A. Honey

Do you want to write a short story, but are unsure about how to develop a short story plot?

Short stories rarely require extensive plotting. They’re short, after all. But a bit of an outline, just to get the basic idea down, can help you craft a strong plot.

Plotting your short stories will give you an end story goal and will help you avoid getting stuck in the middle, or accidentally creating plot holes. You’ll have fewer unfinished stories if you learn to do a little planning before you start writing.

And in this article, you can learn how to take your short story’s primary conflict, and build a plot around it.

Definition of Plot and Structure

I see the terms “plot” and “structure” thrown around interchangeably quite a bit, so I’d like to correct that before we move on.

Plot is a series of events that make up your story.

Structure is the overall layout of your story.

Plot is (most likely) unique to your story, but there are a handful of basic structures that are universal and used over and over again. (We’ll get into the basic three act structure in a later post.) Structure is the bones and plot is what fills it out.

You can learn more about plot and structure in this article, or the different story types here.

The Strength of a Short Story Idea

When I first started out writing short stories, I had no idea where I was going with any of them. Absolutely none. I see this time and time again with newer writers. I think it’s because we’re conditioned to think any kind of art is only driven by that infamous and often elusive muse rather than hard work. I felt the same way.

And then I started getting more stories under my belt. Some I finished. Some I didn’t.

You know what the difference was? The stories I finished, I plotted before I wrote.

Now I know a lot of writers loathe plotting or outlining stories—of any length, but especially short stories. They have various reasons for this dislike, but the most common one I hear is planning or outlining takes all the “magic” out of writing. “Creative writing is about being creative!”

I won’t get into the idea that writing is actually a job here—it is. That’s not what this article is about.

Instead, I’m going to propose a different reason for planning a short story with one important question: Is your idea even a story?

Planning out your story, even if it’s short, can give you an answer to this question. It will determine whether or not your central character can work towards achieving a goal (and simultaneously the plot moves towards a climax), or if your idea ends there—at the idea.

Writer’s tip: If you’re feeling stuck on coming up with an idea that could withstand a story’s length, try looking at the types of plots discussed in this article.

Is It a Story or Just a Story Idea?

Don’t panic. I don’t plan extensively. But what I’ve found was absolutely no planning whatsoever more often than not leads to wasted time. Nobody has time to waste.

If I don’t plot at all, I’ll get maybe a third of the way through the story and get stuck. I’ll have no idea where it was going, and without that goal in mind, I’ll flounder. I might tinker around with the idea a little longer, but most of the time I’ll end up abandoning the story.

A few weeks ago, I had the infamous muse visit me. I grabbed my notebook and started writing. It was great writing. The prose was good, the main character was crazy interesting, ditto for the secondary character, and I’d set up a mystery that made you want to turn the page. The problem was I had no idea what the mystery was. I had set up and no payoff. This story idea fizzled out at the start of the second act.

Now, to be clear, I do indulge my muse every once in a while. It does feel good to be taken over by an idea, even if you don’t know where it’s going. It’s all very “artisty.”

But the fact is I’ve sold one story that I finished without plotting it beforehand. One. Out of dozens I’ve started. That one took me about a week to write and it was torture for me, for my characters, and, I’m sure, for the backspace on my keyboard. Everything about the story reads as forced. It’s uninspired. And you know what?

That’s the one my muse started me on! Inspiration is supposed to be the point of the muse, right? But a muse can only get you started; it can’t keep you going.

Your muse won’t finish a story for you.

When your muse starts poking at you and you don’t know if your idea is a story, ask yourself a couple of questions:

Am I going to remember this idea tomorrow? Yes, it’s nice to be taken over by inspiration. Feel free to indulge that every so often. But also be prepared to have an unfinished story on your hands. You don’t necessarily have to wait until tomorrow to write the thing (especially when we’re talking about shorts), but you do need to know if your enthusiasm is going to wan a few minutes down the road when your muse decides to go take a nap, leaving you with nothing but frustration. (That story I mentioned a moment ago? I haven’t completely forgotten about it, but it does not sit at the top of my mind.)

Do I have a “What if?” question and an answer to that question? If you’re thinking about beautiful sentences where nothing is happening, that’s probably not a story. If you can’t think of an end goal for your character, that’s probably not a story. See the next section for more on “What if?” and the answer. (The story I didn’t finish did not have a goal in mind.)

Do you have a character? This one seems like a no-brainer, but you’d be surprised how often I used to start “stories” and just ramble on with purple prose. No people, no action, no story.

If the answer to all these questions is “yes,” then you most likely have a finishable story. If it’s “no” tell your muse to go back to its hole until it can come up with something better.

If you must, explore the idea a little more and see if you can’t plot a little something. (Do not write yet!)

Enter the “What if?” question.

What If? How Asking This Question Can Plot a Short Story

In the last post, I told you my favorite way to think of a short story idea is the “What If?” question. This question can help you think about various ways to put your central character into a conflict, like: What if X happened? It’s your own mind giving itself creative writing prompts.

Let’s expand on that method a bit. Notice it’s a question. And questions often have answers, do they not? Knowing the answer to your “What If?” question is the most basic outline of a story.

Let’s start with a basic question.

Q: What if someone knocked on my door?

A: I’d probably ignore it.

That’s it. That’s the story. It’s kind of crappy, right?

Notice that answer is my immediate reaction to the knock. It’s not something that happens down the road. That’s part of what makes this scenario NOT a story.

The other issue here is there is no conflict. I don’t answer the door, the person goes away, and I’m left to my own devices. There are no consequences for my decisions, so nothing happens—and nobody reading about this incident cares.

Without conflict, there are no stakes in a story. No conflict equals no story.

What Makes a Good Conflict?

Remember conflict can come in many forms and doesn’t have to be a shoot ’em up kind of situation. Internal conflict can also make a short story. But there MUST be conflict.

So, on multiple levels, this question and answer session is a loser.

Now, let’s say I don’t answer the door. (I’m a millennial. I’d rather not talk to people if I can help it, so this really is the most likely thing to happen.) The person assumes I’m not home. But wait! They’re a burglar. They now try to break into my house. The “What If?’ question has now changed to “What if someone tried to break into my house while I was home?”

See how the central character has to do something now? Even if they don’t, there will be consequences.

Because the story idea establishes stakes, I know I’ve got something. How do I know? There are myriad possibilities here. I could call the cops. I could run out and confront them myself. I could freeze and run upstairs and hide. I could sic my dog on them. I could wait for them to get inside and invite them to join me in having a cup of tea.

Whatever I choose to do, there will be a cause and effect trajectory of events. Which means more stakes, and more opportunities that force my protagonist to face their conflict. They have to make decisions, which will lead to a whole slew of other “What If?” questions:

What if they get in before the cops get here?

What if they break a window?

What if my dog was outside and they hurt him?

What if a neighbor sees them and comes running over?

What if they “break in” but it’s really just my sister needing in my house for something?

What if I’m hiding under the bed and they find me?

What if they hate tea?

What if … and the list goes on.

These are all more interesting scenarios than just ignoring the door and the person going away. But we’re still looking for the answer to the initial “What If?” question. The answer solves the question and puts it to bed. It doesn’t lead to other questions.

Don’t Forget to Answer Your What If Questions

A short story only has one to three scenes normally, so your answer needs to come in a short span of time. It can’t come years down the road. Any span of time longer than a few hours, maybe a day or two, is probably too long.

Q: What if someone tried to break into my house while I was home?

A: I would call the cops, but also grab my bat and be ready to use it.

But wait. That still doesn’t answer the question, not in a final way. There’s still an open ending there, still questions. (Did I use the bat? What happened if I did?) Let’s try again.

A: I would decide not to use my bat and would talk to them until the police got there.

That’s better. With this scenario, I can think of a couple of things that would happen after the police got there, but at that point the situation is over. I’ve done it. I’ve defeated the burglar. Anything afterwards is a conclusion to the story.

The best part is, I’ve actually done it in a way that means change for me as a central character. I didn’t want to talk to anyone to begin with, which is what led to the whole situation. But I have to overcome that aversion by talking to someone in order to solve the problem.

Short Story Structure

We’ve got two important elements of the story narrowed down now: the “What If?” question and its ultimate answer.

If you’ve been following this blog for a while, you might have come across the many posts we have about plot structure. In a story you need six things:

Exposition (Background and setup.)

Inciting Incident (A major event happens to your character.)

Rising Action (or progressive complications, a sequence of events where things get worse.)

Crisis (Ah, what is your character going to do?)

Climax (Showdown based on what your character decided to do.)

Denouement (Finish it up.)

Need a refresher on these plot elements? Dive further into story structure here.

A short story is often only one to three scenes. That means this structure, these six elements, stretch over the entire story to form the framework. (The scenario I’ve presented would most likely be a one-scene story.) Notice I’m talking about framework here. These six elements are your story structure.

So what do we have here after all this thinking about questions and answers?

The “What If?” question is your Inciting Incident.

The ultimate answer is your Climax.

Boom. Two elements down. And these two elements happen to be the bulk of what your readers will remember from your story.

We’ve planned a story, believe it or not. And it didn’t even hurt that much.

But wait! There’s more. (Sorry, couldn’t help myself.)

In the process of coming up with these two elements, we’ve inadvertently come up with a couple of others.

Choosing not to use the bat and talking to the burglar instead? That’s the Crisis. All those streams of “What if?” questions? Those are progressive complications.

Whoops. We’ve outlined basically the whole thing, haven’t we? I sort of tricked you there. Sorry, not sorry.

Plotting Doesn’t Hurt—Too Much

Plotting a short story doesn’t have to be a meticulous thing that requires hours of work and a running spreadsheet. It also doesn’t have to take the magic out of writing.

Your plan for your short story can be a simple, loose outline. (By the way, outlines can change if you think of something better! They’re not set in stone.) Really, you just need two elements to get to writing a short story:

A “What If?” question (identifies the Inciting Incident)

The answer (shows the Climax)

And then you’re ready to write!

In future articles, we’ll dive more into writing structure and the essentials and plot elements of a short story. For now, use this “shortcut” to plan out a few short stories of your own! Have fun with it!

disappeared for months and came back a new url. why yes i am crazy thanks for asking!

anyway. hi. my name is meg (or the user formerly known as bloodywriter) i’m 28 (she/her) and i write adult and ya fantasy about monstrous people and the people who love them. my writing tends to be darker, especially with regards to blood and violence.

i was on writeblr before, years ago, but i’m a different person with different wips but i’m excited to get back into a community! please feel free to stop by and tell me about your wips!

my wips

1) beauty is a beast (aka my main bitch)

the alderwood had taken rowan’s mother. and now it had come to take her.

her whole life, rowan’s father had tried to protect her from the alderwood, the forest at the edge of their town that had claimed the life of her mother just days after rowan’s birth. he even went as far as promising her hand to wren, the son of the grand duke. the betrothal bond ceremony performed on the infant rowan and wren tethered them not only to each other, but to the town. rowan was safe.

until the alderwood starts whispering to rowan in her dreams. nearing her twenty-first birthday, rowan is desperate to get as far away as she can. so she does the one thing she was always warned against: she entered the alderwood.

once inside, rowan learns that the alderwood isn’t anything special, just a collection of trees. but she also learns that hiding within those trees is a beast known as the celger and killing it would sever her betrothal bond.

but when rowan meets felix, a handsome man with scars all over his body that looks at her like she was the answer to everything, she finds out that not everything is as it seems. now, she’s cursed, has to kill the man she’d rather kiss, and has to find the witch to reverse the curse before it burns her up from the inside.

wip page

2) lady in red (aka my shiny distraction)

seventeen year old eirwen is the heir to her country’s throne. heavy is the head that wears the crown, of course, but it’s even heavier when the head belongs to someone who has to drink blood to survive.

she refuses to feed on the people of her own country, so eirwen sneaks through the fortified walls of neighboring havenport. after all, they have so many attractive young men that it won’t matter if a few go missing.

but, of course, it does matter and eirwen finds herself in hot water when she is ensnared by the prince of havenport, cynfael, believes she is a witness to the lastest murder.

so eirwen has to not only find a way out of havenport, but also grapple with her growing feelings for cynfael. after telling cynfael who she really is, eirwen’s life takes a turn for the worse when his brother, the crown prince, is found murdered in his bed, drained of blood.

running, eirwen tries to find the person who framed her so she can clear her name and prove she’s not the monster everyone (including herself) believes she is

wip page

of course these are just my opinions, you’re absolutely entitled to your own!

100-year-old villain gets with 18-year-old MC 

M I S C O M M U N I C A T I O N (unless done really well)

annoying tsunderes. 

love triangles (again, unless done really well) 

sibling rivalry where the “weaker” sibling ends up defeating the “stronger” sibling. (yeah no its not relatable at all)

books marketed as found family but actually have no found family

trauma used as a plot device

a character with trauma suddenly having it “healed” after falling in love 

the power of friendship where the dying mc suddenly gets the power to fight the villain after remembering “what they are fighting for”

unsatisfying endings 

any form of deus ex machina (unless done INCREDIBLY well)

where the “whole scenario was a dream”

everyone surviving in the end with no lasting effects of everything they went through (for fantasy/scifi/adventure)

love interest betraying the MC without a real reason or purpose

the secret heir (UNLESS they know they are the heir already and are keeping it a secret/trying to live a normal life for xyz reasons)

the lucky novice (bro. no one is that good at swordfighting on their first attempt)

the overly european medieval setting

the friends coming to the rescue with no establishment of it before

all the adults are useless

forced romances with no chemistry

The Rule of Cool

What is it?

Why, it’s your excuse to have giant, unwieldy, anime-inspired swords in your high fantasy epic, a la The Way of Kings! The thing that gave us lightsabers and laser guns and the Force! That thing that inspired the Flow of the Interdependency, the Darkling of the Grishaverse, the Golds of Red Rising, and the dragons of Middle Earth!

It’s your best tool as a worldbuilder, the one that gives you creative freedom without weighing you down with gritty, sometimes thematically-reductive realism.

To paraphrase, the Rule of Cool is exactly what it sounds like: 

Make something that looks and sounds cool, and then build the world around it to justify its existence.

How do I do that, though?

The vague concept itself sounds simple, but one of the things we all love/hate about worldbuilding is that it’s just as complicated as we make it. So, to make it a bit less intimidating, let’s take a quick look at what the process might look like on a relatively small scale!

Let’s say we’re inspired by an image that we find and think is cool - in this case, it’s intricate knives that are, for all intents and purposes, pretty useless as far as knives go. We want a character in our fantasy world to use these as weapons, because that sounds awesome! But these knives are fragile, or unwieldy, or expensive, so… how can it make sense in context?

Let’s lean on a fantasy classic for at least one of those problems - magic weapons! They don’t abide by the laws of physics, because the weapon is enchanted, or the metal itself is strengthened by inherent magical properties.

Now the question becomes where is the magic coming from, and how did our character get a hold of them? (Another optional question: Are they expensive or particularly deadly because of the magic, or is it so mundane in-context that you will find people using them to prepare food?)

This is where the thread can start to fray. As every answered question gives rise to several more, if you’re not careful you can end up with entire encyclopedias worth of information for a thing that, right now, isn’t actually all that important to the story you’re trying to tell.

You can take this particular issue a few different ways, though the most common are to either stop following the chain of questions once it leaves the scope of your work, or change your story to follow that thread. Maybe your story isn’t about the knife, it’s about how they use it to topple a corrupt overlord, and all you really need is a couple throw away lines about it being deceptively dainty. Or, maybe, your story is about the knife, and how it was gifted to your protagonist by someone important to them, and it’s imbued with more power than they knew, and now they have to unveil that mystery, and–

What I’m trying to say is, well…

Only build as much as you need.

The one failing of the Rule of Cool is that, in an attempt to justify the incredible images and impossible physics of one scene in your mind, you can end up building so much more than will ever be used. It can become a test of self-restraint quite quickly - even writing out this post, I got carried away on tangents that will never see your dashboard.

So, unless you’re like me and perfectly fine with thrusting an entire universe to explore one story at a time on yourself, don’t be afraid to stop after those crucial few questions are answered! You don’t need to know every minuscule detail of your world to start experiencing it in whatever way you do. In fact, worldbuilding often comes up naturally as the story progresses (though that’s worthy of another post entirely).

How do you know when to write out a full flashback or just some paragraphs to sum things up?

Ask yourself the Frodo question: “Does it concern Frodo and/or the ring?” 

Well no, don’t ask yourself that but something accordingly to your story. You see, that was the answer (roughly paraphrasing here) to the question, “how did you decide which parts of the book to cut?” when they asked Peter Jackson about making the The Fellowship of the Ring movie.

For your story, for any part you write, including that flashback, ask yourself:

Does it add to the tension of the main plot? (the Ring!)

Does it add to the main character’s development? (Frodo!)

Does it involve the main character’s goal/want/drive? (Frodo!)

Does it add to the main plot? (the Ring!)

Do I always do this? No (hysterical laughter), I wish I was that organized. But if a section, a scene, a chapter feels weird/boring/wrong, this is what I check that thing against.

A/N: since my brain decided not to work on the real current story, we are focusing on worldbuilding and the different countries of The Ground this month/s (I have no idea how long this is going to be)

----

Starting off with some little facts about Cheasya, Jasper's birthplace!

Cheasya means literally "Stars Cradle" and it's located in a valley. Legends say that the first shooting star fell there and the civilization was created (The Book of Fates, Chapter I).

It's a small kingdom, of more or less 10.000 to 15.000 habitants.

They believe the Divinities are in the Stars and Constellations and praise them.

Some of the more known places or buildings in the kingdom are: the Spring Plaza, the Winter Plaza, the Royal Palace, The Great Library and the Academy of Arts.

(ID: a hand drawn picture of the Great Library and the Spring Plaza. The first one, on the left is a building made by two towers and connected over a bridge. The left tower has a crystal dome and above the bridge there's a structure of glass with a star on top. Below there's a river running. On the picture of the right, there's the drawing of a plaza with a wall ornamentated with blue glowing rocks in the shape of stars and some red flowers hung from a rope tied to a post. Some of the flowers are on the floor. /end ID)

Cheasya values above all both culture and arts and encourages the access to knowledge and creativity.

Their coin is the Pseler, a round silver coin with a shooting star and a dagger carved on both sides of it.

(ID: a frontal view of drawing of a Pseler as described above. /end ID)

Basic education and medicine are free! They are paid off with the people's taxes :)

Cheasya (as well as the other countries of The Ground) counts with its own calendar that's different from ours. It has sixteen months of 20 days each.

The habitants are usually merchants or artists (sculptors, painters, writers, actors, singers...) and the farms outside of the Kingdom provides the with the essentials.

Every single Star has a name and a Reason from its Divinity and, just like Greeks to their Gods, people pray to the Stars that share the traits they need.

Although it's not a coast kingdom, Cheasya counts with a big net of commerce! It has a lot of trade pacts made with different countries and that way the kingdom is provided for!

Jasper's lineage has rule for 1700-1800 years until the townsfolk rioted and murdered his parents, turning Cheasya into a Republic before it went extinct!

And that's everything so far!

Taglist under the cut!

Hello! In this FREE Notion template for writers that I made, you can:

Manage your novels:

Have an overview of each novel:

Create your characters:

Build your world:

And then you ask...

Why should I use Notion?

Well, first of all, it is 100% FREE!

Plus, with my template, you have everything you need to start developing and writing your novel.

Also, Notion is totally customizable, which means that you are free to make the changes you need to adapt the template more to your liking.

TEMPLATE HERE! (Don't worry, this link is safe and will direct you to Notion.) To get the template, just click in "Duplicate":

Here are ten questions to ask that will not put your friend in a tough spot, but will still give you some useful input on your novel:

1. At what point did you feel like “Ah, now the story has really begun!”  2. What were the points where you found yourself skimming?  3. Which setting in the book was clearest to you as you were reading it? Which do you remember the best?  4. Which character would you most like to meet and get to know?  5. What was the most suspenseful moment in the book?  6. If you had to pick one character to get rid of, who would you axe?  7. Was there a situation in the novel that reminded you of something in your own life?  8. Where did you stop reading, the first time you cracked open the manuscript? (Can show you where your first dull part is, and help you fix your pacing.)  9. What was the last book you read, before this? And what did you think of it? (This can put their comments in context in surprising ways, when you find out what their general interests are. It might surprise you.)  10. Finish this sentence: “I kept reading because…”

Your friend is probably still going to tell you, “It was good!” However, if you can ask any specific questions, and read between the lines, you can still get some helpful information out of even the most well-meaning reader.

My favorite thing in my WIP is all the badass female characters I have. I love writing about the bonds, friendships, relationships, and rivalries between them. It makes my little heart so happy! And, I will be the first person to admit that I hadn’t even thought of some of the things you guys suggested on our little instagram poll, but I cannot wait to add some of them to my story! Even though we’ve made so many leaps and bounds with the way female characters are portrayed, I still think we’ve got a long way to go, and if you guys include half of the stuff you suggested in your stories, then I think we’re gonna be okay. Once again, I didn’t change anything that you guys wrote, so there are gonna be some repeats on the list, but this time just because the list was getting so long, I did take out a few things if I saw that several other people had suggested it!

“Nerdy” or sporty girl who gets a love interest without a makeover or changing herself 

super girly femme characters shown as a complex person

making her own decisions, if good or bad

a strong female character without a tragic backstory 

gender non conformity!! 

Being openly children and not changing her mind about it

chubby and flaws and not having a crush with every cute boy they see 

girlie girls who are still really powerful 

self reliance but still having emotion, not being ice cold but not needing a a man 

lesbians who’s entire character arc isn’t about them being a lesbian 

having body insecurities eg wanting to be flat-chested

women in politics and women that have classic “man” as well as “woman” characteristics 

independence 

be less oblivious lol and more like real people who pick up hints 

not dead caring moms.

comic relief female characters

not minding about liking “girly” things/ having a bunch of friends who are boys but there is no romance between them 

being a mother doesn’t mean giving up ur dreams and settling for less,

having mcs that actually make smart decisions 

a bad ass character that loves kids and wants to have them in the future

not taking abuse cause they think it’s love 

ball gowns and pretty stuff for themselves and not for a mission or anything 

more bold female characters since many females are shown as shy 

having a big appetite 

female characters who can be cool without having to wield swords 

willingness to do domestic work with a cheerful heart 

women whose strength is their intelligence 

women who are not afraid to be feminine or strong 

strong mother figures 

girls that are the lead in their relationship over the boy 

more actual girly interests 

the women you least expect to sing the best 

strong women who like feminine stuff 

being happy without a romantic relationship 

black females being protected or vulnerable for once 

ending up single 

hanging out with male friends with no romantic subtext 

females who aren’t super pretty

ultra femininity (pink, dresses, glitter, makeup) that isn’t seen as bad/evil/weak 

allow them to look up to/admire male peers rather than feel inferior or as if they have something to prove 

traditional “femininity” isn’t regarded as weak! Can cook/sew/clean and it’s normal : )

Female characters who are funny and make quips 

soft, kind women, who are still powerful. I don’t like the mean strong girl stereotype : (

Not forced strong women. Just relatable and human ones. We all have strengths and weaknesses 

less insecurities. Yes, we all have those, but it’s becoming stereotypical, mostly in YA 

I want them to be strong without being upright bossy 

strong women who also embrace their feminine side 

a girl with menstruation

ego actions- I feel like only male characters can throw ego actions while fem characters are classified selfish 

nonbinary female characters 

has a twin 

sarcasm and general impoliteness without making them the bady guy 

them being warriors or soldiers and that’s normal, nobody questions it 

villains and manipulating 

autistic female characters 

being single throughout the story. Some people like being single, thank you very much 

not being the perfect pretty little thing. Having an interesting personality and thoughts, dreams outside of relationships and being a badass 

a morally grey female character like y r those only men 

girls and women in healthy relationships with personalities aside from their S/O

girls who can be strong and confident while still being emotionally vulnerable 

also, girls who own huge “aggressive” dog breeds

groups of girls doing really impulsive things together like all guy friend groups do 

strong, but not jerks about it and not looking down on things like sewing/cooking/etc 

shyness that doesn’t need to be “fixed” or overcome 

well written romances- straight and gay (ie not ones that objectify one partner or the other) 

“strong female characters” who are gentle and caring! Tough doesn’t mean heatless! 

women who care more about the plot than their inconvenient love life 

girls who empower other girls and don’t play into internalized misogyny 

i’d love to see women putting forward their ideas and having their voices heard more : )

Strong in their own way, not just hands on fighting stuff. Like mentally strong 

less who are arrogant and rude to the male protagonists who they fall in love with anyway 

More LGBTQ+ women! 

Oh and more female protagonists who stay single 

being average looking, not a hot model and being okay with it 

Not falling for “bad boys” 

saving herself or another character from a dangerous situation 

not wanting marriage or children and people being okay with it 

not obsessed with  looks 

being good at math and sciences 

not being sexualized constantly (or at all) 

being just friends with straight male characters 

being like other girls 

having a life outside of romance 

to not need a man, but also not to be a stereotypical “bad girl, I don’t need man” authors need to find a medium between the two 

drinking, swearing, anything deemed “masculine” 

confident women who embrace both their femininity and masculinity

empowering other women

somebody with variety of interests and skills that are shown to be important to her badass female characters who are genuinely kind/even loving 

strong women who don’t discredit the model of the ideal woman of the time in historical fiction 

older women protagonists! I’d love to read about middle aged female heroes

females that aren’t afraid to be themselves 

strength without being a “baddie” or at the expense of others 

emotional sensitivity that isn’t linked to mental illness, men, or a weakness in character 

a chaotic neutral female protagonist 

physically strong/skilled female characters that remain feminine and aren’t femme fatales 

How to Write Enemies to Friends to Lovers Romance

It's the dynamic we've all come to know and love. The pièce de résistance of romantic tropes that has ascended to popularity through various series like The Cruel Prince, These Violent Delights, Red White & Royal Blue.

Featuring couples that start off hating each others' guts (but eventually wind up together in the end), the enemies to friends to lovers trope is quite possibly the most sought-after romance at this current time, blowing away the era of the love triangle and childhood friends to lovers.

But the only problem is that, despite the demand, this trope is quite possibly the most difficult to write, as it involves were complicated and intertwined character relationships that can be easy to mess up or misrepresent.

Here are some tips to help your scuffling protagonists finally realize that they were meant to be!

1. Heavy on the "Enemies" Makes the "Lovers" All the Sweeter...but don't make it TOO heavy

A lot of fanfiction and even some published books that feature Enemies to Friends to Lovers often fall into the trap of rushing the romance. The authors are desperate to make characters fall in love, and the constant dancing around and angry bantering between their characters is awfully exhausting to write.

However, without enough time to relish in the frustrating arguments, backstabbing, and almost-understandings that end in disaster, the readers won't have the full experience of appreciating when they finally give in and make out.

"Enemies" has to be more than "He bullied me in second grade and now I hate him and refuse to believe he's changed even though we're both 20 now."

Misunderstandings are NEVER a good conflict, even when it doesn't come to enemies to friends to lovers.

Have them both be at fault, doing each other wrong to the point where you can't possibly think it could be forgivable.

Here are some ways your future main pairing can rip each other apart:

Breaking/Stealing each other's stuff

Insulting/Threatening each other's friends/companions/family

Bringing up dead relatives/past tragedies in each other's lives

Attempted murder!

Sabotaging each other's plans

Pranking each other in mean ways (itching powder, salt bomb their food)

Embarrassing each other in front of other people

Making fun of things they like

Sure, all of these things are sure to make your characters seem like assholes, but in the end it's all forgivable to some degree, though most take longer than others (This also depends on exactly how they cross the line between Enemies and Friends, which will be discussed later).

However, even though this is all in good fun, you have to understand where it goes too far.

Some things really are well and truly unforgivable, and if the relationship continues it'll most likely viewed to be unhealthy or toxic rather than a genuine connection.

If Person A killed Person B's Parents/friends on purpose with the sole intent of hurting B...then I don't think they'll be eligible for redemption in their eyes.

(You can totally still write it! But the readers are gonna be a bit wary of their relationship and may not consider it to be healthy.)

2. The Most Crucial Part is the Transition from Enemies to Friends

Friends can easily become lovers, but enemies cannot easily become friends.

Friendship is built on a foundation of trust and connection that romance can flourish in, but the barren grounds of archrivals are hardly a place for love to grow--sexual tension perhaps, but certainly not love.

In order for this romance to be the most believable, you need to justify why these two characters decided to offer each other flowers instead of knives to the throat.

Here are some ways your characters can become friends:

Character A realizes that Character B was right the whole time and apologizes

One of them saves the other's life or the life of a loved one

They are forced to combine their efforts and realize they work very well as a team

Sexual/aesthetic attraction is irresistible, and once they get to know each other they can overlook past misdeeds (This is enemies to lovers, in case you wanted to ditch the whole "friend" part)

One of them helps the other on a whim, and that small act of kindness snowballs into multiple acts of kindness

They get to know each other and realizes their feud was childish

Of course, there are definitely more examples that I can't think of off the top of my head, but I would certainly suggest using the "one of them saves the other's life" for more severe cases of enemies. The bigger the trespasses, the more extreme the apologies must be.

3. Suggestion: Take It Slow...perhaps even in an "enemies to friends to lovers to enemies to lovers again" kind of way

People who read enemies to friends to lovers are usually not looking for a quick fix. They're looking for heart, for dedication, for the endgame to be held tantalizingly out of reach.

Unless you well and truly don't feel like it, don't have your characters' relationship evolve linearly. They need ups and downs, stops and starts, fights and forgiveness.

I understand that people aiming to write professionally and need to keep their word count down cannot do this too much, but if you're doing fic, what's stopping you from making this the slowest burn possible? The kind of slow burn where they don't even become friends until 50k in?

Of course, you don't have to make it agonizingly slow just for it to be good, but consider how fantastically rewarding it will be when they finally confess their feelings for one another!

AND SO I RISE excerpt

[ pov: hesen ]

From my personal thoughts and from what I’ve heard from the thoughts of others, here are some tips on how to make a GREAT fictional couple or OTP.

1. They shouldn’t be the typical “hollywood couple” aka two people who spend the entire time arguing, have shirtless moments at various point, only ONE or TWO moments of them getting along, and then a passionate kiss. That’s NOT romance, it’s more like a passing flame.

2. They need to have growth. Meaning that they may start off as enemies, strangers, or friends but gradually become more. And you, the audience, can ACTUALLY recount on how they’ve changed.

3. NO LOVE TRIANGLES. That is my most personally hates tropes from anime to books to movies. TO EVERYTHING. Just plan out you endgame couples. 

4. They must check off the Five Love Languages – Physical Touch, Acts of Service, Gift Giving, Quality Time, and Words of Affirmations.

5. You can see what the other likes about each other.

6. Both of them have a character and goal(s) outside of each other.

Hey people of Earth!

Around this time last year, I mentioned I would have a video up on how I make book covers/cover making tips, and to summarize: I did not do the thing, and this year old script is still sitting in my drafts.

SO, I thought I’d kill two birds with one stone and post a written version of these tips! Going to get straight into this because I imagine this will be rather long!

This post will be divided into 6 parts: finding inspiration, concept art, incorporating elements of design, composition, tools and software, and resources. Feel free to skip around to whatever section interests you most!

***Before we get started, really quick disclaimer. I am in no way a professional cover designer. Cover design is merely something I picked up on my own, and I don’t have any formal education/credentials in graphic design. So of course take my advice with that in mind. These are also just my personal thoughts and opinions. So take everything with a grain of salt!

1. Finding Inspiration

What’s the deal?

A really great way to start out in design

Finding cover designs or designers you admire may help you see what works technically

Helps nail down a style you like

In turn, can help you find your cover design style

What should you do?

Look at covers in your genre!

Whenever I design a cover, I take a scroll through Goodreads to pick up some inspiration in designs I personally love

I also love walking around my bookstore and taking a look at physical copies

Find a cover design you like, and point out the specific reasons you like it

Example:

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl was actually not an inspo cover for this edition of I’M DISAPPOINTED, but as you can see, things I liked from it spilled over into my own design. By pointing out aspects of graphic design you like, you’ll better be able to understand your style as a cover artist. 

Some personal thoughts:

I like covers that include a textured backgrounds, as seen in the collage below: 

So for the I’M DISAPPOINTED cover above, I included a textured background. I also love handwritten fonts/lettering, which I include in almost all of my book covers.

What I did:

Off-white colour from A List of Cages and Holding Up The Universe

Silhouette from Painless and previous cover design of I’m Disappointed

Speech bubble from Simon VS the Homo Sapiens Agenda and Say What You Will

Marker texture from A List of Cages

Obviously my thought process wasn’t to put 4 covers in a blender and thus create my product, ha, this is just an example for the ease of understanding!  

2. Concept art

What’s the deal?

Coming up with concept art is a super important part of designing a successful book cover. 

Acts as the skeleton of your book cover

Your book cover’s roadmap

Saves time/effort

Similar to an outline for a novel. 

Can be a very quick sketch, or full fledged design

I like keeping my concept art quick, but if this is your first cover, making a more detailed mockup can help. 

What should you do?

Sketch out book cover ideas once you get them/take notes of concepts you’d like to explore

If you can’t come up with concepts, take a look at your inspiration folder and pull concepts/ideas from covers you love

This does not mean copying another book cover (this is notttt a good idea!). BUT, pulling inspiration from elements you like on a cover can be helpful in generating your own concepts

You don’t have to come up with concept art (sometimes winging it works!) but I do recommend jotting notes down, and drawing out loose sketches when applicable!

Keep a list of ideas for book covers as you accumulate them (almost like a little vault of concepts lol) and reference them in the future!

Take a look at as many book covers as you can and make a list of elements you like and don’t like

This is one of the easiest ways to accumulate ideas/concepts!

Example:

^^^ Concept art for two book covers 

Likes and dislikes in book covers:

Of course this list is not my be all and end all (nor should it be), and obviously, I still use these things (besides clunky composition I hope!) in some designs!

3. Incorporating the elements of design

What’s the deal?

There are 7 elements of design: line, shape, texture, form, space, value, and colour. 

These sometimes vary depending on where you look, but this is what I was taught, so I’m going to be working off that!

Examples:

I’m going to go through them really quickly via an assignment I did for my comm tech class

Keep in mind this assignment is 2 years old and is only meant to give you an idea of what these elements are 

1. Line

Line is probably the most important element of design as every piece of art starts with one. 

There are various types of lines. You can have curved lines, straight lines, vertical lines, horizontal lines and so on.

2. Shape 

You can have more mathematical, geometric shapes, or more abstract, free form shapes. 

3. Texture

Texture is the feel of a particular surface. 

Texture in my opinion is one of the most important elements when it comes to graphic design, especially book covers. 

My favourite thing to see in book covers is texture, whether that be paper textures like construction paper, crumpled paper, wallpaper, lace, wall textures, paint textures, or marker textures

Texture adds depth to designs, and if there’s any element of design you focus on in this post, I’d highly recommend it be this one. 

(i’m biased but still)

4. Form

Form is almost like shape, except instead of flat objects, we’re dealing with 3-dimensional objects. 

I don’t often use it in my covers since I like drawings and flat shapes in my designs, but if you want to include objects on your cover, or any sort of 3D shape, this would be form. 

5. Space

The distance around an object, to put it simply

Space in covers can help emphasize what’s important, and what is less important, or can draw attention to a particular piece of your design. 

Examples of space:

Colour coding: yellow = space, teal = focal point/movement of viewer’s eye

In Twilight, the black space helps emphasize the main image, the hands holding the apple. 

This also occurs in the Red Queen book covers. The empty space around the crown draws attention immediately to the focal point

You can also lack space. In The Duff, the girl’s face is the only thing you can see on the cover. 

6. Value 

Is determined by how much light or dark is incorporated into design. 

Example of value:

A great example of value in book covers is on Alexandra Bracken’s Passenger. As you can see, the green at the top fades down in a gradient as more white is added to the centre. 

7. Colour

Light reflecting off objects

Can make certain elements of your design stand out

Why should you incorporate the elements of design into your designs?

Adds layers of depth to your work

Thus can take your cover-making skills to another level

Can help in producing ideas

4. Composition:

What’s the deal?

In my opinion, can make or break a design

Can mean clutter of things, OR too much or too little space between elements

Title placement  

Composition is sometimes subjective from design to design

What you can do:

Pay close attention to detail and spacing

Look out for natural shapes in your design you can fit elements into

Watch the linked video from Mango Street (one of my favourite photography channels) on composition

While photography and design are two different things, the tips in this video can also be applied to various ideas in design such as headroom and leading lines

Examples:

*Before I get into this, I want to make it clear that these examples are exaggerations for the purpose of showing you good and bad composition. If you make these mistakes, that doesn’t mean your design is bad, and again, I’m no professional. This comes from what I believe could be considered bad composition, but trust your gut. 

Example 1: Stick People

doesn’t effectively use space

no headroom for text

text is covering 200 element (looks very clunky)

text is cut off

No focal point

Can’t read the title

Textual elements are better spread out

Title is now focal point

Slightly imbalanced

200 element is distracting 

Addition of stick figures balances out cover  

Text follows natural shape of photograph

Removed 200 element makes cover look less clunky

Example 2: Sixteen Cents

Half the title is on a dark background

Lacks readability

Last name is cut off by window

Uninteresting composition (everything is on one line)

No movement

Title placement is better

Better readability

‘A novel’ fits under windowsill

Last name is smaller to avoid cutting it off

Still slightly boring

Uses free space of wall wisely

Title is easy to read

Text is shaped around photo elements

Gives the cover some movement

Example 3: Fostered

Title is covering the focal point (the girl)

Title doesn’t seem to be incorporated into the design

By moving title down, we’ve made space for the subject

Title placement makes cover look less clunky

Same composition as prior but image is colour-graded

Embossed title adds texture/depth

I’ve mentioned this a few times in this post: focal point. What is it?

FOCAL POINT:

Is defined as the main attraction of your book cover

This is where you want your readers’ eyes to focus

Focal points can sometimes define themselves in areas where more contrast happens to be

Doesn’t have to be the centre of the page. 

Keep focal point in mind for composition because if you put it in the wrong spot, you could end up drawing your readers’ attention to the wrong area of the cover. 

The point of most interest in a cover is the focal point, so if you want a particular subject of your book cover, such as a person, to stand out make sure you don’t make the other areas of the cover too high contrast or busy.

Framing subjects also helps, so be creative!  

The human eye tends to focus on areas with increased contrast so keep this in mind

Examples:

The Host

The camera has focused on the eye of the model, with the nose bridge and forehead shadowing each corner of the cover

Helps lead eye to focal point (the eye)

The Girls

Blue around the edges encircles the focal point (the girl), leading the viewer’s eye directly to her

Girl is also scarlet in colour, contrasting the background

The Hunger Games

Grey outlines on the cover lead straight to the mockingjay

Mockingjay is bright gold in comparison to the black background

Creates contrast, thus viewer’s eye is lead there

The Female of the Species

‘Straight’ composition

No particular focal point, viewer’s eye instead moves horizontally across the design

What should you do?

Use the natural shapes and outlines in your design/photo to fill your cover

Use your space wisely (see examples above)

Use leading lines to draw attention to your focal point

Manipulate text to fill empty spaces

5. Tools and software 

You do not need Photoshop to make a good book cover

I made my first book covers in GIMP, a free image manipulation program (kinda like Photoshop’s little brother)

This is the stick people cover I made in photoshop, and the same cover made in GIMP. 

Other tools you may want to use are CreateSpace’s cover templates. 

You can find these through CreateSpace OR Bookow (my personal fave)

OPTIONAL (what I use):

Graphics tablet

I use the Huion H610 which I really enjoy! 

I use this to hand letter, draw silhouettes, create concept art, and so on

Paper and my Faber Castell India Ink Artist Pens. 

These are fine tip markers, and are what I used to create the text on I’m Disappointed 

Thin sharpies and pens will also do the job, and you can always clean any mistakes up in photoshop or gimp.

A scanner so I can transfer what I’ve hand drawn onto my computer

If you don’t have a scanner you can take a clear photograph on a camera or phone 

I also use a few custom marker brushes that now come with the 2018 version of Photoshop

The main one I use is Kyle’s AM - Watercolour Paper from the art markers set (you have to load these into Photoshop, but if you have PS 2018, you should have access to ‘em). 

(I’ve lettered everything in this post with that brush)

6. Resources

Here’s a list of amazing resources you might need when making your own book covers!

1. Stock image websites

Check out THIS post for a master list of my favourite stock photo websites!

Stocksnap.io

Unsplash.com

Pixabay.com 

2. Dafont

Is my main source for finding fonts

3. Goodreads

A huge resource I use to find cover inspiration

I’ll often browse the new releases section to look at new covers and so on

Easy way to narrow down the genre of cover you’re looking for, as well as the age category

4. Keyboard shortcuts 

Check out a masterlist for Photoshop HERE

GIMP masterlist HERE

Makes workflow super efficient

My fave I highly recommend in Photoshop is ctrl > shift > alt > e (merge all layers into new layer) 

I’ve made TWO custom shortcuts: ctrl > shift > o is now open as layer, and ctrl > shift > alt > r is now rasterize layer (these save so much time!)

So to conclude this post, I’m going to list out some of my favourite tips when it comes to cover making (sort of a reiteration of this post)

Add texture!

Texture is a super easy way to add dimension to your book cover

Try lettering with a paper and marker when starting out

I find this a lot easier than digital lettering!

Google is your friendddd

If you can’t figure out how to do something in Photoshop or GIMP, the internet is a vast depository of information!

Pay attention to detail

Cover design is alllll about the small details. Making sure you’ve centred something properly can seriously help in making your cover go from amateur to whoaaa who made thatttt

Get a second opinion

Been looking at your screen for 8 hours straight? Ask someone you know what they think of your design! I find this has sparked a lot of secondhand ideas!

If it doesn’t work out, doesn’t mean it was a fail

If a particular concept just doesn’t work, don’t worry! As you practice you’ll get better, and you can always revisit the concept for another novel!

EDIT: a really great suggestion from @sarahkelsiwrites: print out your design if you need a fresh perspective! You’d be surprised by what you notice on screen VS off!

So that’s it for this post! I hope this was helpful for some of you guys, I know it was looooong overdue. If it helped you out, let me know, and if you have any questions, feel free to send ‘em my way! :))