1. Rewrite The Ending

    Rewrite The Ending Member

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    How do I make progress with my WIP more faster?

    Discussion in 'General Writing' started by Rewrite The Ending, Dec 31, 2020.

    I have had this concept idea of my current WIP since about 2015. It is a urban fantasy story. What I have been doing is trying to plan and brainstorm. I wrote down a list of themes that I want to write about. I have worked on my worldbuidling, it went through some changes. My character ideas went through some changes. This year I ended up writimg 12k for NaNoWriMo for my WIP, but I stopped because I wanted to change something so I did not think I could continue anymore. I have been writing a bit by doing some character building.

    But I am still nowhere near actually writing that first draft. I still need important details such as character motivations, character arc, plot. I do know how my main character develops, just don't have the exact details how she will grow.

    I like to plan and brainstorm, having a better idea of what I am going to write. But it has been going slow. How can I make the planning progress go quicker?
     
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  2. Hammer

    Hammer Moderator Staff Supporter Contributor

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    Not sure if this is what you'll want to hear, but to make better progress, you have to write. Words. On the page.

    Might be easier for me to say because I am generally more of a pantser, but planning every last detail sounds like a good way of procrastinating. I am pretty certain that things will change as you write anyway - characters tend to take on their own personalities as they develop, so whatever you think they are before you start, they won't be by the end. Fine to have a plan, but it is there for guidance, not the foundation for a new religion, you can tweak it.

    I have been doing a bit of planning for the last week or so because there has been a lot of seasonal noise in my house and it hasn't been that easy to concentrate, but after a couple of hours of doing spider diagrams and writing character notes, I don't get the same feeling of progress as just one well-crafted paragraph (which I know will be edited anyway, however great I think it is to start with!)

    TLDR? Just write (c:
     
  3. MartinM

    MartinM Banned

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    @Rewrite The Ending

    I suffer exactly like you and haven’t found the right answer yet. @Hammer Just write is really spot on. One can always correct or delete things that are already written. Get it down on paper first. You ask about planning so if I may suggest something like this below. The idea is to give you a frame work to fill in, it doesn’t need to be completed in all parts. So, overtime you see it grow... Like @Hammer said its an easy lead into procrastinating when over planning.

    Google The Three Act structure. A start a middle and an end. Nothing complicated, but does your story have a start a middle and an end? If so write down what happens in general terms in each ACT and how the end of one ACT leads into the other.

    Three-act structure - Wikipedia

    Google the story structure arc. It looks like an upside-down V with five parts. Starts with the Exposition moving into Rising Action that builds into the stories Climax. From there into Falling Action and finally the Denouement. Does your general plot or story arc follow this pattern? If so write down briefly what happens in each of the five parts and how one part leads into the next.

    Story arc - Wikipedia

    The three Act structure would see the end of ACT I at the close of the Exposition and the start of the rising Action. ACT II would end half way down the Falling Action. Leaving ACT III with the closing action and Denouement. This now can give a base framework for the main events of the story. Next as you’ll have read, each ACT is not the same length within the story. For now, use 25-50-25 for the split. Most of your storying telling happens within ACT II.

    For me I use 8chapters over this structure. Exposition 1,2 that moves into ever increasing tension up 3,4 and 5. Climax at 6 with 7 concluding the closing action. The final chapter 8 the Denouement. ACT I is now 1 & 2, ACT II 3,4,5 and 6 with ACT III 7 & 8. From there I’d write a small piece covering what happens in each chapter and how it leads into the next.

    A novel in length am told is to target 100,000 words. This then gives you a target of 12,500 words per chapter. Each chapter needs a start middle and end, this helps you focus on just one individual area of the novel without distraction. You now have targets for each individual part of your story even if you’ve no idea what its currently going to contain. This allows me to write an ending without knowing part of the rising action and so on... Like a jigsaw I can add pieces when I see it without the need to have it all in place before starting to write. I can continue to brainstorm and make progress.

    Look I’m no expert and am sure loads of people will blow holes in this method. It does give me an overall view of things without getting lost in the woods. The trees kill enthusiasm for a project without seeing the bigger picture...

    Apologies for the length, was part Cathartic as well. Take it for what it is... a framework


    MartinM.
     
  4. N.Scott

    N.Scott Active Member

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    @Rewrite The Ending, please know that you're not alone. I used to and might still sturggle with these symptoms. And I'm sure there are a lot of members who feel the same. The following comments(what's the word I am looking for?) might not applied to everyone, but they might help with some members, so:

    While I agree with @Hammer that planning could be a way of procastinating, I don't think that's entirely your case. Please don't take this the wrong way, but it seems to me the reason behind your slow progress is that you're afraid. Are you? To answer this question, ask yourself if these experiences are what actually slow you down:
    a. I know what hurts my character the most, but I don't have a plot to present that hurt.
    b. I know my MC and their love interest belong with one another, but I have no idea why their relationship should be part of the story.
    c. I would write a scene about character A rescuing character B in an awkward situation, but then I would realize that's basically how character C and character D met. The same with character F, character G, H, T, and on and on.
    d. I would come up with lines of dialouges that I'm sure would make a robot(like a Dalek for example) cry into a ball only to realize later that for the plot to work these dialogue speakers could never even exist in the same UNIVERSE.
    If these are what stop you, then congratulations, because you have identified your problem: you are afraid. So what do you do then? My best advice is to learn to let go(which could be super hard at first), learn to write all the wrong things, learn to make mistakes in your writing life, and learn to understand that making those mistakes is not a waste of time. But what if I never get it right you might say. You know for most of the time that's just fear doing your talking, right? So, as @Hammer said, just write.

    Edit to add: I have never participated in NNWM before, but I heard it's more about momentum than anything. I think the key is not to fix things along the way, just focus on the word count. Hmm, maybe I should make it into my new year resolution.
     
    Last edited: Dec 31, 2020
  5. N.Scott

    N.Scott Active Member

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    This is how I work too!!! I heard people call it 'Placeholder Method' sometimes. It could be applied to a project as large as a book series and as small as a scene. It's been liberating.
     
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  6. MartinM

    MartinM Banned

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    @N.Scott

    Yep, have heard it called the ‘Placeholder Method’ also. It suits me when judging pacing or overlaying a character’s story progression. I plot or insert through a story arc where a character starts to change or shift in a view.

    While writing an age of sail story, I wrote the large sea battle scene chapter7 with full knowledge of what length it should be. It was complex detailed and descriptive, but it was a set piece. Chapters 6 & 8 were only brief notes at the time... It gives me a sense of scale.

    The word guide of 12,500 per chapter helps me with pacing. Even from a first draft the whole thing as a natural flow about it. The downside is becoming formulaic or predictable. I love LEE CHILD, but he must use this method, just read any of his books.

    For an amateur like me it helps, but like all things it does have its flaws

    MartinM.
     
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  7. Cephus

    Cephus Contributor Contributor

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    The only way to get anywhere is to put your butt in a chair and write. There are far too many writers who get trapped in an endless cycle of planning. Planning is easy. Writing is hard. You need to give yourself a deadline and after that date, you are only writing. It doesn't matter what happens, you are going to finish this book. You don't stop writing until you are done. It doesn't matter what you think you have to change, you fix that in revision. You just write. Finish the damn thing. Stop making excuses and write. Otherwise, you'll never get anywhere.
     
  8. Xoic

    Xoic Prognosticator of Arcana Ridiculosum Contributor Blogerator

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    I think people who get stuck in planning paralysis are afraid they need to have everything 100% figured out before they start writing, but that's not true. There comes a point where you need to start writing, and guess what—you won't have everything figured out yet. Some of it won't happen until the actual writing process itself.

    Just scribble up your rough draft and then you'll be able to clearly see what needs fixing. There's no other way. Then you go to work and fix it. Just think of it as planning after the fact.
     
  9. Laurin Kelly

    Laurin Kelly Contributor Contributor

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    I think I'm confused - if you wrote 12K of your WIP, it seems like you've at least started your first draft. Or did you mean you're nowhere near finishing your first draft?

    Regardless, I guess, I have to agree with the advice above. You have to just keep writing. Even if you don't have all the pieces or details, even if it seems like it's awful, the only way to complete a first draft is to stop thinking and start doing. There are plenty of times I don't know what's coming next until I start writing, and a line or piece of dialog will spark an idea, almost like the characters are telling me where they need the story to go.

    You also might want to think about writing something else, maybe a short story? I know that 2020 has been an awful year for me writing-wise - I've made very little progress on either of the two WIPs that I gave going. I have, however, written a handful of fluffy one-shot fanfics. For me it's kind of a low stakes way to keep being creative and stay in the habit of writing something.
     
  10. Vandor76

    Vandor76 Senior Member

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  11. Xoic

    Xoic Prognosticator of Arcana Ridiculosum Contributor Blogerator

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    ^^ I'm not sure offering more methods of planning will help OP break their addiction to planning... o_O :p
     
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  12. Thomas Larmore

    Thomas Larmore Senior Member

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    Just write, dammit.
     
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  13. CrimsonAngel

    CrimsonAngel Banned

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    Write. That is all.
     
  14. Vandor76

    Vandor76 Senior Member

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    OP's planning sounds to be a badly organized worldbuilding process. Snowflake is a plot planning method and it would be a great help with that part.
     
  15. Rewrite The Ending

    Rewrite The Ending Member

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    Thanks for all the answers.

    I suppose the best thing to do is to just write.

    That 12k draft was not a finished product. There was not a real plot yet, just a lot of telling character's thoughts and feelings and not showing. Somehing to work on, I know I am not good with visual details.

    I have been writing a bit by character building, so that is something.
     
  16. Xoic

    Xoic Prognosticator of Arcana Ridiculosum Contributor Blogerator

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    That's what a first draft usually is. Now you have something concrete, you can see what's working and what isn't, and what you need to develop or revise. You should be able to see which parts need to be changed to show rather than tell, start to work those up, and start to develop a plot.

    Also, it's good that you've written a lot without worrying about plot, because you've become familiar with your characters and their world. I always like to do this before launching on a story. I'll write a bunch of stuff that just happens in their lives, how they interact, figure out what kind of people they are, how I'm going to portray the story world. It's development. I feel like if I don't do a bunch of this I'm going in totally cold and hoping to figure it all out on the fly while also working out the details of the story, and that's too big of a juggling act to do all at the same time.
     
    Last edited: Jan 1, 2021
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