Itching to start a new story, novella, novel, or play? This Planning Roadmap will show you how to brainstorm your concept, characters, and more, step by step. We’ll also steer you to One Stop for Writers tools, resources, and links that will help with each planning task.

Playing with story ideas is not only fun, it also will make writing easier when you’re ready to begin drafting. So, work at your own pace. Plan as much or as little as you need. And don’t worry, One Stop for Writers will always remember your place in the map and open to the last section you were on.

Want to capture important details as you plan? Download our Story Planning Checklist.

Whenever you’re ready to start, just use the sidebar to navigate. Note that some links may be affiliate ones, but rest assured: we only recommend helpful and proven resources, many of which we use ourselves. Happy brainstorming!