjects and the environment you are building your story around. There are many authors who talk about their work in extreme detail and in such a way that it seems almost impossible to believe that the author was not part of the story or the fiction he or she is telling is not a reality.
When thinking of writing a story, always read the work of writers that speak your language in reading, more analytically. It will always help you see the aspects that you need to cover in your story. The sense of putting your work and research into the details of character and story.
Keep Working On the Ordinary, Until it Achieves the Extra Ordinary:
You need to start with the clarity that it is in the ordinary setting, in which the extraordinary shine.
Sometimes there are ideas that are extraordinary from the beginning, but there are also times when you can create the most brilliant ideas from very ordinary situations. You need to keep working on it to find that. Keep seeing and analyzing it from every angle until you find the idea that is right for your story.
Big Ideas don’t just happen, you need to work on them:
In the end, you need to stop waiting for one big idea to show up suddenly like a lightning bolt. (I mean sure it can also happen, but stop wasting your time waiting around for it.) You sometimes need to go in the search of those ideas. Keep working, reading, and looking, but, most of all observing.
It sometimes happens often that some stories are waiting to happen and just appear in the spur of the moment leaving us only a moment to catch them before they disappear completely.
What you can do?
What you can do is, find the time to sit, listen and observe, and have fun writing you big idea.
