August 18, 2025: The Creative Probe

Storytellers embrace questions.

Before a single word finds the page, I probe an idea. And questions are my favorite tools, helping me dig for the hidden pulse of a tale.

I’ve learned to begin with the end in mind. And while there are other foundational pillars such as audience, genre, and point of view, those are not my focus here.

So, let’s say I’m writing a novel. To uncover its bones, I lean on 17 deceptively simple prompts. These reveal if my ideas have enough muscle to carry the weight of a full story.

• Who/what does the hero care about in their ordinary world?

• What belief does the hero state that will be overturned at the end?

• What event rattles them hard enough to shatter their status quo?

• How do they stall, dodge, or debate the call to change?

• What does this new “upside-down” world look like and what immediate challenge awaits?

• Who steps in as the new friend, mentor, rival, or love interest?

• How does the hero either flounder or succeed in this new world?

• What would the hero NEVER think, say, or do… before it happens in this moment?

• How do they look in the mirror and confront the truth?

• What “door” must the hero open to glimpse resolution?

• What “bad guys” are working against the hero?

• How is their life worse off than the start of the story?

• What forgotten object, memory, or symbol sparks their courage to keep fighting?

• How does the hero finally grasp the story’s deeper theme?

• How do they put their plan into motion?

• How do they dig deep down when the original plan doesn’t work?

• At last, how has the hero changed?

Seventeen questions. Seventeen doors opening one by one, letting the light spill out from within, like finding hidden treasure.

When you ask them, the story will speak back.