Developing a storyline for a Role-play or game usually consists of a few steps.
First, decide what theme you want for your story. Good vs evil? A search? Vengeance? There are many different themes you can choose. Thats up to you.
Then decide how the theme will be played out. Say you choose vengeance as your theme. How will the vengeance by played out? A young boy avenging the death of his brother? A young woman avenging the destruction of her town? A dog getting revenge on the other dog that took his favorite bone? It can be anything. biggrin
Now that you have the theme set up, you can establish the protagonist and antagonist. The hero and the villian, so to speak. Say you choose the young woman on the quest to avenge her town. Who are the villians? A demonic overlord? A band of thugs? Aliens? Whatever sounds interesting to you or whatever you think would make a good story.
With the hero and villian selected you can begin to flesh out a plot. HOW does the hero get her vengeance? To answer this, it helps to establish a setting and time for the story. Lets say you choose the demonic overlord for your villian. Decide where the woman will start her journey and how she will end it. Is it set in a fantasy setting, where she must travel across mountains and plains to the lair of the overlord? Or is it set in modern times and the overlord is in the high rise skyscraper down the street?
Once you decide on a setting and plot, tell how her journey unfolds. What obstacles will she face on the way? How will she overcome them? What people will she meet? Will she take along a sidekick, who is also on the same quest?
These are the basics of any story. Following these steps will get you where you want to go. But if want to spice up the story a bit, try adding a few of these:
Plot twists! Everyone loves a good twist in the story, it keeps the reader of the story intrigued to find out what happens next.
Originality! Dont be afraid of using an old good vs. evil theme for your story, but since its commonly used, adding something original, like making the hero an animal instead of a human, or making the villian a state of mind, will give readers something different to read about and keep their interest.
Back Story! Flesh out your characters with backgrounds and history. Tell something intriguing about them, or leave it until the end and make it part of the plot twist!
Clues! Dont be quick to give out all the storys info right away. Add a little mystery to your story by letting the hero discover clues along the way and keep the reader guessing.
Thats all I have for now
NY Bandit · Mon Jun 04, 2007 @ 09:46am · 1 Comments |