The Secret to Making Your Draft Feel Like a Real Story

Stuck turning plot into story? Learn practical strategies to draft immersive, emotionally-driven scenes that bring your novel to life.

When Plot Doesn’t Become Story: Why You Freeze During Drafting

You’ve got your story plan in front of you. You know what happens in the scene. But when it’s time to actually draft it? You freeze up.

Even if you’re using a strategic method like my Spell-Draft approach… it’s still hard to translate outline points into immersive story prose.

Why? Because turning plot into pages isn’t just about writing what happens. It’s about knowing what to focus on to bring the scene to life.

In this article, I’ll break down exactly what your brain needs to move from loose ideas—or even a detailed outline—to a first draft that actually feels like a story. So you can stop staring at the blinking cursor and start writing scenes that finally feel like the story you imagined.

Plot Isn’t the Same as Story

Here’s what you need to know, whether you’re working from an outline or planning as you go:

Plot is what happens. Story is why it matters.

And in this early stage when you’re first trying to get the words down, it’s easy to end up with a draft that reads like a summary. Or a script. Or a series of things that happen—without any deeper sense of why these things need to happen in your story.

That’s when you start to feel all that’s missing—not just some details or particulars you haven’t figured out yet. That’s expected at this stage. I mean the soul of the story you imagined.

This is where you’re going to risk being able to follow through on this novel-sized project.

Because it’s not enough to write what your character does—even in more detail now from the outline—no matter how awesome it is. All that stuff that happens only becomes something more when it matters to the characters experiencing it.

That stuff that happens enters the realm of story when it impacts and is shaped by what your characters want, what they believe, and what they’re struggling with specifically.

In other words, your story actually goes somewhere. It all has meaning.

That’s what creates the emotional undercurrent that makes readers care. And guess what—that’s also what’s going to help you see this novel through.

When you miss that, it’s not because you don’t have that for your story. It’s likely it’s just only in your head—you feel how poignant all these things are in your imagination.

But I’ve seen the absolute frustration firsthand from authors when they can’t figure out why it’s not getting to the page. And that’s when they want to give up.

It makes sense why this is so common because your plan, your outline, already captured the plot. It’s not bad to start with fleshing out what happens, but if this is what you focus on in your first, even very messy draft, you’re likely to get disenchanted with your story before you can see it through.

Because if it’s not grounded in the internal experience—the contradiction between what your character wants and what they actually need, how the events push and pull on all this—then the draft starts to feel hollow.

And all that interplay of tension and perspective and emotion is what actually brings a scene to life according to what we can extract from the brain science of what readers are looking for in stories.

It makes it move so you can keep your momentum too.

The 3 Keys to Reader Enchantment

I’ve summarized it all under my 3 Keys to Reader Enchantment:

• Expectations – Scenes build on one another with tension, escalation, and turning points. Even in a draft, that scaffolding helps your brain stay oriented and on track.
• Enlightenment – Readers crave meaning. So write every scene to reflect or reinforce the thematic struggle the protagonist is facing—even in subtle ways for more impact that you can feel too.
• Experience – And readers—or more importantly you—need to feel something. You need to be immersed in the character’s perspective, simulating their emotional reality in real time. And writing with those emotional stakes in mind gives you those little gleeful rewards that fuels your own desire to keep writing.

That’s what activates your Default Mode Network—your “daydreamer brain”—and connects memory, imagination, empathy, and emotional meaning.

Even in this stage, that’s what helps your story stick in your mind and on the page.

From Plan to Story Magic

Of course we’ll hone all of that in revision, and it’s not wrong to focus on what happens first. But that’s what your outline is for.

When it comes time to draft, your job isn’t just to describe the action.

Now is your chance to start telling the version of the story only you can see—the one that’s alive in your imagination, full of tension, emotion, and change. Even if the sentences are clunky. Even if you’re using placeholders and brackets and notes to yourself.

Because that’s what makes your draft feel like a story with the spark of your imagination’s immersive magic—even when you’re the only one reading it.

This draft isn’t just a more detailed plan that turns drafting into a slog.

And I know that’s not the reason you want to write. It’s because you love it—likely for all the same reasons you want readers to.

So if your draft is stalling out, or if the scenes on the page feel like a husk of the version you imagined… you’re not doing anything wrong.

You just need a new focus and a few practical strategies for how you translate plot into prose.

And that’s exactly what I’ll show you next.

Strategies to Actually Write the Scene

So how do you actually turn outline points into a real, immersive scene—especially in a Spell-Draft where it’s okay to be messy, but you still want that emotional momentum?

Let’s talk through a few strategies that make this easier and more effective—especially for drafting a science fiction or fantasy novel.

1. Let Character Arcs Shape the Scene

Before you expand on what happens in your story, check in with how your character needs to change by the end of the story and consider how the events propel or hinder that change.

Ask yourself:

How does this scene move my character forward—or backward—in their internal arc?

This is something I teach authors in my Enchant Your Readers book coaching program right from the scene-by-scene outline during the planning process.

It’s how, by the end of the story, we move a character to the truth they need to learn (whether or not they accept it) from their initial very corrupted version of that truth. This way, that interdependence between the external plot arc and internal character arc is a top consideration for every story decision.

But it will help you even during this less planning-focused stage to make the more micro decisions of how your character moves through your outlined events.

This means writing events from your character’s motivation perspective, not just writing your character through the event.

• If they’re chasing a goal, what deeper belief or fear is driving that goal?
• What contradiction is being exposed or challenged between what the plot is showing them about the truth they need to learn and what corrupted version they stubbornly cling to anyway?
• How will that make them react when they’re coming out of a place of fear and their corrupted truth?

Think about how those things will show up on the page.

This is the meaningful, emotional current—how your character cares and changes—that gives each scene weight and gives the whole story a building cohesion.

If your character wants to win a duel, it’s not just about the swordplay choreography—it’s about proving something to themselves or to someone else. It’s not just dialogue, it’s a battle of persuasion. That’s what makes the outcome matter.

When it matters to the character, it matters to the reader.

Because when we can understand the character, our mirror neurons do their thing, and we empathize. And that’s going to give you that extra spark of excitement for your story as the writer too.

You can do this by approaching each scene with a dynamic, emotional question:

“What does my character want in this moment—and what belief or fear related to their core, corrupted truth is getting in the way?”

2. Aim to Give Each Scene a Shift from Where It Started

This is a huge one. It’s something that will help you know what to do to make sure each scene you draft actually goes somewhere.

Instead of asking, what happens, try asking:

“What shifts in goals, beliefs, and emotions between the start and end of this scene?”

That gives you something to aim for as you write. It also keeps your story from stalling out in scenes where “stuff happens,” but nothing that truly matters actually changes.

This gives your scenes purpose and helps them work hard for your story.

You can also use that purpose to create a sense of greater progression from one scene to the next by diversifying how each scene shifts like a rollercoaster through the story.

Alternate the highs and lows enough so that you’re not hitting the exact same emotional beat in each scene over and over in slightly different ways. That way it doesn’t feel monotonous for you to write (or, as a later bonus, for a reader to read!).

True, every scene will be building up to your character’s ultimate transformation before the climax, so it’ll all hold together from the same thematic stuff. But it can be progressive and dynamic.

Make sure your protagonist experiences some little wins and losses. Infuse some growth, and maybe a bit of a backslide here and there. And even external impacts like new information and unexpected blows to what they knew or goals they thought they were achieving.

Sometimes the change is big—a betrayal, a realization, a moment of triumph. Other times, it’s subtle—a crack in the mask, a flicker of doubt, a new glimmer of hope.

But without some kind of external and emotional shift, the scene doesn’t move the story forward.

3. Don’t Just Show What Happens—Show How It’s Experienced

I’m constantly pulling writers back from trying too hard to write their stories like movies. They report on what happens and it’s all external showing. While it’s great to let readers draw their own conclusions from what you show, that often goes way too far.

Novels are a different medium without all the same elements, and we need to know how characters care and experience events, or we don’t have enough to understand and empathize with them on that neurological simulation level.

Novel drafting isn’t just external description—it’s internal immersion.

Even in a messy Spell-Draft, your goal is to simulate the emotional reality of the scene. Otherwise you’re probably still only outlining.

So to make sure you’re actually moving to the story drafting stage, that means filtering the moment through your point-of-view character’s perspective:

• What do they notice?
• What do they fear?
• What story are they telling themselves about what’s happening?

This taps into the same brain systems that make stories immersive—engaging memory, emotion, and sensory association.

It’s what turns a purely cinematic visual picture into a lived experience on the page for your mind and your future readers.

You don’t need perfect prose. You just need to stay close to your character’s internal lens.

Bonus Tip: Use a Premise to Stay Oriented

Here’s a quick bonus tip: If you’re someone who veers off your outline track or struggles to tell if a scene belongs, a guiding premise can help.

Your premise should capture the heart, genre, and type of story you’re telling in one or two sentences:

• Who is the character?
• What must they do and what do they want?
• What’s in their way?
• And why do they care?

In theory, having the “what they must do” and “what’s in their way” should tell you whether you should be sticking to an action-adventure styled story, or a quest, or mystery, or romance, or whatever.

If you’d like more guidance on crafting this guiding premise, find it in my free Novel Premise mini course.

Write your premise on a sticky note and put it right on your monitor or wherever you’re drafting. That way when drafting, you can always make decisions quickly without pulling yourself too far out of your daydreamer brain mode by glancing at your premise and asking:

“Does this scene serve that core story?”

If yes—carry on with the direction you were going with it.

If not—consider skipping it, or at least marking it with a note so you can reassess in revision.

Beware the “Kitchen Sink Draft”

That guiding premise might also help you with this word of warning for your draft: Beware the “Kitchen Sink Draft.”

It’s a common trap for speculative fiction authors to throw everything into their story plus the kitchen sink—cramming in every cool worldbuilding idea, side character, or subplot into one draft.

But everything you can include… doesn’t mean you should.

Your Spell-Draft is allowed to be messy, but let it be messy with intention.

I’ve seen too many authors get carried away with sections that ultimately didn’t belong in their story, and it confused their drafting process to the point that they couldn’t finish.

If a worldbuilding detail or backstory tangent doesn’t connect to your character’s arc or your premise—it can wait. Don’t get taken in by its allure and inadvertently derail your draft or bog it down because of it.

But there’s a caveat here.

You might be tempted by some idea because it’s something you’re driven to explore or something you need emotionally. Maybe you feel you need to include it in your story for readers to have enough context. And you’re right—but only partially.

You probably do need to write out this idea or context, or whatever, because you need it yourself. Or you need to better understand it for your story.

But your story doesn’t need it included in the draft. Perhaps it’s actually a part of a different story. Or it’s just worldbuilding or background context that you need so you can keep something straight or consistent in your draft. But neither you nor your future readers need that distraction in your story.

When in doubt? Save it in an “ideas” document for future stories.

Don’t get sidetracked or weigh down the one you’re trying to finish now.

Write to Make It Real—for You

Remember that in this first draft, you’re not writing to impress anyone. You’re writing to make your story real for you. To see the shape of it and know what you’re working with.

And that’s what keeping these guiding strategies in mind as you draft will help you do in practice.

Why It Still Gets Hard

But then why do so many writers still hit that block somewhere along the way?

That point at which it suddenly feels harder than ever to keep going? Or easier to jump to your shiny new story idea instead?

I’m sure it’s not because you don’t love your story, but maybe you are afraid you’ve ruined it, or that it’s never going to be any good. And it’s not always just about your mindset or how capable you are.

I’ll show you the difference between just writing a book—or part of one—once… and becoming the kind of writer who can finish drafts strong—again and again.

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Categories: : creativity, novel drafting, novel planning, revision