I’ve been thinking a lot about how I approach my story planning. In the last couple of books, I’ve focused on designing the character first, but using opposite characteristics to make the character or environment more interesting.

In The Giant’s Giant, I made a character, Brianna MineShaker who was a small giant. She was really short compared to the other giants, and that affected her personality and self-esteem; you see the opposites . . . a giant who is small.

In Magic’s Curse (I’m working on this one now), I chose to make a world where people could cast spells, i.e they were a Casters. That sounds pretty cool, right? But to add an opposite, sorta; when you cast a spell, you lose life. Now, all of a sudden, using magic has some negative consequences.

Both of these opposites make the character and the environment really interesting.

So, let’s say, I want to make a new story, maybe about dragons. Dragons like to breathe fire, so what could we do to make it an opposite. How about a certain dragon, named Draconis, who breathes frost instead of fire. That would make Draconis an outcast amongst the other dragons. Maybe he’s picked on by his peers. You see how this instantly gives us an opportunity to add conflict into the story. That’s what you want when you plan your story; find ways that you can introduce conflict and tension.

Now for the antagonist. I want there to be a Wizard (don’t have a name for him, what do you think it should be?) who has powerful magic, but is a little crazy (kinda opposites). He sees things that aren’t there and is a little paranoid . . . that’s interesting. We’ll have the wizard and Draconis be on opposite sides of the plot.

Now, for the dragon story. What could Draconis use his frost-breath for, that would make him a hero? I was thinking about freezing some lava. Here’s what I’m thinking:

1. The wizard has to use lava for something, maybe destroy the dragon hatchery where all the dragon’s eggs are kept.
2. Draconis has to swoop in at the last minute and freeze the lava, saving the hatching grounds and all the dragon eggs.
3. We need a battle at the end between the protagonist and antagonist, Draconis and the wizard fighting face-to-face.

OK, here’s my idea for the story. The wizard has to steal something from the dragons, a magic staff that causes earthquakes, maybe. The dragons try to stop him from stealing it, that’ll give us some excitement through the story, but the wizard gets the staff, we’ll call it the Quake-staff. The wizard goes to the top of the volcano while dragons are searching for him. He uses other magic weapons to knock a bunch of them out of the sky leaving only the puny frost dragon, Draconis. The wizard gets to the top and using the Quake-staff to shatter the volcano, causing it to spill all its lava. The lava oozes down the side of the mountain, heading toward the dragon hatchery, but Draconis shows up and freezes the molten stone. The wizard then goes to the hatchery and tries to destroy the ground with the Quake-staff, destroying the dragon hatchery. None of the other dragons can attack, because the eggs and the baby dragons inside the fragile shells are not immune to fire yet. Draconis appears again and freezes the wizard, then takes the Quake-staff and throws it into the lave. Ta Da! Everyone is safe.

Do you see how the opposites with Draconis give us interesting situations and unexpected twists, adding conflict and tension. Remember, YOU ALWAYS WANT TO ADD CONFLICT AND TENSION! And the opposites with the Wizard, powerful magic vs. crazy visions, makes him much more interesting. This is important to figure out when you plan out your story. Think OPPOSITES in your environment and in your characters when you start creating your story, and see where it leads you.

Mark