# Story Writing: How to Write a Story, Step by Step - Feldar > Story writing in seven steps: what a story needs, a short story taken apart beat by beat, a free template, common mistakes and a free AI story writer. - URL: https://feldar.com/guides/story-writing - Site: [Home](https://feldar.com/) · [About](https://feldar.com/about) · [Blog](https://feldar.com/blog) · [Careers](https://feldar.com/careers) · [Pricing](https://feldar.com/pricing) · [Download](https://feldar.com/download) · [Changelog](https://feldar.com/changelog) - Machine index: [llms.txt](https://feldar.com/llms.txt) · [full site content](https://feldar.com/llms-full.txt) --- On this page - Story writing in seven steps - What every story needs - 1. A character who wants - 2. The moment it changes - 3. Point of view and tense - 4. Three beats - 5. The first draft - 6. An ending that shows the change - 7. Revise - How long a story is - Worked example - Story planning template - Common mistakes - Free AI story writer - Writing stories in Feldar - Sources - Questions Updated November 10, 2026 · By the Feldar team ### Story writing: how to write a story, step by step 12 min read What a story needs, seven steps from idea to finished draft, a complete short story taken apart beat by beat, a template to download, and a free AI story writer to try your idea on. #### Story writing in seven steps #StepWhat to doYou end up with 1Find the character and the wantSomeone who wants something specific, todayOne sentence: who wants what 2Choose the moment it changesThe day the usual pattern breaksYour first scene 3Pick a point of view and tenseWhose eyes, which tense, kept steadyThe narrating voice 4Plan three beatsSetup, turn and ending, in one line eachA three-line plan 5Write the first draftStraight through, in one or two sittingsA complete rough draft 6Make the ending show the changeAn action or image that proves something movedA last scene that lands 7Revise in passesCut the start, sharpen the turn, read it aloudA finished story #### What every story needs Stories come in every shape, but almost all of them have the same five parts. If a draft feels flat, one of these is usually missing. A characterOne person the reader follows closely, even in a story with a crowd in it. A wantSomething the character is trying to get, keep or avoid. It can be small: a bus fare, an apology, one more day. Something in the wayA person, a fact or a flaw that makes the want hard to reach. No obstacle, no story. A place and a timeEnough of a world that the reader isn't floating. One exact detail beats a paragraph of description. A changeBy the end the character, or the reader's view of them, is different. This is what turns a sketch into a story. #### 1. Start with a character who wants something Write one sentence: who the story is about and what they want. "A widow wants to sell the farmhouse" is a start. "A widow wants to sell the farmhouse before her son finds out what is buried under the barn" is a story, because the want has a cost and a deadline. If the want is vague, everything after it will be too. #### 2. Find the moment it changes A story starts on the day the usual pattern breaks: a letter arrives, a stranger is waiting, the bus has gone. Begin as close to that moment as the reader can follow. Anything earlier is usually backstory, and it can come later in a line or two. Our guide on [how to start a story](https://feldar.com/guides/how-to-start-a-story) covers four ways to open. #### 3. Choose a point of view and a tense Close third person in the past tense ("she rang the bell") is the most common choice and the easiest to control. First person gives you a voice and limits what the reader can know. Present tense feels immediate but is harder to sustain. Pick one and keep it steady; a short story has no room to switch. #### 4. Plan three beats A short story doesn't need a full outline. It needs three lines: the setup (who, where, what they want), the turn (the moment they have to choose or something is revealed), and the ending (what has changed). If you can write those three lines, you can write the story. If you can't, you have a situation, not yet a story. #### 5. Write the first draft straight through Write the whole thing in one or two sittings if you can, without stopping to fix sentences. A short story's shape only shows once it exists from end to end. Mark the problems as you go and keep moving; you will cut more than you think. #### 6. Make the ending show the change The ending proves something has moved. Show it with an action, an image or one line of dialogue, and stop soon after. Don't explain what the story meant. A surprise ending works only if the reader can look back and see it was coming. #### 7. Revise in passes - Cut the start. The first paragraph or two of a draft is often you warming up. See whether the story begins better further in. - Sharpen the turn. Make sure the middle has a real choice or reveal, and that it happens on the page. - Check every scene earns its place. In a short story, each scene has to move the want, the obstacle or the change. - Read it aloud. You will hear the repeated words, the long sentences and the dialogue nobody would say. - Tighten the prose last. Our free [AI writing assistant](https://feldar.com/ai-writing-assistant) can polish a paragraph and show each change in blue, so you keep only the edits you agree with. #### How long a story is FormWordsWhat fits Flash fictionUnder about 1,000One scene and one change Short storyUnder 7,500A few scenes, one main character Novelette7,500 to 17,499A subplot, a second point of view Novella17,500 to 39,999A full arc with room to breathe Novel40,000 and upSeveral threads across chapters From short story up, these are the categories the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association uses for the Nebula Awards; flash fiction has no fixed limit. For book lengths by genre, see [how many words are in a novel](https://feldar.com/guides/how-many-words-in-a-novel). #### Worked example: a complete short story We wrote this 300 word story for this guide, to show the steps on something short enough to read in a minute. Read it first, then see how it is built. ##### The Bell at Hollin Ferry Every evening at six, Ada Price rang the ferry bell twice, and every evening the ferryman came across the water for whoever was waiting. For eleven years nobody had been waiting but her. She rang it anyway. The bell hung from a post at the top of the slipway, green with age, and the rope had worn a groove in her palm that fitted it exactly. Her brother had taken the ferry across on a wet night in March and had not come back, and the ferryman, who had not been the ferryman then, had long ago stopped asking her where she wanted to go. Tonight there was a boy on the slipway. Twelve, perhaps, with a canvas bag and a bus ticket folded into a small square. "Does it still go?" he said. "If you ring," she said. He looked at the bell, then at her. "You ring it. You know how." Ada took hold of the rope. She thought of all the evenings she had pulled it for nobody, and how it had become a way of saying her brother's name without saying it. If she rang it now, it would be for this boy, and the evening would belong to him. She rang it twice. Out on the grey water the lamp swung as the ferry turned toward them. The boy picked up his bag. At the edge of the slipway he stopped. "Who were you ringing it for before?" "My brother," Ada said, and found that it was easy to say. The ferry bumped the stones. The boy stepped aboard, and Ada watched the lamp all the way to the far bank. Then, for the first time in eleven years, she walked home before it came back. PartIn the story Character and wantAda wants to keep her brother present. The bell ritual is how she does it. The moment it changesFor the first time in eleven years, someone else is waiting. The turnThe boy asks her to ring it. Ringing for him means giving the ritual away. The endingShe says her brother's name easily and walks home before the ferry returns. The change is shown, not explained. Point of viewClose third person, past tense, never leaving Ada. #### Free story planning template The five parts, the three beats and a revision checklist on one page. Copy it into whatever you write in, or download it as a Markdown file that opens in Word, Google Docs or Feldar. THE STORY Who it is about, and what they want: What is in the way: The day it changes: THREE BEATS Setup: Turn: Ending (what has changed): Copy template [Download .md](https://feldar.com/assets/templates/story-writing-template.md) #### Common mistakes - Starting too early. Pages of morning routine before anything happens. Start on the day it changes. - A character with no want. Things happen to them, and the reader stops caring. Give them something to try for. - The change happens off the page. The key moment is summarised afterwards. Put it in a scene. - Too many people. A short story has room for two or three characters who matter, not ten. - Explaining the ending. A final paragraph that says what it all meant. Cut it and end on the action. - An unearned twist. A surprise the story gave no hint of. Plant it early, quietly. #### Try it: the free AI story writer Want to see how an idea shapes up before you write it? Describe it below and an AI writes a complete short story with a title, a turn and an ending, free, with no account. Use it to test an idea or get unstuck, then write the story yourself. The full tool is on the [AI story writer](https://feldar.com/ai-story-writer) page. #### Writing stories in Feldar In Feldar each story is a project in your Library. Keep its people and places as cards on the [Canvas](https://feldar.com/features/canvas), plan the scenes in an [Outline](https://feldar.com/features/scenes) beside the page, and write in your own words. When you want help, Continue from here suggests the next lines in blue, and they stay only if you accept them. Read more about Feldar as [novel writing software](https://feldar.com/novel-writing-software), or try the free [AI writer](https://feldar.com/ai-writer) on a paragraph of your draft. #### Sources Checked November 10, 2026. Story length categories[SFWA, Nebula Award rules](https://nebulas.sfwa.org/about-the-nebulas/nebula-rules/) The worked exampleWritten by the Feldar team for this guide #### Questions What are the steps of story writing? Find a character who wants something, choose the moment their situation changes, pick a point of view and tense, plan three beats (setup, turn and ending), write a fast first draft, make the ending show the change, then revise in passes. What does every story need? A character, something they want, something in the way, a place and a time, and a change by the end. Without the change you have a sketch rather than a story. How long is a short story? Usually 1,000 to 7,500 words. Under about 1,000 words is often called flash fiction. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association, for its Nebula Awards, counts a short story as under 7,500 words and a novelette as 7,500 to 17,499. How do I end a short story? Show the change instead of explaining it: one action, image or line of dialogue that proves the character is not where they started. Stop soon after. Readers forgive an open ending; they rarely forgive an explained one. Can AI write a story for me? It can write a draft, and our free [AI story writer](https://feldar.com/ai-story-writer) does in under a minute. Use it to see a shape or get unstuck, then write the story in your own words. Many magazines and contests do not accept AI-written work. What is the difference between story writing and writing a book? A short story turns on one change and can be planned in three beats. A book needs a premise that lasts, several threads and a plan across chapters. Our guide on [book writing](https://feldar.com/guides/how-to-write-a-book) covers that. #### Keep reading [Guide How to start a story Four openings that work, and what to cut from a first page.](https://feldar.com/guides/how-to-start-a-story) [Guide Book writing, step by step Nine steps from first idea to a revised draft.](https://feldar.com/guides/how-to-write-a-book) [Guide Character development Arcs, want and need, traced through Elizabeth Bennet.](https://feldar.com/guides/character-development) [Free AI tool AI story writer A complete short story from your idea, genre and tone.](https://feldar.com/ai-story-writer) [Free tool Story generator Story starts by genre, made from hand-written parts.](https://feldar.com/tools/story-generator) [Guides All guides Every Feldar guide to starting, planning, writing and publishing a book.](https://feldar.com/guides)