@mercy-run @rehlia @poubelle-squelette @to-find-your-place @tyranttortoise
I need to start planning out my stories before I write them so I don’t keep getting stuck with plot holes and dead ends, but the problem is I have no idea how to plan a story in a way that works for me. I was wondering if you guys would possibly help me by giving me how you plan out your stories so I can see how others do it and find a way that works for me.
Anyone who writes that I haven’t tagged is welcome to answer too, I’m really struggling with this and need all the help I can get!
hi!! hey!! hello!! spooks here to give a pal some advice on writing
i wanna start out with a disclaimer bc this is pretty important but please note that the way someone else plans a story may not necessarily work well for you. i’ve learned this especially over the years, as i’ve had to try out a variety of different planning styles before settling on the one i have now!
my planning process is usually complex and messy to most people, but i’ll try to condense it for the sake of being coherent. it mostly consists of this:
* setting
* characters
* plot outline
i’ll be explaining these sections separately because there are several ways i go about them, depending on the story. another note: planning is flexible, depending on what you’re writing. one structure may not work for one story but will fit for another and vice versa. a lot of this just depends on the situation, really.
with setting, i usually break it up with world-building and rules that will apply to the story itself. it’s helpful, especially in a fantasy setting (which is almost exclusively what i write), to have an idea as to what your world is like and how it works. this can range from the landscape, the people that live in the world, what civilization is like, what languages there are, if there are any religions, any significant landmarks that pertain to the story, etc. etc. and whereas most people say its better to plan literally everything there is that goes into world-building, i usually just stick to what’s relevant to the plot–but, if you don’t know what the plot is like, it helps to brainstorm some things that would apply to your world.
another thing ive started doing while planning the setting is making a map. depending on the book, this ranges from a small map to several big maps. though i draw out the geography and the like, i only mark up what is relevant to the story–because again, anything that doesn’t come up in the story isn’t a main focus.
getting a decent idea of what setting you’ll have helps you understand what your characters will be going through, where they will travel, what they believe in, what made them who they are, etc. etc. so planning your setting can be a huge help in constructing everything else about your story.
characters are a bit difficult for me to explain, because i plan characters in my head. i very rarely write down much when it comes to characters anymore, because i can keep things straight pretty well in my head. however, i can say that some essentials to plan when it comes to characters would be the following:
* personality
* their past
* their impact on the story/their role in the story
* relations with other characters (this one is more or less an additional place to plan, though, depending on the story)
i think these areas personally are the most important, as it helps make the character memorable. what kind of person are they? what are their flaws? what makes them distinct from the rest of the characters? do they have a minor or major role in the story? what is their impact on the story? answering these questions (and more; there’s always more when it comes to character building) will help fleshen out your characters and map out some basic points to hit on with the plot.
if you don’t have any clue what the plot will be like at this point in time, it may help to work extensively on the characters and see what you can make out of the facts you’ve laid out for them. for example, if you have a few characters that share an interest in, say, mythical creatures, then you can make a story that involves hunting down monsters or investigating the supernatural. knowing who your characters are and making sure they are realistic and relatable will strengthen your story and can help further along the plot.
finally, we have the plot outline. again, i break this section into parts, as breaking things up makes them less intimidating for me and more doable. i tend to break the plot outline into several parts:
* brainstorming
* rough draft general outline
* revised general outline
* chapter outlines
before i begin explaining these, i have to say that more often then not, this part of my writing process comes up constantly. unlike with characters and setting, which for the most part is untouched after initially being touched upon, the outline portion of my writing changes constantly, and is often revised the more i write in order to fit changes i’ve made in the story itself. anything is opt to change, making this part of my process extremely flexible, and was actually a big reason why i didn’t plan my stories until about a year or two ago. it was too much of a hassle to keep revising my outlines a thousand times because things just didn’t line up with what i originally thought was going to happen.
brainstorming is exactly what it sounds like--writing down ideas and random thoughts on a story and putting it down on paper. there are plenty of exercises for this, but my favorite is just writing random words and making something (like a character trait or an event/action) out of those words. don’t be afraid to go nuts with this–have as much fun as you want and let your imagination run wild! sometimes that spawns the best ideas.
the rough draft for the general outline is a basic outline of my story. i usually summarize the story in a paragraph or two, and list some basic points that i know are going to happen or that are vital to the storyline. it’s really bare-bones (hahaha) but it helps me write a more in-depth outline later on.
for the sake of making sense, i’ll use an example: just make something up right here and there. i’ll be using suzie and mark, two random kids, for this, and a magical setting where monsters exist.
“suzie and mark are two 10 year olds who discover a magic egg that is believed to lead to unseen riches. as they both originate from poor families, they go on a quest to find these riches and bring them back home, and become heroes amongst their peers. however, their journey proves to be perilous, as their course is being closely followed by monsters, who will do anything in their path to thwart them. [Depending on how you want to take the story, they either fail or succeed in obtaining the riches]”
speaking of, the revised general outline has a pretty misleading name, as, again, this process undergoes a lot of revision as i write. but, it is a more in-depth outline for the story, and lists out event-by-event what is going to happen in the story. a basic, easy “revised” outline would look something like this:
* suzie and mark play in the playground. discover a magical egg under swingsets.
* S & M (i appreviate names often because i’m lazy) ask magic lady in town about the egg. learn that if they go into the forest the egg will lead them to riches.
* kids go to the forest and meet monster. monster has them solve a riddle before they can pass. (they either solve or do not solve the riddle)
depending on whether or not they are successful, suzie and mark either are eaten by the monster or proceed and gain riches that no normal ten year old is able to handle (they probably shouldn’t be able to handle them, either. remember–realistic and relatable). this is a very basic plot that i’ve used as an example, but you get the gist.
finally, we’ve reached chapter-by-chapter planning. this is where changes in the revised outline comes into play, as applying revised points of the plot to the chapters themselves can prove to be difficult, and you’ll need to tweak things so they work with the story. i tend to plan chapters as i reach them, which can also be attributed to how much my outlines change, though i’ve also found that planning beforehand causes changes anyways. the final product of your first rough draft (or even your final draft) may not even resemble your original plans.
what i do for this part of the process is i use parts of the planning in the general outline and expand them. i’ll keep drawing from the example of suzie and mark, considering it’s helpful for me to explain my point:
* suzie and mark play in playground (the original plot point)
** brought there by parents so parents could discuss business. not really paying attention to children
** suzie and mark bullied by other kids and forced to play on their own. decide to play hear swingset
** S notices egg in sand. S & M uncover egg and show to parents
** parents dismiss them and mumble about magic lady in town, giving the kids the idea to visit her
by doing this, i am able to picture how one event in the general planning leads to another. it makes things more fluid, and at times can help get you to understand the plot a little better.
that’s about it for my planning process!! of course, if you’re still stuck, i’d say it wouldn’t hurt to go back to the drawing board and see if you can move things around or change things so its either easier for you to write or so things make more sense. i’ve done this many times simply because i wanted to do something that i simply couldn’t pull off at the time, and it was complicating things more than you should.
you should also get other opinions!! ask people to read over your stuff, see if they have any ideas. if you hear what others think, then you can draw from that and go from there
i hope you found this helpful!! sorry it’s so long, but hey, my process is pretty long, so that’s how the explanation is going to be XD
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