Wow, what a question! I hate to sound cheesy, but my stories really do plan themselves. Sometimes I'll have an idea and wonder, "could this lead to a story?" Then I usually go for a long walk, thinking if there was a story about my idea, how would it go? If the idea's an isolated one, then I'd find my mind drifting onto other things as I walked (usually football) and I'd know that there probably wasn't much of a story to tell. If, however, the idea is a fascinating one, then the story would metaphorically snowball inside my head. Characters would just pop up from nowhere, for no other reason than they would fit perfectly into the story. I wouldn't even have to think of transitional events or conflicts... the story would just be so obvious that it would plan itself. And that's when I know I've had a good idea! lol
This. What i try to do (very, very minimal though) is have a checkpoint system. Things i may like to do. No matter where my mind takes me, i try to make sure at certain times these check points have been passed. Anything is allowed to go between them. Anything at all. I don't bother to much though. That's why there is a second, third draft. To fix what i want. Add, subtract, split and so fourth. I never plan. i prefer to sit down and type as the mind flows. Planning limits that, for me.
Same as most of the above. I usually come up with a small idea: a place, or a situation; and then just start daydreaming and see where it takes me. Once I have a basic idea of where I want to go with it I write down a small note and keep it there until I'm ready to start working on it. That can take awhile, because i have about eighteen short story ideas that I have yet to get to, and I usually come up with a few new ideas in the time it takes to write a full story. So I usually have no shortage of projects, even if doing a few simultaneously.
how to plan well for a plot? usually when i write, i dont plan at all, but this usually gets me a short story, with a plot thats not so strong. any good ideas on how to plan for a good plot? it seems to me that to have a detailed, effective plot a great deal of knowledge is needed for the subject within your writing! any ways to over come this? or do i just need to do serious research?
When I plan my story, I normally do the Snowflake Method. I first give a one line summary of what I want my story to be, and then I add three or more disasters the protagonist has to face, then I would write the characters' descriptions; what they want, what keeps them from wanting it, and what they learn out of another character or disaster. Next I would write a one-page storyline of each character, and then at the end, I would put the story lines together. Lastly, I would Microsoft Excel to analyze the story, assigning them chapters. My first draft for the novel is now ready to be written from the design document. That's what I do with Randy's Snowflake Method. It worked, but sometimes it doesn't.
I don't plan, but I do keep in mind a list of things I want to happen, because my stories usually come from an image or idea, and I build towards it - sometimes for quite some way. I'm 30,000 words into one novel and still haven't reached the key idea that inspired me because it's taking so long to get the characters there. I usually just write, starting with an opening scene. Takes me sometimes months to get an opening scene down how I like it, sometimes it comes to me right away and I can get it down then sit for months waiting for the next part. I very very rarely look at my opening, then stat jotting down my list of stuff that needs to happen immediately after. I just carry around the story with me for a long time thinking, "Well, what could happen?" and eventually I like one possibility enough that I'm tempted to go back and start a second scene. And once I do that I can keep going for ages and ages. I plot about 3-4 scenes in advance, and save overall plot arcs in my head, because it feels a bit spoilerific to actually physically write down "Then Frodo drops the Ring in the mountain of fire..." when I know that unless I want to write an extremely unsatisfying story, that has to happen. Been writing romances lately, which is ridiculously easy because you just look at your cast in the pairs they start out in, mentally shuffle them, and then write the scenes that would cause such a shuffle.
Short Stories Starting on a short story I try to come up with a captivating first sentence. I'll then follow a train of thought with little to no alteration (except for grammar), only pausing to think towards the end. Reading the story a couple of times will help me come up with a fitting way to end it. Poetry Determine the main theme -> write down drafts of stanzas as they come to your mind. I tend to avoid rhyming, as I prefer free verse. The real work begins once I'm content with the number of stanzas. I get a general feel for the flow and positioning of the piece. After that it's all about grinding it to shape, which can take anywhere from an hour to infinity. Novel This is a new endeavor for me, as I've just begun my first novel. I can't actually remember when or how I came up with the main concept for my story. Main concept in the way that I consider it to be the driving force behind the whole novel. Though depending on the writing a reader might never even know it was there. Basically I'm in the process of creating a warm and cozy bed for the story to crawl into once it's ready.
Short stories are the easiest to do, usually I take an idea and a few characters and I play them in my head as if they were a movie or a TV series. I then transfer that to paper without any proper planning. Scripts are difficult to do. First of all you need to define the time that an episode or feature film will last for. I've mainly done episodal series' so I've used sixty pages for sixty minutes (the general rule is that 1 page equals 1 minute worth of footage). I like to define the characters before I begin, I'll note down the names, age and a few interesting points. I'll also do a synopsis which will briefly state what the main storyline will be and what will happen to the characters. I'll take the synopsis and create an episode guide, trying to stick as close to it as I can. After all of that work I'll write the episode's. Sometimes I'll hit the target and most of the time I'll either go over or below it. If I go over it then I'll have to edit and cut some stuff out, but most of the time I do fall short of the set page limit's. This means I will have to go back to my characters and think about some interesting points that could plug the gap. I originally plunged head first into writing my Novel. This did not work out as I did not have enough content to make a novella never mind a novel. I took some time to expand the story from a basic 5,000 word story to grand epic that could easily fill a novel or three. I again plunged head first into writing it again. This time the problem was that my characters emotional states were bouncing all over the place, one minute they were scared witless and the next they were charging into battle. I got to about 30,000 words and I put that to one side whilst I worked on something else. I later came back to it because I needed to finish it, I took the ideas that I had used for the scripts and I defined the characters, the synopsis and the chapter guide. I've now started to re-write it (again) and I'm confident that I am going to finish it, and that is all down to the fact that I'm not keeping a thousand ideas in my head and I can focus on writing the character's to the set limits that I have defined. Sorry if that's a little bit long winded, but I thought the best way to show that proper planning is best is to talk about my experiences and the results that poor planning brought about.
i don't usually write out a plan, I just let things happen, but I usually plan out big events in my mind without trying much.
I do most of my planning mentally, and while I usually have an idea of my beginning, end, and some important scenes in the middle, sometimes there are scenes in between those that I don't plan ahead of time.
I use an Author's Template, something I invented for myself. It goes like this: Title: Write your title or working title here. Author: My name goes here. Genre: What kind of story am I telling? Adventure? Drama? Romance? Premise: A short paragraph summarizing the story, written kind of in the style of a back-cover synopsis. Summarize Chapters: Here, I basically write a synopsis of each individual chapter; what happens in it, what huge events take place, what characters are featured, etc. Yes, I know this can backfire, as sometimes when I actually am writing the darned thing, the story goes in directions I didn't anticipate, but at least outlining the chapters helps give me an idea of what to do next. Characters: I make a list of each major character in the story, with a paragraph describing them in a nutshell, so that I know who my players are. I write down their appearance, quirks, personality, etc.
Pretty much that. But possibly not as orderly, as I tend to jot things down left, right & centre - on paper or whatever I have on hand.
I'm not a planner, but a problem-solver. I come up with lots of interesting scenes over time, and then I piece them together. Like "how do he get from scene A to scene B?" or "what happened to make him be at place C?". That's the part I love to do! I also base story on the character and his/her decisions, so I'm usually very lousy on coming up with short stories. Planning the characters to fit the story is the worst thing I know, and I can only work the other way round. The characters always ends up too superficial otherwise. It's really interesting to read all the ways people come up with stories!
hi soxfan! I don't really plan my novels, short stories etc etc.. i just write as it comes to me. but a fairly simple to quickly outline it is just to jot down a list of basic events that you would like to happen and work them into the story. Hope it helps
I too am a new writer- I'm currently working on my first novel and find that the beginning and planning (or not to plan) is difficult. I find my imagination running away with my pen- but in a million different directions. How do you stay on track?
My biggest project ever started out as a short Twilight parody. I like to keep an outline of the story, often very detailed. I'll add dialog and everything, and one chapter outline can be about 3-4 word pages long. I do this so that even when I lose inspiration, I can still write. If I don't do this I just stop. If I'm stuck while writing my outline, I will actually write the scene and see if I can continue it, which is kind of unusual. Another thing I do when I'm stuck is write background stories for my characters. That way I get ideas and learn more about my characters.
I plan my stories like so: *Theme* which informs *Character* (all characters explore the theme - we do this subsconciously anyway.) Character informs, or drives the *Plot* *Feedback* *Rewrites* *Feedback* *Rewrites* *Rewrites* *Submission* Ideally... using lots of spider diagrams, and research.
