Story Chain Brainstorming - What Happens Next

Telling Our Story

Have you ever tried to tell someone else your story?

It’s fun, isn’t it?

I once spent forty-five minutes in a spiral about my series. I gushed about my characters, worldbuilding, and romance. Then I realized I hadn’t mentioned the magic system that fuels the entire thing. Forty-five minutes and not one word about people with superpowers.

We know everything about our stories—or at least it feels like we do.

Every character trait. Every worldbuilding detail. Every plot twist.

We know so much that we can trip over the details trying to tell the story. To others and to ourselves.

Outlines, beat sheets, and even my own Story Grid are effective ways to organize that information.

But we often need a quick way to answer one of our most common questions:

What happens next?

Story chaining gives you a fast way to answer that question without needing an outline, beat sheet, or scene plan first.

Let’s go back to basics and look at a way to answer that question anywhere in the writing process.

Story Chain Brainstorming

Story Chain Brainstorming sounds like a fancy made-up term. It is.

What it means is writing out your story in plain language.

No prose.

No structure.

No beats.

My FMC does this and then this happens and then this person shows up. Oh, and we’ll have a duel here. Then maybe something will explode…

A chain of events. Cause and effect.

We assume we can do this in our heads. Sometimes we can. Sometimes multiple plots that span multiple books with two dozen characters and a magic system get in the way.

Sometimes basic is better.

And it works surprisingly well anywhere inside our writing process.

Sometimes Basic Is Better.

Where It Works

Can’t pin down an idea? Tell yourself the story.

Stuck in the messy middle? Tell yourself the story.

Are you writing a story that never ends? You know what to do.

It doesn’t matter if you’re a planner, pantser, or somewhere in between—we all hit bumps in our process. If you’re like me, you hit all these bumps on a regular basis.

These are excellent opportunities to stop and write the story chain.

Even if you don’t know the whole story. Especially if you don’t know the whole story.

Story chain brainstorming helps us break free of the details. It strips the story down to cause and effect, allowing us to see holes, fill gaps, and create without pressure.

What if those details creep in? Good question.

The answer is to brainstorm in layers.

Story Layers

In my article Dual Arc Structure in Romantasy, I explain how romantasy stories run on both fantasy and romance plots. I also show a diagram of my own book arc with dual plots and dual POVs. This is part of a long series that spans decades, dozens of cultures, and a magic system that grows into a cosmic tale.

Saying I have a few layers is the understatement of the century.

This can make telling myself the story spiral in on itself. My solution is to story-chain specific layers.

I might follow a character all the way through or one political side. I can chain a romance from beginning to end without adding other details unless they’re necessary to that plot.

By working in layers I can see where the various plots and arcs converge, overlap, or miss each other completely. I can fill gaps in the timeline or pinpoint where a character isn’t paying their rent.

And since I’m only brainstorming, I’m free to explore any wild idea that would connect things together. I’m not writing a scene or filling in backstory. I’m just turning the puzzle pieces to see what fits.

If you’re asking yourself where is this romance headed—or where is this character going—

Tell yourself the story and see what fits where.

Story Chain Example

Here is an example story chain from that book based on one of my favorite side characters.

Kallen, lord of the isles, appears in book two as Aliria’s friend. Then we learn he’s Caleb’s childhood nemesis. Then they get into a little argument. Aliria says she won’t be their mommy and to fix their issues. Then he gets involved as they all figure out what Aliria has been doing behind everyone’s back. We see him and Caleb have a conversation about her. But things go sideways as Caleb gets jealous and Kallen won’t leave well enough alone. They end up in a fist fight. This ticks off Aliria enough to screw them both over. Kallen has to concede to her and leaves Baswan both impressed and angry.

Notice there are no details unless they’re relevant to the character’s movement. Just what I want to happen inside this book with this character. In the process of writing this out, I see how I want to connect Kallen to my other characters, the bigger world, and his role in the chain of events that pushes my FMC to become the villain of this particular book.

Now it’s your turn.

Take any plot or character and write a story chain from beginning to end.

Don’t Forget the Basics

Writing terminology can be intimidating. We’ve all fallen into the internet rabbit holes of structure lingo and beat names. It’s easy to forget the basics with so many systems, processes, and programs out there.

Sometimes basic is better. Sometimes the simplest sentence is the right one.

Sometimes, you just need to tell yourself the story.

Just don’t ask me how to tell it to someone else.