How to Create Amazing Story Ideas Using Morphological Analysis

Master Fiction Writing

Okay, so don't let the title put you off. Morphological Analysis is neither as close to being as scary as it sounds nor as complicated to execute. What it can do is help you make interesting new connections between seemingly unrelated things. Those kinds of connections can result in stories no one saw coming. (I'm looking at you, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.)

Many moons ago, when I worked at Ford Motor Company, and later at what is now Warner Bros. Discovery, I ran innovation workshops and Morphological Analysis was one tool I used with my students. Of all the innovation tools I used, Morphological Analysis stuck with me because it's great for writers.

Back then, it was all about problem statements, functions, and morphologies, but what stood out to me were dimensions. Stories have dimensions. They have genre, character, style, structure, content and so on.

I've used the tool with clients as part of my Story Development package, but I thought it'd be useful to share it with you.

Here's the blog post that goes with this episode and it has diagrams so you can better visualise how it all fits together: https://www.thebookcoach.co/post/how-to-create-story-ideas-using-morphological-analysis