Hi guys, I know that there are a lot of people who don’t know how to develop their stories, so I said to myself that it would be good for everyone to put forward their idea for a story and for us to try to develop it together. It could also help people who are too subjective or who don’t have another vision of life. Reply if so. You are welcome
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Yes, help would be great! My story is called Locked Away. The premise is you’re a girl who had recently been kidnapped by a stranger. You’re scared but need to make rational decisions, because I want most / all the choices you make to have consequences. (As an example, whether or not you escape or are found depending on multiple factors.)
I’m having trouble envisioning the story as a whole. How does the story start off? Do I start with the main character already being kidnapped, or do I build up to that? How should I do such a thing? Why is the kidnapper connected to the main character? How can I keep the story interesting throughout all the episodes readers will be captured? (I’ve been thinking of incorporating 1-3 other characters who will also be held hostage too, but will need to figure out what their backstories / connections to the kidnapper is.) How do I refrain from it being cliche? Of course I have many more questions, but these are some that come to mind! 
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For how the story begins you can take a basic beginning like “She had to go to a party organized by a student from her high school” Then you can develop with a scene where she “gets drunk and falls asleep” or a scene where she “is alone in a dark place, a garage, a parking lot, a garden etc…” For that you will have to find reasons like “We pushed her to drink to show that she is cool”, “She was looking for calm down or someone etc…” (The fact that she drinks a lot or isolates herself should not be decisions because that is the driving force of the story, or at worst you can make decisions that converge on the same ending. For example she has to choose between drinking and showing that she’s cool or not drinking, if she drinks she gets kidnapped when she falls asleep, if she doesn’t drink she goes outside to have some peace and quiet and gets a chair on her head…no I’m kidding, she just gets kidnapped too.).
For the kidnapper is linked to the main character it really depends on what you want to do. For example, if you are looking to raise awareness among people, you can search for true and atrocious things (in human tra**icking , ra*e and etc…) of course without going into visual details if you do not want to see your story reported. Then if you prefer things a little less strong you can do something like, the kidnapper didn’t like the girl for something she had said or done, for family reasons, or even because he is a psychopath (like he was so in love with her but she didn’t pay attention to him, he flew into a fierce rage)
To make your story captivating there is a lot of advice that you can see from any location. For example you will see that you have to leave intrigues and etc. at the end of your chapters… If you want to add characters really work on them because they must have to use it. If they don’t it will take away the pleasure of reading your story. (There is a tutorial on Episode forum which shows how to create a real personality for your characters, if you are interested you can check)
To avoid it being a cliche there is also plenty of advice from reals writers but I, as a reader, would tell you to try to put yourself in your character’s place. Some writers just write for the sake of writing and it’s EXTREMELY cliche. You, try to feel the character in you. Get into character, be the character. If you understand their emotions you will have a less subjective opinion and it will be less cliche and perhaps also less “non-serious”. Then you can try to read lots of kidnapping stories to not only have a more objective opinion but also to better educate yourself on the subject and therefore better understand the issues, AND THEREFORE, be more authentic.
It’s mostly a question of you. People want to know what you have to offer them that is new and since we are all different and therefore all have special things to bring, they want to feel that difference in your stories. Bring your vision of the world but remain objective. 
Sorry for the length. I need to go into details. 
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