Video by The Atlantic At this year's Aspen Ideas Festival, we asked a group of writers, journalists, and producers to explain what makes a story great. According to House of Cards showrunner Beau. The story, like other stories about cheating, must begin at the beginning of the marriage itself. I was 15 when I met my husband, who was 18. We met because he asked his sister to invite a friend over to give him some booty.

Knowing how to write a good story is a powerful skill. The human mind is drawn to stories. Recite a laundry list of events from your day at work and our eyes glaze over. But tell us how the copier jammed and you heroically saved the day with some duct tape and a paper clip? We’re riveted.

Here’s a tip: Want to make sure your writing always looks great? Grammarly can save you from misspellings, grammatical and punctuation mistakes, and other writing issues on all your favorite websites.

Where to Find Story Writing Ideas

Every novelist or short story writer has heard the question many times: “Where do you get your ideas?” The answer is always the same: from everywhere. Many aspiring writers believe they need to wait for a sudden flash of inspiration, but generating ideas is more of a process than an epiphany.

Pay attention.

Pay attention to what’s going on around you. Those snippets of conversation you overheard at dinner, the car you witnessed going the wrong way down the freeway during rush hour, the elderly man trudging down a dark alley calling the name Maryanne repeatedly, all could spark a story. Although some of the events you describe may be extraordinary, they don’t have to be. They just have to be interesting.

Jot things down.

Make a habit of noticing what’s going on around you, from the exciting to the mundane, by writing things down as they catch your attention. Use your phone’s note-taking app to capture moments. If you’re old school, keep a small notebook or some index cards. The act of writing things down will remind you to focus and be in the moment. The best writers are keen observers.

Ask “What if?”

Events aren’t stories. But events can germinate stories when the writer plants the seeds by asking questions. One of the primary questions to get a story started is “what if?” What if the car you witnessed heading the wrong way down the freeway at rush hour was driven by a pregnant woman in labor who needed the fastest route to the hospital? What if the man calling out in the dark alley was a widower whose deceased wife was named Maryanne?

Creating a Story Framework

What A Great Story

Stories are not just sequences of events—they have to go somewhere. Any good story begins with a character who wants something. The story describes the character’s journey toward getting what he or she wants . . . or not. (Stories don’t have to have happy endings, only satisfying ones.)

Keep your character’s struggle to get something he desperately wants in mind as you build your story framework by answering these questions.

Who is my main character? What is he like in his ordinary life?
What does he want? Is there an extraordinary event that calls him to action?
What is he willing to do to get what he wants?
How do the character’s flaws prevent him from achieving his goal?
What obstacles, internal or external, thwart him?
Does he finally overcome the obstacles or is he unable to succeed?
How is the character changed as a result of the struggle?

The Fundamentals of Plot

You may have learned the basics of story structure in beginning composition class, but here’s a refresher. The story must have a beginning, middle, and end. The character follows a path called the story arc. It begins with an event that sets the wheels in motion. That’s followed by rising action, which means that every step in the story’s progression raises the stakes just a bit, increasing the conflict and tension. Then, the story reaches a climactic turning point. For better or worse, from here forward your character will be changed as a result of his journey through the events. The final piece is the end, or denouement, which wraps the story up in a satisfying way and solidifies both its outcome and its theme.

Here’s a tip: The term denouement refers to the story resolution that happens after the climactic event. It comes from the mid-18th-century French word dénouer, which translates to “unknot.”

Pixar storyboard artist Emma Coats compiled some excellent advice about storytelling in a series of tweets. She advises that you should dig into the process of plotting the character’s story with this simple template:

What A Great Story Mark

Once upon a time there was ___. Every day, ___. One day ___. Because of that, ___. Because of that, ___. Until finally ___.

You can keep repeating “Because of that, ____” for as long as necessary to get to “Until finally ____.” But keep in mind that a plot should have rising action. If it helps, think “Because of that, ____, which made things more complicated.”

These tedious adjectives have got to go. #cleanwritinghttps://t.co/fl4eLVZeb2pic.twitter.com/IxKeKea96K

— Grammarly (@Grammarly) April 11, 2018

How to Write a Story: Four Valuable Tips

Now that you understand the framework for writing a story, these tips will help you make it great.

1. Where is your story taking place?

The details may be just for atmosphere (a bookstore where two people meet and begin a whirlwind romance), or they can play a major role (a mountaintop from which a volcanologist is trying to escape because the volcano he’s been studying has suddenly roared to life).

2. Your character can’t be perfect.

Perfect people don’t exist, and if they did, they’d be interminably dull. Give your character flaws that will both help us relate to her as a human being and increase the story’s tension as the conflict builds.

3. Your character has to feel some discomfort.

What's A Good Story Idea

His struggles are what make him relatable. Whatever he’s competent at, throw the opposite at him. If he’s a cocky rock guitarist with a skyrocketing career trajectory, make his arrogance the cause of an accident that injures his hand, causing permanent damage. How will he react? How will he change? The answer is your story.

4. Whatever you’re working on, finish it.

Get a first draft on paper. Only when you’ve written from beginning to end can you begin the work of rewriting and editing. When you’ve tweaked the story for plot and substance, you can use Grammarly to help you fine-tune.

Selecting the greatest American novels is a fun job because there are so many wonderful choices. We hope you enjoy reading them. We also selected our favorite Children's chapter books (appropriate for all ages) in Books for Young Readers.

Find our complete collection of novels in the Classic Novels Library. You might also enjoy books set during the Civil War and World War I.

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Moby Dick; or, The Whale by Herman Melville

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

What's A Good Story In The Bible

Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane

The Call of the Wild by Jack London

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by Frank L. Baum

Uncle Tom's Cabin or Life Among the Lowly by Harriet Beecher Stowe

The Awakening

What A Great Story!