In a post on The Script Lab blog, Britton Perelman says considering the simple questions of who, what, when, where, and why can strengthen your writing. “When we were little, we learned to rattle off these five questions without a second thought, but the 5 Ws are essential questions whose answers are essential for gathering basic information,” she says.
Importantly, none of these questions can be answered with a simple yes or no. Each requires some thought and detail.
- Who? Your hero needs more than a first and last name. Explore your main and supporting characters until you know them inside and out.
- Where & When? These two questions can be combined because they both deal with setting, Perelman says. Focus on location and time period, and then dive into the details of specific scene settings, weather, times of day, and other environments. “In story development, these two questions are critical for figuring out the exact point at which to start your story,” she adds. “Where and when does the story begin? Why does it start at that point in the story and not somewhere else?”
- What? Use this question to develop your premise and your story goal. Perelman also phrases the query as “what’s up?”, as in, what’s up with your character? What are they doing? What do they want?
- Why? This question has a lot of angles and different answers. For character, why excavates their backstory and motivations. You might also ask why your story matters or why the audience should care.
Perelman suggests some exercises for using the five Ws to examine other works or your own writing.
