Hi Folks, I’m mostly an editor much more than a writer but over the years of solving story problems on both sides of the fence, I’ve come up with a short - pointed - quiz that often solves both my problems as a writer and which serves as a tool to help the writers I serve. It’s only 8 questions. Each is likely answerable in a few paragraphs.

If your story is stuck in the mud, lost in the trees, or plagued with doubts and you don’t know how to fix it - give this a try.

Answer my questions and BE SPECIFIC. If you are vague… -10 for Ravenclaw… haha, ok not really. Vague answers means you don’t know enough and that’s a trouble spot. Go gnaw on it until you can give a specific answer that you like. You’ll be amazed at how often this will fix problems.

To Use: Copy and Paste the questionnaire into your text editor of choice.

*Farther down in this blog post, I’ll talk about each question in more details.

The Story Questionnaire

Who is the main character of your story?

You can say what they are too, but who are they?

What does the MC want/need so badly that they propel themselves through the great conflict of your plot for it?

They’re going to put themselves through hell for this thing.

Who is the antagonist of your story?

Or the forces of antagonism if you will. Do try to name one as the main antagonist though. Someone/thing has to be defeated at the end of the book.

What does the main antagonist want/need so badly that they cause the great conflict of your plot?

“Why’d you do it?”

“Do what?”

“Set the world on fire?”

What is the main conflict of the story?

I.e. what specific conflict does the final climax of the story resolve?

What is the coolest ending you can think of for your story?

Forget, for a moment, what should happen. The real question is are you using your writerly powers for good or for awesome?

Extra Credit: By what virtue does the protagonist win?

Yelling and power blast? Friends we earned early on? Clever tactics? Deus Ex Machina? Finally realizing our true self? Magical hax? Defeating the inner selfdemon?

Summarize your story using no more than 2-3 paragraphs.

(This is not a blurb.)

Write the blurb for your story.

(This is not a summary.)

And you’re done… or maybe you just have a million questions. Allow me pontificate then.

The Questions Explained

Who is the main character of your story?

Aka the protagonist.

Just the main character of the story. Whether they are good, evil, or “it’s complicated.” The protagonist needs to be a compelling character that can carry the main story. So you definitely need to put time into them, the right time.

What we don't need is an exhaustive list of 2000 random details like blood type, hair, favorite food, height, etc.. Some of that is good, but it gets useless and thoughtless really fast.

What we really need are things that characterize. As in, details which imply who this person is. For example: Eye color is just window-dressing, unless their eyes are colored oddly by a dreadful choice they had to make.

If you're having trouble with coming up with these, then think of them as hooks. Ask if the detail inspires curiosity, dread, laughter, wonder, sadness, or other powerful emotion - cause that's a good hook. Ask if it comes with implications. We want wonder, not certainty.

That’s why this question is who not what. A dwarf who likes pizza is a what. A dwarf crying while eating pizza is a who.

What does the MC want/need?

This is the most important part of the whole story. For several reasons. First is that reader investment in your MC doesn't start until they learn what the character wants. I cannot impress upon you enough how important this is to establish as soon as possible. Like, the very first sentence of your story should do this if you can manage it. First paragraph is second-best, then first page, or first chapter. But hear me out, the farther into the story you go without this, the more meaningless the MC's actions will feel. (or worse, contrived)

Think about how much trouble it is being a main character. The MC in particular usually goes through complete utter hell to reach the end, often while being forced to battle their inner demons and drag their baggage at the same time.

This want is what provides the motivation sufficient for the MC to push themselves through the hell of the plot. It's gotta be something they are unwilling to walk away from and something they will fight for. You need to show the audience why they want it too. If you don't do this then the reader won't understand the MCs actions which can lead to contrived characters.

Showing the reader this want and the flawed pursuit of it is the #1 job of act 1.

Try to state the MC's want as clearly as possible. Hell, if you have to have them face the damn camera and state what they want, do it...just don't forget to fix it later to something less awkward. Or not. It might be a banging opening line. You decide.

Ex: “All I wanted to do was to fix the world…”

This want doesn't have to be huge or even plot-related btw. It can be simple, like getting a doughnut, so long as it's relevant. It's completely fair for the protagonist’s want to change to something more serious and powerful in the aftermath of the inciting incident. Though if you do that make sure the original want is relevant in that it was the tip of the iceberg we now see. Things need to connect.

Who is the antagonist?

Really I should ask - who/what is the principle force of antagonism in the story? There are many forms this force can take, though the most common is a single person/villain who is external to the protagonist. There are many variations to note though. Such as,

Self - the protagonist can be their own worst enemy.
Love interest - Romance stories often will have the love interest as the antagonist and they'll aim for a reversal by the end.
Force of Nature - the classic man vs environment sort of deal, but any unintelligent larger-than-man forces will do. Force of Nature antagonists are tricky, so read up on execution tips if this is for you.
A villain - the simple and strong choice of a single person. This works very well for many reasons and should be considered the default choice.
Organizations - armies, peoples, races, corporations, and so on might seem like they fall into the force of nature category, but you'll often find that conflict resolution with these entities will come down to single points of failure that make for good drama. I.e. a face/leader running things or defeating string of influential lieutenants.

Other than the Force of Nature, all antagonists need to have the same sorts of development and characterization as the protagonist. They need powerful wants, strengths, and weaknesses. They need to be people outside of the plot. Lastly, they need to be well-matched to the protagonist in several ways.

They need to compete with your protagonist over control of something critical. Sometimes this is the main character's life. Sometimes it's the fate of a nation. Sometimes its a macguffin. (Do not underestimate the power of a good macguffin.)
They need to be good at attacking your protagonist's weaknesses. This makes them a meaningful threat [important] but also puts pressure on said weaknesses to drive your protagonist's internal change.
They should be a negative or flawed expression of your story's theme. (This is bonus. I.e they should be morally wrong in the context of the story.)

What does the antagonist want/need so badly that they cause the great conflict of your plot?

Yes, I mentioned the want above, twice, but it bears special consideration for the antagonist. Simply put: being a villain takes more guts than being a hero. Most people want to be thought of as good, or to at least think of themselves as right. Intentional misbehavior takes a lot of push for non-psychopaths. Ergo, your villain should have an immensely potent motivation driving his agenda as that's the crux of the whole central conflict of your book.

Don't skimp on this!

Ever heard someone say they liked the villain more than the hero? Pretty often, right? That's because villains are by default proactively chasing their goals so single-mindedly that they cause a crisis, which makes them inherently strong characters. Often times, too easy really, the hero is reacting to the villain. We all get that passive reactive characters who are dragged through the plot by stick-and-carrot are just inherently weak. This is yet another reason why I hammer on the MC's want/motivation over and over again. Its to save you from stumbling around with a weak protag.

Lastly, I say "great conflict" several times for a reason. The conflict the villain causes needs to be a big darned deal such that poses a serious threat to the protagonist's cares.

Ex: "The end of the world... of Warcraft."

World of Warcraft is a video game and this is a South Park quote, but I love it because it neatly shows that the end of the world doesn’t have to be the end of the actual world to feel like the end of the world. It just has to be dire stakes for the protagonist's personal world.

What is the main conflict of the story?

The main conflict of your story is what drives the action and is the problem/threat that you will resolve by the end. This is also known as the central conflict since you can have many conflicts raging between characters but all the others are smaller, quicker, resolved or not resolved. They are side conflicts no matter how important you may think they are. Lastly, this is not to be confused with the meta-plot, which is a series-level plot that has its own terms of conflict and act structure.

Trust me. If you try for two or more central conflicts, the book will feel unfocused, confusing, or weak. Readers will determine for themselves which conflict is the priority and they won't always understand when your hero isn't focusing on what they think is most important. This rule-of-one is one I'd caution even veteran writers to stick to. Some sprawling epics will try to run multiple story threads, each with it's own central conflict, and this can work but it has also been the doom of many many authors as well. If this is you, then plan plan plan and plan some more.

So what is the main conflict? It's the incompatibility of your protagonist's wants with the antagonist's wants. Simple as that. Let's roll through an illustrative example.

A Simple Conflict

Protagonist: "For the light!"

Antagonist: "For the darkness!"

(And I've just summed up the core conflict of the entire Star Wars franchise... Moving on.)

A more interesting conflict

Antag: "I want to conquer the kingdom."

Protag: "I want to save the kingdom."

A much more interesting conflict

Protag: "I want to save the kingdom from the corrupt a-holes who are ruining life for everyone."

Antag: "I want to conquer the kingdom because it is run so badly, but I have no hope it can be reformed. So go undead army go! Once I'm the king, things will be different."

As you can see, the "simple conflict" is technically functional but it's likely going to be too simple and too broad to be useful. IMO it's so abstract that it might as well be a theme. You're likely gonna have problems working from something this high-altitude as you won't be able to see the ground.

The "more interesting conflict" is better as the wants are more specific and it's easier to see that they could be opposed to one another. In the light vs dark example, we're assuming an opposition. Here, it's a tad more clear. You could do worse than this but I will point out that the protagonist is implicitly reactive. If not for the antagonist endangering the kingdom, the hero would not rise. That said, this basically all super-hero stories and hero's journey stories ever so it's not fatally flawed. I can think of methods for making the protagonist proactive in the pursuit of his want.

The "much more interesting conflict" is my favorite as it has two characters who want the same thing but have chosen opposing means of chasing it. This is drama gold. Read it again and try to envision the hero and the villain having a heated argument where they disagree morally on how to solve a problem they both agree needs fixing. The villain could try to sway the hero or the hero could try to redeem the villain. This villain is understandable even. There's so much here to work with. I love it!

Overall the point is for you to spend time figuring out a central conflict where both the protagonist and antagonist are proactive, making moves, and generally vying with each other over one specific thing - be it a person, an outcome, love, family, a MacGuffin, the fate of a city, a timelines, or the soul of a god trapped in a lost star cruiser. Whatever you choose, just make sure to focus.

IMO, if you set up this conflict correctly, then your story will flow naturally as both sides compete with each other and the whole book will be much easier to write.

What is the coolest ending you can think of for your story?

You really really need to think about how the central conflict will actually be resolved.

I have worked with many authors and I can tell you with 100% certainty that any time an author cannot answer this question with clear specifics, they have a problem. If they are bull-headed enough to try to write their way out of this problem (the "plow ahead" method if you will) then they will inevitably write themselves into a corner and have to re-edit the whole book OR engage in lengthy, convoluted chapters at the end of the book where they write themselves out of the corner. OR they just blow shit up and everyone will hate the ending. Deus Ex Machina goes here.

It sucks. So save your future self the tears and figure it out. Or, at least, make an effort to figure it out no later than half-way through the book. No exaggeration, I have seen the big version of this problem destroy careers, not just books.

But, more positively, I've phrased this question as "the coolest" for a reason. I want you to brainstorm the ideal ending. We don't want the most reasonable ending, we want the most fist-pumping, leaping from your chair "hooya!", dramatic ending you can imagine. Cause look, it's super-easy to get caught up in the long cause-and-effect chain of narrative and sordid details which spin out of the beginning of the story, but that stuff is all a LOT more flexible than you think. The right words spoken, the right change in a character's perspective, or the right knife in the back can send everything in a new direction. (Hi, GoT!)

(I assume action here but if you’re writing a comedy or tragedy you know you need a ridiculous or a tragic ending.)

Tip: Never write "and then..." instead try "but, then..."

If you're writing "and then" that's a sign that you could be in predictable territory. It may not, this isn't some ironclad rule it is something useful to keep in mind.

So when you're still chewing on your first draft, you should aim for the amazing. Work the beginning and the ending towards each other. Strive for that incredible finish and even if you can't make it work as you envisioned, I doubt that you'll be disappointed with what you end up with. Pun intended.

Extra Credit: By what virtue does your hero win?

Do they yell louder than the villain and channel the big power for the win?
Do they win because they have friends and allies?
Do they win because of that one act of kindness from earlier?
Do they win because they overcame their fear/hate/anger/greed/shame... ?
Do they win because they had a change of perspective (broke a lie they once believed)?
Do they win because they are doing the right thing?
Do they win because of tactics and strategy coming together to defeat the villain?

This is hella good to know as the nature of the victory is always the moral of the story whether you want it to be or not. People take a lot away from who wins and why they win. So either you plan it and say it… or you leave it up to chance. I’m sorry but there’s no technique to save you from the burden of this sub-text. It’s unavoidable.

It's also important to consider the nature of resolution because a good dramatic victory requires set up. Foreshadowing, emotional growth arcs, revealed secrets, and so forth. You can't do all that kind of groundwork in the chapter before/during the climax. It must be done throughout the novel or else it will feel cheap and rushed at the end.

Summarize your story using no more than 2-3 paragraphs. (This is not a blurb)

OK, so this is plot. Finally. Just write out your plot in very broad terms. As in a beginning, a middle, and an ending. We're gonna bring all the above questions together here.

This exercise might be really hard if you haven't planned your book's plot or if you don't know where things are going. That's kinda the point of this exercise though--to make you think about these things and/or to reveal your own blind spots on these matters.

For gardeners: you don't have to have a detailed outline for your story, many people prefer to discovery write. I’m one of you. As such, I do this questionnaire after my first draft is done. Which means I make a lot of trouble for myself but sei la vie.

The goal here is to just have an idea for the largest plot elements of your story and their sequence.

If you aren’t a gardener and you are having trouble with plot specifics, try the Pixar formula,

"Once upon a time there was a _________ who wanted _________, until one day when ________ happened. Now they must ________, ________, and ________ in order to beat _______ to save ________."

Or how about one paragraph describing each or your story's 3 acts? (intro, growing crisis, peak crisis/resolution).

There's a lot of ways to do this, play around and use the one you like. Just keep it short! I’m not demanding a full scene-by-scene outline here.

Write the blurb for your story. (This is not a summary)

I'm sure this will be the hardest question of all. Writing a blurb is not like writing a story- it's marketing and that's a different skill. So why am I asking you to do this? Well, because the blurb is all about cool. It's about "one man with a magical sword against a the odds but the mana he is using to save mankind may doom what he loves most" kinda stuff.

In other words - premise, hooks, and the drop.

Aka. Tagline-setup-twist.

I'm also fond of "Person X wants Y, but holy crap Z, also some cool stuff, and we might get it if not for probably being doomed."

Now, don't worry about actually making a working blurb for the back of your to-be-completed book right now. This is just an exercise to get you to summarize tastiest elements of the story. It's also yet another trick designed to expose blind spots.

One of the tricky parts of blurbs is that the best ones tend to paint a line that goes from the protagonist, through their want, and into a singular crisis. If you have a rambling, muddy mess of a story then you will find that it is very very hard to draw this line. If you have miles of backstory, stop. Blurbs are all about front-story. Why are you writing so much backstory? Is your manuscript gummed up with loads of backstory? (The horror!)

Stop. Reflect. No one shows up for backstory until you’ve done the authorial work of making them crave it.

As an added benefit, we're also making a blurb to make sure you have components that are engaging and enticing to readers. Surprise test! Where you keeping the reader in mind while writing? Be honest.

Doing this finds the kinds of problems you absolutely want to discover during the drafting phase and definitely don't want to discover 10 days before publication when you're writing the blurb for a manuscript that's been copy-edited and beta-read.

If you're having problems with the basic execution of this exercise try talking through it as if you were the Hollywood Narrator Guy. Or, write down what is the premise, what are the hooks, and what's the drop. If you don't have these things, then it's time to brainstorm more about your story's central ideas and DNA.

And if you do want to take a stab at writing your commercial blurb, bravo! I've already said what goes in, but there's some gotchas you should avoid as well.

Too many proper nouns. Every name has weight and begs explanation/context so the blurb-reader can guess at what it is. Otherwise the name is just nonsense. Try to limit the number of proper nouns in the blurb to 1-3 at most. Here's an example of how not to do it - "Name guy from whatitsplace must fight the other named guys for the fate of named people. He'll party up with Name, Named, and hername to overcome more names." If you don't know all those names, then the blurb is useless and says nothing. A person on Amazon hasn't, so they don't. They'll be confused which = bored = no sale.
Backstory. Aka, "The history of all the stuff leading up to the story but now the reader is hooked on that past where all the interesting stuff happened and cares nothing for your front-story." Try to keep the blurb as front-story focused as possible. Try not to have more than a sentence of backstory because, see next item.
Too much plot. If you tell the reader everything that happens, they will not have enough curiosity left unsatisfied to buy your book. Keep plot elements to a minimum. This may shock you but plot summaries are BORING. Blurbs are here to be teases.
Not establishing the stakes. If the hero doesn't face the dreadful stuff your blurb hints at, what will happen? Not specifically, cause see Too Much Plot, but in general or abstract ("He'll loose what he holds most dear.") The stakes are very important to convey as they create the impetuous of the story as a whole and they give the reader a reason to read. i.e. "Woah, this feels super-important. I need to find out what happens."

Anyway, do you see now why I was asking you all those questions about the hero's motivation and the central conflict of the book? They're important in so many ways.

Aside: What is Premise?

I've used that word a lot, but what is it? I think of it as the fun factor. Usually the premise is the big idea that kicked off the story in your head. That's not true of every author-story of course. Some people start with an amazing character or an intriguing world. So if you didn't start from the premise, that's fine and natural. Though, you should try to decide on what your premise is. I've listed some examples below.

"A wizard thief who wants to have a million gold bounty"

"Born to a dragon crime family, Julius just wants to be decent person."

"Magical Storage Wars"

"The Black Hills gold rush, except instead of gold its magical crystals."

"Space marines vs Orcs"

"MMO players trapped as their characters when the game world becomes a real one."

As you can see, we have some character-based premises and some setting-based ones. Ideally, the premise should make you want to read or go "ooo" or have some kind of a favorable reaction.

Bonus: Every genre has a core idea that it's premises tend to revolve around.

Mysteries are about justice.
SciFi is about humanity.
Fantasy is about heroes changing the world.
Romance is about emotions and relationships.
Thrillers are about the Art of War and statecraft.
Heists are about cleverness (aka. the con)

Once you have your premise, ask yourself - when does my story deliver on the premise? As in, when does the reader get the fun they showed up for? If your premise is space marines vs aliens then you'd better not have 100% squad drama and 0% alien fighting. You need to deliver! They need to blast some aliens! Or...change your premise and your blurb and your central conflict and all the questions above to match what actually happens.

Do you see how key this is?

For example: My first series's, Forever Fantasy Online, premise is "gamers trapped as their high-end characters in a real fantasy world". The fun is being a beautiful, over-powered badass with modern knowledge and game knowledge. I make sure to deliver on that as often as possible in every book of the series. Sometimes in small ways ("wow, I look cool") and other times in big ways like world-changing battles.

This isn't to say that the book should be easy on the characters. There needs to be tons of conflict, set backs, pain, and joy as well. But never forget to deliver on that premise lest you risk breaking the promise you made to your audience (via the cover, title, and blurb.)

Anyway, that’s my questionnaire and it’s super-long explaintaion. Feel free to bend and tie it in all manner of shapes to suit your needs.

Have fun writing!