Just as you would never think of building a house without a plan, you should never build a story without first defining the crucial elements that will make it something others would want to read. All the stories in these three books—The Plight Before Christmas and Guided Missteps 1 & 2—used SCOOP IT UP to outline the key elements needed to make a story compelling and rewarding.

All captivating stories are about a character with a desperate need, who faces obstacles that put the outcome in doubt.

  • Engage Your Readers

Your words probably look great to you. Why else would you write them? But you are the one person who will not judge the effectiveness of your story. Your readers will reveal how great it is by the number of friends they tell.

Either you’re going to tell stories that spread, or you will become irrelevant.” — Seth Godin

  • Make Your Story Interesting with SCOOP

Before you begin, you need to determine the five elements that are necessary to engage your readers, so they will want to read your story from start to finish. These areas are most easily remembered with the acronym SCOOP:

Situation: The condition, often a problem, that gives the story a sense of purpose at the beginning
Character: The flawed person whose needs matter most
Objective: The need that our character is desperate to satisfy
Obstacles: Barriers that put the goal’s fulfillment in doubt
Plight: The great loss for failure, the great gain for success