Now, to whatever extent one plans, there are many stages - whether on paper or in the mind. I want to know what some other people have as their favourites. I personally love the character stages, planning their appearances and traits and their behaviour. A friend of mine loves planning the setting in which his novel is set. What's yours?
Everything! Planning is fun, almost as fun as finishing. From writing random drafts and profiles to brainstorming scenes and ideas, every part of planning is exciting because I never know what I will think of next.
I do love every part, as you say, it is a journey what is your least favourite part then? If you had to choose?
Best part, hmmm. Not sure I could class it as planning but I do write down a lot of questions for myself, why did she do ....? why did he go ....? who was affected when ...? and so on. The best part (which usually happens when I'm doing something mundane like cooking or I'm in the shower) is when my brain finally gives me the answer. Worst part is when I start a new section with a blank page and the word count is 15
See, I do find it a chore sometimes but I get the whole character from the name - so sometimes I enjoy it
I know! That word count smashes your hopes for a productive hour. I like the question idea, I have never done that before though.
It gives me a chance to explore what's happening from all angles and helps to uncover plot holes. Some questions take longer to answer than others but my second book actually started from just one question. The draft now stands at just over 114 thousand words. I still have questions but one by one, answers are coming forward.
A lot of times I don't see much use for names... they very little for the character, for me they're never planning, an afterthought when they end up being present. My favourite stages vary with the easy with which it happens: When everything seems to come together in you mind in a second* everything feels great. When you've been slaving over the ideia trying to figure out how to get a 3rd act that works, and the story seems to become worst with every passing moment... everything feels not great. *although the truth is that your subconscient had been working on it for a while
My favorite part of planning is when I finally think of a great way to get from point A to B. And not only does it make sense, it opens up something wonderful for another part of the story I hadn't even planned. It feels like I just laid down a piece of machinery that makes everything turn together.
I cannot proceed with a character until I have a name. It is a mental block. One of the first things that I ever do before starting any story is coming up with a title. I may let myself change the names later if I think up of a better one, but I have to have a satisfying name.
Good time to ask the question, as I am in the planning stage of my next project right now. Actually, it is resurrecting an old project, and so I already know the elements of the story, and my planning at this point is focused on culling the parts of the old project I wish to retain. A lot of what I originally wrote didn't really work and can be easily dropped. The core conflicts will remain, for the most part, but will change in flavor. There are some specific areas I need to research, and, unfortunately, there aren't lot of books on the subject I'm exploring so I'm doing a lot of outside-the-box thinking. Since my current project is currently in the hands of some excellent beta-readers, this is also a great way to utilize pent-up energy. While the core conflicts of the old project remain, a lot of the circumstances surrounding them will change. A lot of my research is also reality-checking those circumstances and fleshing them out. A fresh, crisp, new 5-subject notebook (with pocket separators) stands ready. The mc, I already know, but nearly all of the other characters will have to be remodeled, and I am actually starting from scratch with them. As is my usual practice, a character starts out as a blank in the story with one or two (non-physical) identifying characteristics, and then grows as the story grows. Since I am rewriting from the start, not copying and pasting any of the previously written material, this should go almost as if there had never been a previous project. In answer to the OP's question, I don't have a favorite part of the planning. Initial idea, research, plot development, character development - it's all of a piece to me. I guess my least favorite chore is coming up with a working title, which I have found I need as a point of reference. In my current project, the working title of Rosa very quickly morphed into the title I have since kept, Rosa's Secret. This new project's working title is Collins.
I've been having a lot of fun with dialogue lately. Making characters say whatever you want, adding flavor to the story, and making it realistic It's both challenging and lately a lot of fun. ~Chad Lutzke
I have to say... my favorite part is coming up with the plot. Like.. Just having a mild idea of what you want to do then fleshing out how it starts, what the twists are, how it'll end. I always end up surprising myself in some way. "Holy cow, that's the best idea ever!" is something I say regularly. lol Creating characters is always pretty easy to me. As soon as I come up with an idea, the character is visible in my head. I know exactly what they look like and what their personality will be (of course, that changes as I get more into the story). I spend a lot of time coming up with names for the characters, but I neither like that process nor hate it. My least favorite would definitely have to be the first draft... I read a quote recently that said, "While writing my first draft, I just have to keep reminding myself that I'm filling a box full of sand so I can later build castles." And that helped me out tremendously. Because I used to be such a perfectionist with my first draft and it would take ages. Now, I have no creativity when writing my first draft. lol I just write the scenes with little to no emotion behind it and get it on paper to be rewritten later. But it still feels like such a chore sometimes, and because it's just a shell, it's not very interesting yet. And I get in the internal struggle of, "Am I even a good writer? Am I wasting my time?" Ugh. lol It'll all pay off some day, I'm sure.
I'm sure it will! And I love that line about the sandcastle and I enjoy characters too, but sometimes they just come to me like you said.
My favourite part is the very beginning. Like the first 30 minutes to the first hour. When you have that inspiration still fresh and all these ideas are hitting you and you're writing down those amazing details that have just come to you.
I love planning up until the point when I start writing because the ideas just keep coming and I'm so inspired to get the story down but generally I love planning. Personally the main time I dislike planning is when I come to a point in the story where I need to plan stuff out and I really want to write but I have to sit around forcing myself to plan rather than letting the ideas evolve organically.
Interesting question. As I'm not a huge planner I can only say my favorite part of the writing process is managing to discover, after trying a few paragraphs, how I'm going to tell the story. Getting that tone right. For me that's like the breathing-life-into-it moment. I know I have a waaaays to go but it's all starting.
My favorite stage of planning is the insight stage--when all the pieces suddenly fall into place. One minute, a story sequence means nothing, and the next--it is a story. It is an epic. It matters, it matters to you and you start to believe it will matter to others too.
The initial idea, which could be just a character idea or a story premise. At that point, all avenues are open and it can go in any direction at all.
