The 5 W Questions Method: Who, What, When, Where, & Why

M.L. Bull
6 days ago
4 min read

Updated: 4 minutes ago

One of my all-time favorite board games to play is Clue. You know, the one with the colorful suspects where players have to identify the killer, the weapon, and the room where the murder or crime scene took place. At the start of the game, one player places three random playing cards into a confidential envelope and then everyone has to guess whodunit. The concept of this board game is exactly what the five W questions entails. The five W questions are most commonly used for mystery and thriller-themed stories. This was the way British American author Agatha Christie outlined many of her mystery novels, but the five W questions are also important for other genres too. This is because they actually relate to crucial story elements and can help writers to plot their short stories and novels. Let's go over the five W questions, which story elements they can identify, and how using these vital questions can make it easier for writers to outline mysteries and other books.

A detective man holding a magnifying glass

WATCH THE EPISODE

See episode 27 of season 2 of my Journey of a Christian Writer series, The 5 W Questions Method or continue reading the blog post below.

HOW THE 5 W QUESTIONS RELATE TO CRUCIAL STORY ELEMENTS

The five W questions include who, what, when, where, and why.

So, how do they relate to crucial story elements?

Well, let's go over each of the questions separately.

WHO - CHARACTERS

For the first question, this answers who the characters are within a story or novel. For example, who are the main characters or protagonists, antagonists, supporting characters, and minor characters. It also answers who is the narrator or viewpoint character or the one telling the story of the narrative. Once, this question is complete, writers can move on to the next story question of what.

WHAT - GOALS, WANTS, NEEDS, & CONFLICT

A table of weapons including a candlestick, a pistol, a rope, and a knife

For the second question, this answers what the characters' wants, needs, or the goals they're trying to accomplish in the story. For example, maybe a character wants to obtain a job promotion, or perhaps a character has a serious illness and need of an organ donation. This question also can help identify what the conflict, complications, or obstacles are that the characters must face during their story journey and what's at stake for the characters. From here, writers can move to the third question of when.

WHEN - TIME & DATE

For the third question, this answers when the story takes place. This also includes the scenes of the story. Time is vital when it comes to storylines but not always noted by writers when plotting their stories. When setting up your stories, take it into consideration and ask yourself additional questions when writing scenes. For example, is it morning, noon, or night? And is it spring, summer, fall, or winter? Perhaps there's a passage of time within the storyline. This question can also help establish the years, months, weeks, or days recorded on different scenes and during the storyline. After this, writers can go on to the fourth question of where.

💡Tip: BUILD A TIMELINE. Writers can outline a listed timeline to keep them on track and organize the chapters or scenes of their stories. Afterward, they can label their chapters with italicized dates based on the timeline they created in the opening of their chapters or after scene breaks to notify readers of any flashbacks in the storyline.

WHERE - PLACE, LOCATION, & SETTINGS

For the fourth question, this answers where the story takes place, which includes both the main location and the sub locations where the scenes occur. For example, maybe the main location is in Manhattan, New York, but a sub location is in a small coffee shop within the city. Consider also the differences between interior and exterior settings and subtle details. Afterward, writers can identify information for the last question of why to fill-in-the blanks of characters, settings, and the narrative.

WHY - THEME, CHARACTER MOTIVATION, THEMATIC SIGNIFICANCE, ETC.

Finally, the fifth question answers why the story is written, why it makes sense for readers, why your characters do what they do, and other purposeful concepts and literary devices within the story, such as symbolism and why certain props are used to represent deeper meanings. All of these things allow writers to flesh out their narrative to create a more meaningful and cohesive story or book as a whole. Hence, this questions actually works as the backbone to all the previous four questions. So, it may be best to start with this one first.

HOW USING THE 5 W QUESTIONS HELP TO PLOT MYSTERIES

The 5 W questions above can be used to help writers plot their stories, but especially crime mysteries or thrillers. As mentioned before, who identifies the cast of characters for stories in general and can be used to set up the protagonists, supporting characters, and the antagonists or suspects in a mystery. What identifies the goals, purposes, red herrings, plot twists, and complications during the storyline, as well as the weapon or weapons the suspect uses to commit the crime. When identifies the time the crime scene took place, as well as when the story and other scenes that make up the plot take place. Where identifies the main and sub locations of mystery stories and also where the crime occurs in the story. And finally, why identifies themes, thematic significance, character motivations, and specifically the motives behind why potential suspects could've committed the crime and why the murderer him or herself actually did it in the story. This is the similar process Agatha Christie used as discussed by her grandson Mathew in the video below.

THE ESSENCE OF AGATHA CHRISTIE: WRITING

CLOSING REMARKS:

If writers have issues plotting their short stories or novels or weaving suspenseful concepts within their book, it can be a good alternative to use the five W questions method who, what, when, where, and why to ensure they avoid plot holes and create a thorough and complete story. Try applying and using these questions for your stories or novels. They may be what helps get your creative juices flowing to write your next intriguing writing project. For more writing videos or tutorials, subscribe to my writing channel Journey of a Christian Writer series. Okay, that's it for this post. If you liked it, please, give it a (heart❤️), take part in the poll 🤔, and share your thoughts or comments 💬 below.)

Happy Writing! 😊✍🏽💻

🤔Hey, writers, have you used the 5 W Questions Method to plot a story or novel before?