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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/26
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Rather than focusing on a single point as if you are writing an essay, you may want to focus on an ethos you want to create.

View your story as **world-building** (this is something you will find Orson Scott Card, author of _Ender's Game_ reference frequently). The world you are building will reward certain behaviors by your characters and punish others. The world you are building may have a certain "bent," to it.

As an example, the in Ellison's _The Invisible Man_, all sorts of random things happen to the protagonist that end up making his life more complicated. The result is a story that leaves the reader feeling as if the entire world of the story was meaningless and nihilistic. Rather than hitting the reader over the head with nihilism, Ellison _showed_ the reader a nihilistic world.

It is also possible to construct an absolutely wonderful story that does not try to move the reader towards seeing the world in a different way. In writing these stories the author is usually focused on showing the reader a specific character in all of his or her loves, wants, needs, desires, dreams, and fears. These characters don't necessarily have to drive towards a point in their existence in the story. They have to _be themselves_.

You can combine both of the above, or use just one for a successful story. In many ways Victorian novels and good science fiction or fantasty epitomize world-building, while modern short stories such as _Olive Kitteridge_ move towards the opposite end of the spectrum.

And then again, you can write a plot-driven work of pure action fiction - it works for some writers.

Original score: 14