Stories are exciting things. They come to you in a flash of inspiration and light you up anew with every epiphany.
Until you’re stuck.
Try as we might to get the spark back by scrolling through our Pinterest boards or listening to playlists, sometimes the only way to get through a story slump is to push yourself. But that can be difficult when you’ve lost your way in your story—either because you’re not sure what to write next, or because you’ve lost your inspiration.
Rather than try to capture lightning in a bottle, you can protect yourself against writer’s block by planning your story in some way.
Now, I’m definitely a plotter, but I know not everyone falls into that category. Our own Racquel Henry is a proud pantser! But if you have any aspirations of writing professionally, I’m here to tell you that learning story structure by heart is your ticket to story clarity—and possibly fewer drafts. Amy Christine Parker, author and instructor of our Plotting Your Prose course, found that a lack of understanding of story structure actually led to her wanting to avoid writing under her publishing deadlines. It was only after studying structure that she was able to return to the page without dread.
But there are so many schools of thought when it comes to writing. Where does one begin?
I recently came across a website that has 84 places to start.
What is Story Planner?
Story Planner is a website that houses templates for outlines, characters, settings, synopses, log lines, writing goals, query emails (!), and whatever else you can think of. These story plans are categorized by difficulty, time it takes to complete, and how developed your concept needs to be before beginning.
Essentially, there’s no problem that can’t be solved by filling in some blanks!
How do I use Story Planner?
Like me, you might be tempted to scroll through all 84 (still can’t get over that number!) entries and open each one in a new tab, or else try to pick which one to use based on the given one-sentence description. While this is great fun and I highly recommend it for entertainment purposes, I do not recommend this technique if you are actually interested in writing before the end of next week.
Luckily, there’s the Story Planner Helper. It’s a quiz that walks you through a few basic questions to filter through its offerings and present you with a neat little list catered to your needs. From there, you can click TRY THIS PLAN and explore each template in depth. After selecting one, Story Planner even has little question marks by each heading to explain the unique vernacular each template uses.
For example, let’s say I want to get a better understanding of the main character in my short story. After answering the Story Planner Helper’s first two questions, I’m given a list of ten character-building templates to choose from.
I am the type of writer who craves understanding of my protagonist’s inner journey before I write, so I’m drawn to the Character Arc entry. Or, if I just wasn’t getting the clarity I wanted from my usual favorite process, I could experiment with the Snowflake Method, which I’ve never even attempted before.
On the other hand, if this wasn’t my main character, I’d likely select the Character Archetypes entry and pick something that’s close enough to the role I envision that character having in my story. My friend Kerry Evelyn, however, likes to know all sorts of details about all her characters, and I could totally see her filling out the Detailed Character Profile if she had unlimited time on her hands!
How much does Story Planner cost?
You know how they say the best things in life are free? In this case, the best things in life have a free basic plan. For Story Planner, that means you can use any template and export it to PDF, text, email, or Word, but you can only store one story plan at a time. The premium plan allows for unlimited creation and editing of story plans, and it starts at $15 for three months.
Personally, I can’t see myself upgrading, especially since I’m very comfortable with my current prewriting processes. But the premium plan might be for you if:
- You are planning a series with a large number of characters and plots to keep track of
- You like the idea having all your story plans in one place
- You’re still experimenting to discover which story structure philosophies work best with your brain
If you’re interested in more strategies to help you prewrite and plan your stories, you’ll love our course, Plotting Your Prose with Amy Christine Parker!
Available exclusively through our online community, the $97 investment in this course includes a 45-page workbook filled with extended tips, tricks, helpful tech, and links to books and articles to extend your studies. The course is designed to help both beginning and experienced novelists.
