On The Six Questions
Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How?
Categories:
[Find],
[Explore],
[Know]
Tags:
[Genres],
[Setting],
[Six Questions],
[Characters],
[Plot],
[Motivations],
[Endings]
Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How? Whether you are still trying to find your story, or if you are now exploring your story, or if you feel that you now know your story through and through, you should be able to answer these six fundamental questions about your story.
- Who? The Characters
Who is your main character? Who is in their family? Who else are they friends with? Who do they work or go to school with? Who is their enemy or rival or is stopping them from what they want? What things are important parts of who they are? What will never change about them? What might?
- What? The Plot
What is life like at the start of the story? What things are already happening? What things could happen? What setbacks will happen? What does the middle of the story feel like for the characters?
- When? The Genre
When does the story take place? Does it happen right now? Long ago? A little while ago, before electricity, or so far back that fairy tales are real? In the future? A little while into the future, or so far in the future that humans live in space?
- Where? The Setting
Where does the story take place? A place like where you live, or somewhere far away? What does it look like? Sound like? What season is it? A real place, or a made-up place? Is it very hot or very cold? How does the place where the story happens affect the rest of the story?
- Why? The Motivations
What do the characters want? What is stopping them from getting what they want? Is a person stopping them, or is the environment, or are they getting in their own way of getting it? What do the other characters want, and how does that complicate things?
- How? The Ending
Do you know the ending of the story? (It’s okay if you don’t yet!) What things need to happen first for the ending to happen and make sense? What does it look like right before the ending happens, when it looks like it might not work out after all, and how do the characters feel about that?
If you find that you don't have a good answer for any of these, think on them for a little longer and see what you can come up with. It might look, at first glance, a bit like homework, but these are the fundamental building blocks of your story. They will help you to craft your story, no matter what step you are currently on. The answers don't need to be long and detailed, and you won't get marked on how good your answers are, and in all likelihood no one else is ever going to even see them, so they can just be a couple of words jotted down or just a thought in your head. But you will need to know the answers.
Indeed, anyone that reads your story should be able to come up with their own answers to these questions after they finish it all on their own. That's just part of the magic of writing. You come up with a story here and now, and someone somewhere else and in the unknown future can come along and read it, and your ideas go from inside your head across time and space and into your reader's head, without you having to explain them beyond what is written down on the page. Storytelling is a kind of telepathy.