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Post by K'Sennia Visitor on Jul 31, 2018 0:18:02 GMT
I feel like I should probably be more deliberate with my story structure building. I tend to pants a lot, but sometimes when I write short stories I use this simple structure I learned from YouTube to help me come up with my idea.
Step One - Infancy. Decide on something simple you want to write about.
(I want to write a story about a puppy.)
Step Two - Childhood. Create a problem that isn't currently being solved.
(My puppy lives at the dog pound and doesn't have a family to love him.)
Step Three - Adolescence. Come up with a reason why your main characters decide to solve their problem. And give them a plan to do so.
(My puppy learns that he will be killed in 3 days if he doesn't get adopted, so he decides to escape with a bunch of other puppies that are also on the kill list.)
Step Four - Adulthood. Have your main characters work out their plan and decide what happens because of it. Wrap up loose ends.
(My puppy and friends make a break for it and stumble upon an adoption day event. They pretend they're with the other animals, and my puppy ends up getting adopted and living happily ever after.)
I like this one because it's simple and only 4 steps. I prefer even numbers to odd ones, and the traditional 5 step heroes journey always confuses me. But when you break it down to 4 steps like this it's easier for me to understand it. It works well for me for short stories, but I probably need something longer and more detailed for novels.
Do you have any favorite story structures that you use? or do you weave it all in intuitively?
If you don't use a specific structure, how do you create your plots? Do you do it all in your head then just start writing?
Do you mindmap?
Do you outline?
Do you draw pictures?
Share your process in the replies below!
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Post by possiblyderanged on Jul 31, 2018 13:54:08 GMT
I don't really create my plot. Don't outline, don't really write much, if anything down. I get an idea about something (Stephen King is known for his "What if?"), some of the characters and somewhere to start, and just write. It tends to work itself out, though sometimes what I thought was the story changes. Sometimes a pleasant surprise, sometimes not. I've had a few short stories that didn't end up at all where I thought they were going. I tried outlining (because you can't write without outlining, don't you know), but it killed storytelling for me. I've tried various levels from jotting down a couple of main points to full on, detailed every chapter things, and I hate it. It's not going to work for me. I used to write down every single story idea I had. Pages and pages of them. Some just a note, some more detailed. Even that began to ruin the fun of having the ideas and just writing. Also, shiny! So, I hardly ever do that now. I had an entire Scrivener project for it, and now I seldom open it. My thinking is, I have no trouble with the idea part, it's the writing the damned thing I couldn't get a handle on. So now, I just write. I don't worry about the publishing stuff. How I'm going to sell it. Because I can't sell nothing. I have to have the product, or it's just an empty store. No one shops at an empty store. Right now, I'm in the process of writing what I used to joke was my "epic SF novel", which has happily turned into an epic.  115K words and still going. When this is done, I'll have to decide which of my many WIP projects to do next. I need to finish up and relauch an UF series that I started but dropped in 2012 when my mother got sick. But, maybe the muse will want something else. We'll see. My main focus is to finish the current book, getting myself trained into a more consistent writing schedule so I can produce faster. But, let's see. Actual process. Um. I'm writing at night now. Works better for me than mornings because I usually have obligations for other stuff during the day. And I always liked second shift. So I tend to start after dinner, anywhere from about 8:30 to 10:30 pm (we do tend to eat late, but I'm working on moving things up a bit so I can start at 7:30), bring up Scrivener, and start writing. I sometimes will read back a bit to "catch up", but if I'm writing every day I mostly don't need to. I edit as I go. I seem to have developed some form of dyslexia, and make more typos than I used to do, especially if I'm typing fast, so I'm always backspacing and fixing stuff. Some days are better than others. As I've said, I don't outline, so outside of a general idea about things I'm finding out what's going on as I write. I can type pretty fast, so some days I'm done in about 45 minutes. Sometimes a little faster, slower if the muse is being a pain. I tend to finish up at the end of a scene or a chapter, usually getting a bit over 1K words. I'm trying to get up to twice that, and would like to triple it, but I'm not stressing about it. Anyway, this is what works for me. Everyone has to find their own system, try a lot of things until you get there. I've been writing since I was about nine (really before then if you count the little scribbles and pictures I did once I learned how to write letters), studying writing for about that long -- oddly, there weren't any books about writing craft for the elementary school kid. So, about fifty years. The writing stuff I think I got (though I'm always learning to be better), just have to get into the routine and git 'er done. |
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cate
New Member
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Post by cate on Aug 2, 2018 5:12:38 GMT
My first post! I was a pantser for years, and I have a file cabinet full of half finished stories I've abandoned over those years. When I started self publishing, I knew I would have to do some kind of outline, or I'd run off on tangents again. Tangents don't help you meet editing deadlines. I've been making up elaborate stories in my head since I was ten, and story structure comes pretty naturally to me because of it. It all clicked when I read about story structure on Larry Brooks' blog - and I really got it when I read Rock Your Plot (excellent book for breaking down story structure). I've tried several types of outlines over the years, and what I use now is a bullet point outline with the basic story structure - inciting incident, first plot point, etc. It takes me 1-2 hours to create an outline, and the bullets make it easy to move things around as the story evolves. What I love about it is that I have the bare bones of my story, and where it's going, but I also have space for the surprises that make writing such fun for me. Caveat: I have been writing for a loooong time (since I was seven), and even now, most of my books are pretty much complete in my head when I get to the outline. For me, it's getting the story out of my head and down on paper. My process: I write 2500-5k a day, pretty much every day. I love writing, period, and I miss it if I go longer than a day without writing something. My books span between 40-65k, though the time travel romance series I wrote ran closer to 80k. I'm one of those book a month people, but I plan a series before I start the first book, so I know the series arc, each individual book's story arc, and have tidbits that lead to later books. I learned the hard way on this with my first series. My first drafts are pretty much my final draft. I add more detail when I edit, but I rarely have to do any kind of major overhaul, unless I really went off script and down the tangent rabbit hole. I usually catch myself before I go too far, but I have cut 30k from a book because I thought this great new direction would work so much better... So, that's it. It's taken a few years to get my process down, but it all works well for me now, clearing the way for me to write. Have to keep getting those stories out of my head.  |
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Post by prolificwriter on Aug 2, 2018 7:11:29 GMT
I’ve pantsed my way through sixteen novels. I only had a vague idea before starting each book, and then as I kept on writing, everything kind of fell into place. A few inconsistencies need to be fixed, and spelling and grammar of course, but I never have to make major changes. I may be pantsing, but I don’t let myself write drivel. That would be a waste of time.
The “writing is rewriting” thing some seem to be fond of sounds like torture to me! I don’t like writing (except maybe when I get into the flow). I much prefer having written.
I can write around 2k words an hour. The problem with me is that I have periods where I write a lot, and then I have long periods where I write nothing. It’s really putting a wrench in my “write a book a month” plan! That’s why I’m jealous of those who can outline or have the whole story in their head before even typing a word. I’ve tried outlining but there’s always a huge block there. I’m stuck in my current WIP. I have no idea what comes next so there’s no use in writing, because I don’t want to be editing huge chunks out later. But the best way to move forward is just to sit down and start writing until I can get into that flow state. I definitely need to work on my discipline.
(Oh, and if it wasn’t obvious, my username is who I want to be, not who I currently am!)
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115K words and still going. When this is done, I'll have to decide which of my many WIP projects to do next. I need to finish up and relauch an UF series that I started but dropped in 2012 when my mother got sick. But, maybe the muse will want something else. We'll see. My main focus is to finish the current book, getting myself trained into a more consistent writing schedule so I can produce faster.
