I have so many ideas for stories, but i dont know how to plan, do i plan each chapter? I think i rush into it too much as i dont like planning then end up getting stuck so i know i need to plan. what order do you plan in? n how much detail do you plan in? Thanks
For me my first draft is my plan - it is pretty much a throwaway draft once I have the story down then I can plan how to do it. Often find it goes down avenues I couldn't have planned for. Because my first draft is disposable it allows me to write rubbish until i come up with the next plan for the story etc sometimes the rubbish works out well most won't be in the rewrite. For example have just written a scene where my MC is crying out for his missing partner. Planned to send his new love interest in to care for him - however my MC just opened his eyes and saw his sister Ivory - now I am wondering what on earth I am going to do with Ivory lol She sensed his pain and came
Well, I like to have a general sense of what a chapter is going to include so what I do is: 1. Before I start the chapter I think of the main plot and the sub-plots in my novel 2. Then I make bullet points of the general things that I want to happen in that chapter (for example: - Will kisses Tara - Cee loses the duel against her ex-best friend. etc etc) 3. Then I write a rough draft and see how it turns out. 4. Then I decide either to keep what I have and edit that or change some things and then edit. But that's just the way I plan. Like I know when I first started my novel, i have at least 5 pages of research that I did, ideas from my stories and I have bullet points for the prologue and the first chapter.
no problem! I know starting a novel can be difficult and stressful! I'm still dealing with it haha! But getting advice from people always helps move it along!
Often when I get a sudden idea I will be out and about somewhere and have no access to paper or my laptop so I make a note on my phone. Then I snowball the idea around in my head and write down everything in a chaotic whirlwind of notes. That's step one After that I sort the notes into order, time, names, settings, relevance etc... Then I start to draft , edit, draft, edit back and forth till I have a rough idea of what I want to do then I build on it from there. I find you can't rush your planning just like you can't rush the actual story. I sometimes think of it like rolling pastry back and forth till you have it just right, but maybe that's just me.
I'm under the belief that excessive planning can kill a story. I start a story knowing only the premise and few main points, i.e.-characters, setting, and plot. Sometimes even then with some fluidity. Good writing tends to be spontaneous. Don't write the story, listen to it and then record it. Your instincts will know what needs to happen. As an example: You may plan to have character B murdered by character A halfway through the story. Then as you go along, you realize that can't happen because character B has developed a certain relationship with character C that you sense will be of vital importance in the resolving of the main conflict.
I do not like to plan because I am always overflowing with ideas that may or may not fit into the story. Still, I do not like to walk without direction so I keep planning to a minimal. I plan key points throughout the story. Some of my key points have a specific time frame while others stay up in the air until I feel it is the right time to bring them in. This way, I can keep my writing flexible in case of sudden change while maintaining the overall plot with the fixed key points.
most seasoned writers [myself included] just start writing and when/if they get to a point where some planning is needed, to keep from getting time frame and subplots tangled up, they do it then...
