I look at this in my latest CFT post and it was a temptation to go straight into a history of stories.  Instead I focused on one - Ali Baba (partly because I'm reviewing the panto of it next week!) - but what is fascinating about stories like this which cross cultures and time is why they have.  My own feeling is that the characters and themes of the stories still resonate and they will continue to survive because of that.

The challenge for us as writers then is to ensure our own characters and themes resonate so readers will want to engage with them.  How can we do this?  By ensuring that our characters have virtues we aspire to and failures we can sympathise with!  No goody-goodies.  No villains who act in ways we can't understand.  There has to be a reason for them acting the way they are, even if the reason isn't a good one.  A reader has to be able to see where the character is coming from even if they think (rightly or wrongly) the character is going in totally the wrong direction!

As for themes, you can't beat the big ones of love, justice, redemption etc.  What matters is the take we bring to these themes.  My voice (and therefore my characters) will be unique to me, yours will be unique to you.  Mix things up.  Often the themes of love and redemption are used together and very powerfully too.  So write about what matters to you.  If justice is your raison d'etre, then how can you convey that in a story?  Do you have a character who fights passionately for justice or who has been a victim of injustice?  What makes your character special that they're going to stand out to, firstly, an editor and, secondly, readers?

Work out what you would like your story to convey.  Planning is vital, I find, to stop me going off at a tangent.  Focus.  Edit. Fine tune your story so you ensure it meets your theme.  Cut out anything that doesn't help the story with that objective.  And have fun doing it!

Do you outline? Should you outline? Is there one absolute way TO outline?

Firstly, I do outline and I have found it has saved me a lot of time editing and fixing problems in the characters/plot because I've worked out the main points first.  That to me is the best reason of all to outline.

Secondly, I think most writers should outline.  Working out your direction before you start off, especially on a major project, makes a great deal of sense.

Thirdly, no!  For a flash fiction piece, I once wrote one sentence as I knew my story idea could go in one of two directions and naturally I wanted to go with the strongest idea.  By writing down that sentence, I could then see what was the strongest idea and I went with it.  For short stories and novels, I obviously outline more.

I don't outline every single thing.  For characters, I look at what drives them (as that reveals their attitudes to life, to others etc).  For a story I want the beginning and end and a point in the middle which will usually prove to be the turning point.  I deliberately allow room for my imagination to kick in and have found when ideas come to me as I write the story, I can jot them down, look at my outline, work out where they'd fit in and away I go.

I will sometimes outline a setting to help me get a clear picture of it in my head.  For a setting I already know well, I may look at what might surprise me about it and see if I can be surprised by it.

Outlining is a tool.  How you make use of it is up to you but it is good to have that tool in your writers' toolbox.  Use it to serve your writing.  I've found it pays off.

My latest CFT post is Tried and Tested Writing Tips, which I hope you find useful.

How are your characters tried and tested?  Do they pass the tests you set them?  In almost any story you can think of, it is only when the characters are put right through the emotional wringer, do you see what they are capable of and where their limits are.  That is also where sidekick characters are useful - to help see your leads through to the bitter end and to get them through that "about to give it all up" moment.

Testing doesn't need to to be overly dramatic either.  It can be as simple as a character having their patience tested by a relative who is trying to goad them (deliberately or otherwise, it's not always consciously done).  Your character is very patient to begin with, then they become slightly less patient as time and the goading continues, and so on before they snap or do something they would not ordinarily have done.  Your character may be aware of this process so what do they do to try and fight it?  To not give in to that urge to snap no matter what the provocation?

Think about what would stress your characters out.  Think about their coping mechanisms.  What would happen if they failed or weren't available when needed?

Have fun finding out!

What counts as "normal" for the fictional world you've created?  How are those that are different to the "norm" treated?  How do your "being different" characters cope with that?  What pressures are there on the from family, friends, government etc?

Those who are different - are they doing this deliberately to rebel against the norm or is it cultural expectations that make them different? What reaction is there to their differences from those around them?

Within your world setting, are there different cultures, faiths etc and if so how do these get along (well or not at all?!)?  Explore the differences.  Explore how they would affect how your characters act and react. 

Hope you find some story ideas in answering those!