#54: How to Test Your Story Idea Before Writing

Fiction Writing Made Easy with Savannah Gilbo | How to Write a Novel & Writing Advice

Savannah Gilbo

Education, Writing Advice, Plotting A Novel, Editing A Novel, Character Arcs, Fiction Writing Mistakes To Avoid, Story Development, Fiction Writing Tips, How To Outline A Novel, Character Development, Story Structure, Books, World Building, Arts, Writing Stronger Scenes, How To, Fiction

4.9 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 11 January 2022

⏱️ 15 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this episode, I'm sharing two of my favorite ways to test out a story idea before you start writing a single word. Here's a preview of what you'll hear in the episode: [01:50] The goal of these two exercises is to find out which foundational pieces of your story still need to be fleshed out. Better to find out now than halfway through a draft! [01:10] Exercise #1: Write a 1-2 sentence summary of your story. Try to capture the WHO, the WHAT, and the WHY of your global story. [04:45] If you...

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey there, Savannah here. I wanted to take a quick second to let you know that my notes
0:04.2	to novel course is officially open for enrollment right now until October 12th.
0:08.8	Notes to novel is an eight-week live program that will teach you how to confidently write
0:13.1	the first draft of a story you feel proud of. I've taken everything I've learned from coaching
0:17.1	hundreds of authors across all genres and channeled it into a comprehensive step-by-step
0:21.8	implementation program that not only teaches you the high-level theory behind writing a story
0:26.3	that works, but how to execute what you're learning in real-time too. Doors are open right now
0:31.2	and this enrollment period closes on Thursday, October 12th at 1159 Pacific time. So if you've
0:37.1	been waiting for an online writing course that meets you where you're at, gives you a community
0:41.0	of like-minded writers to share the experience with, and lets you write your novel in real-time
0:45.9	as you learn, then head over to savannagobo.com forward slash yes to learn more or to enroll.
0:51.8	As many of you know, I am not taking one-on-one clients for the foreseeable future, so this is the
0:56.5	best way to get my help with your story alongside a community of like-minded writers who share similar
1:02.1	goals. So one more time that's savannagobo.com forward slash yes to learn more about the notes
1:07.6	in novel program and to enroll before doors closed on October 12th at midnight Pacific.
1:13.1	So when you're writing this summary, here are some things that you're going to want to consider
1:17.2	and go deeper into as you flesh this out. So number one is your protagonist. Who is your
1:22.8	protagonist and what makes them unique? What does that character want at the beginning of the story
1:27.6	and why do they want it? Number two is the conflict. So what is the situation that your
1:32.9	protagonist is in? Who or what is standing in the way of your protagonist achieving their goal?
1:39.4	Number three are the stakes. So why does all of this matter or what's at risk if your protagonist
1:45.3	doesn't achieve their goal? What's the worst that could happen and what will their success or
	...

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