At the very least the successful part (the part that sticks for a while) seems to follow a very simple formula.
1) you create a story
2) you create an instrument
3) you go through iterative process to match your story with your instrument
4) once you find the match you share it with others
Obviously you could use an instrument that already exist and just come up with the story. Or you could you could also just build an instrument to support a story you like.
This way everything is a story. Atom is a story, gravity is a story, weak force is a story, quark is a story, electron is a story, DNA is a story and so forth.
A theoretical scientist is the one who makes believe. Practitioners are the ones who believe (and by their actions help the masses to believe too).