How to Write a Good Story?

Everyone has a story to tell. There are many factors that can inspire a good story. Here are a few tips to release the writer in you. It's not hard and everyone can do it--just give it a try.

Steps

Pick your story ideas based on what you know. If you know your starting subject, it's easier to write about and to branch details from it.
Research subjects that you are familiar with but not expert in. For example, most people know what surfing is, but they don't know how to do it. So, if you have a surfer character in your story, research surfing. Learn about the moves and techniques. Interview a surfer about the experience if you can.
Decide who your readers are likely to be. Maybe you're writing for teens, or maybe for people who are familiar with a particular place. Having a clear audience in mind will help you frame your ideas. Write down the reason that you are telling this story. Make sure that is what you are expressing with the story.
Get inspirations in your everyday life. For example if you want to write a children's book, observe children. See how they act, see the world through their eyes, and then write about something that fascinates them. Listen to the news; everyday life can be an inspiration.
Carry a notepad with you all the time. Inspiration can hit anytime, and its easily lost if you don' write it down.
Decide on the following:
- The story arch- plan when to throw bumps and hurdles in your character's path.
- Beginning- introduce the problem. What does your character want...or not want? What is in her way? what troubles him? Or start out with something that brings the reader 'into' the book: something that makes the reader read further. Throw in a "hook"!
- Middle- add bumps along the way that make the character rise to the challenge. Keep bringing on the action.
- The biggest hurdle- this is the moment of the greatest conflict. it is the point in the story when your character has to deal with or overcome the big problem that you set up at the beginning or middle of the story.
- End- the conflict is solved. Your character either gets what s/he wants or doesn't. Whatever the case is, your character has changed or learned.
Read through your story and edit. The most effort and time spent in writing is often in the editing, not the actual writing itself!
Find someone else to read your story and give you feedback. Tell him/her not to be afraid to be honest. Don't get offended, and don't give up if you get bad feedback. Constructive criticism is a great help towards that. Ask your reader to be very honest and accurate.

Tips

Write down your dreams and hopes. You might make a story out of one or more of them.
Read many, many books before attempting to write one. Get a feel for what makes a good book!
Think long and hard about your characters (who they are, what they're like, what they want, what they're afraid of), setting (time period, location), and conflict (person versus person, person versus society, person versus fate). They make the story interesting.
Know what you want your main characters to be like. Live inside your character's head for a day. They must be feel real to readers!
If you are easily influenced by other people's writing, don't read too much. Stick to books you are familiar with and study how the author develops characters, the plot, and the goals over time.
Edit, edit, edit. Check punctuation, spelling, grammar, and sentence sense, of course--but don't ignore the big questions. Are your character's actions and responses plausible? Have you taken a short cut on the plot, making it mundane or superficial?
Minimize those little dialog tags: 'Andrew said' or 'Molly whispered.' Without them, how could you tell who was talking?--by giving each character a unique voice. Employ slurred words, an accent, an authoritative tone, a submissive tone, or very clipped speech.
If you don't know where to take the story next:
Try writing whatever comes into your head. Eventually you'll be back on a roll with some good ideas, and you can use them to edit/replace what you just wrote.
Take a break. Sleep over it. It does work!
Maybe you've painted yourself into a corner. Is the plot really going the way you want it to? Is the scene you're writing necessary? Get to the action in a different way.
Read some books on creative thinking. Learn how deliberate techniques used to generate ideas in your head.

Warnings

Try not to drag the story on. Give just enough details to encourage both understanding and interest.
Describing scenery at length can be a dead end (unless the book has a geographical bent).
It's natural and easy to use close descriptions of people you know well, like your family. Either disguise the characters enough to avoid offending anyone.
Writers block is very common, you will get frustrated but do not give up.

Article adapted from wikiHow, a collaborative writing project to build the world's largest, highest quality how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Write a Good Story. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.