Every idea has loose ends. By tugging on these, you can unravel an ever expanding story world and add richness to your characters, intrigue to your plot, and passion to your theme.

As an example, consider this simple story concept:

A sheriff is trying to stop a gang of cutthroats from repeatedly robbing his town.

Now, look for the loose ends in that idea by asking questions about it:

1. How old is the sheriff?
2. How much experience does he have?
3. Is he a good shot?
4. How many men has he killed (if any)
5. How many people are in the gang?
6. Does it have a single leader?
7. Is the gang tight-knit?
8. What are they taking from the town?
9. How long have they been doing this?

Now that you’ve got loose ends all over your story concept, pull on each one to create a potential story thread.

To do this, come up with several different ways of answering each question.

For example:

1. How old is the sheriff?

Here are several potential answers:

a. 28

b. 56

c. 105

d. 17

e. 7

f. 35

Some of these potential ages are ridiculous – or are they? An ordinary story based on such a log line would have the Marshall be 28 or 35. Just another dull story, grinding through the mill. But what if your Marshall was 105 old?

Let’s tug on that idea to find some more loose ends:

1. How would an 105 year old become a sheriff?
2. Can he still see okay?
3. What physical maladies plague him?
4. Is he married?
5. What kind of gun does he use?
6. Does he have the respect of the town?

Now pull on each of these to draw out new potential story threads:

Example:

1. What kind of gun does he use?

a) He uses an ancient musket, can barely lift it, but is a crack shot and miraculously hits whatever he aims at.

b) He uses an ancient musket and can’t hit the broad side of a barn. But somehow, his oddball shots ricochet off so many things, he gets the job done anyway, just not as he planned.

c) He uses a Gatling gun attached to his walker.

d) He doesn’t use a gun at all. In 63 years with the Texas Rangers, he never needed one and doesn’t need one now.

e) He uses a sawed off shotgun, but needs his deputy to pull the trigger for him as he aims.

f) He uses a whip.

g) He uses a knife, but can’t throw it past 5 feet anymore.

Continue the process for as many levels of detail as you like.

When you’re done, you have a whole pile of new story threads you can pick through and choose the ones you want to use to spin your yarn and weave your story.

This technique is drawn from my StoryWeaver Story Development app.

Try it risk-free for 90 days on our web site at Storymind.com

Melanie Anne Phillips
Creator, StoryWeaver
Co-creator, Dramatica