Story development is the process of taking a small kernel of an idea and turning it into a fully fleshed out story. It’s a journey that every writer must take, and it takes time and practice to master.
One of the key challenges at this stage is finding a way to give your ideas story stakes — something that will make the protagonist have to choose between what’s best for themselves and what’s best for the story. These stakes can be obvious, like a life or death proposition, but they can also be more subtle, such as a character being asked to choose between a good and a bad thing. Once you find the right stakes for your story, you can start to create the progressive complications that will lead up to the climax.
It’s at this stage that writers often begin to get stuck, sometimes resulting in what is called “writer’s block.” There is no one-size-fits-all solution for beating writer’s block, but over time many writers learn to recognize the signs that they are starting to go off course. They might pick up a book on writing structure or look for ways to inspire themselves creatively. Some go for long walks in the woods or parks nearby while others research obsessively, visit art galleries, or make Pinterest boards.
After the first draft, it’s a matter of refining the story, tightening up the prose, and balancing macro edits (like plot structure) with micro edits (like grammatical clarity). It’s also when writers work out their characters’ secondary goals, motivations, and relationships, as well as their internal and external conflicts.