STUCK on a Short Story?

10 Second Tip:
Stuck on a SHORT Story?

Stuck on what to put in your story?
-- This is the list of things I check off when I create a story:

Do you have a Setting in mind?
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- Sci-fi
- Historical
- Modern day
- Fantasy

Do you have ONE big main event for the story to focus on?
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- A battle
- An escape
- A love scene
- An act of revenge
- A sacrifice
- A treasure to claim
- A magic spell
- A transformation

Do you know what you want to SAY with your story?
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- Love sucks.
- Friendship is forever.
- No good deed goes unpunished.
- A snake can only ever be a snake.
- Sometimes you have to take chances.
- Magic makes things worse, not better.

Do you know where you want to END your story?
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- A wedding?
- A funeral?
- A bloody battlefield?
- An empty street?
- The bottom of an ocean?

Do you have your three central characters ready?
-- Just to make things interesting, any one of these three could be the Hero, the Villain, or the Ally.
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- A main character that personifies what your story is trying to say?
- A main character that personifies an opposing opinion of the same topic?
- A buddy / friend/ love interest of one or both to personify Joe Normal stuck in the Middle?

Why did I mention Characters last?
-- Instead of making a story for my characters, I do the opposite. I make characters for my story.

Some people can come up with a cool character and then build a story around them. Sadly, I am not one of those. I can build a back-story just fine, but my back-stories are never good enough to be the Main Story. A back-story is how a character GOT his Issues. The main story is how they FIXED those Issues. See the difference?  

Anyway...
-- When I'm stuck on a story, I try thinking on these questions and often, they'll jog something loose.

Enjoy!