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Post by Deleted on Jul 13, 2017 18:39:55 GMT -5
Sorry for the silly question; I'm currently working on a warriors fic but I'm having the worst time trying to plan everything out. I'm scared of it being mediocre even though I've put a lot of thought into the world and stuff.
Everytime I try and plan, things come out dumb, unrealistic, full of holes, or confusing. I want to have one of those in depth stories that really sweep you off your feet and have twists and such, but I'm not sure how to manage all of that.
So if I may ask, what process do you usually go through to create an engaging story with good characters and worldbuilding?
Also if anyone wants to hear my brainstorming and help me figure something out over pm...
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Post by Brownie on Jul 13, 2017 19:39:33 GMT -5
um
I usually find three or four dialogues per chapter that I like, and just let the scenes write themselves from there. How they get to that bit of dialogue, how they react to it, the consequences of it.
then the chapters string together and make a story
for worldbuilding, choose the thing you think is most important to the world. Figure out how that impacts the plot, and use that as a focus for grounding the story.
as for realism, make a set of rules and stick to them, especially for fantasy. If your world has magic, make sure it's controlled and not limitless.
for plot holes, that's just something you have to worry about when you write. Try to make the world as constrained as possible, and figure out how actions will have likely reactions. Plot twists are only one choice of many for the characters, so every time there's a big event-- or one personal to your characters-- take the time to ask yourself what could possibly be the outcome, even if you have an idea in mind for where you want it to go. Find all the possible threads of the future, and make sure that the one that is followed is the one that is most logical for your characters and world. Often the logical outcome is actually a plot twist, and doing it this way will cut down on possible plot holes.
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Post by Headphone Actor on Jul 13, 2017 19:52:45 GMT -5
Honestly, this might not work for you, but I've noticed that if I plan my story all at once, instead of just the bare bones, it becomes a mess. So I just give it a bare bones sort of thing, and plan it chapter by chapter.
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Post by Dewstripe on Jul 13, 2017 20:41:48 GMT -5
I usually do an outline that gradually becomes more detailed.
As with any story, I start with a really general idea. Typically I let it sit in my head for a while before really working on it. Coming up with characters, subplots, setting, and whatever else pops into my head (even if you don't end up using all of it, brainstorming is really important!) I have word docs filled with fragments of ideas. Then once I think I have enough to work with, I come up with the "skeleton," if you will: the beginning, middle, and end. Then, I get a little bit more detailed, coming up with 5-10 "major" scenes. Then make it even more detailed, adding more scenes and subplots in chronological order. (Then, depending on how I feel, I may even separate the scenes into chapters)
For each scene, I write a quick description of what happens, why it's important to the story, and how it affects the character(s). That keeps me from adding anything unnecessary. Plus, when you look at all of it at once, it's easier to find plot holes before you even start. If I'm still worried about it all connecting, sometimes I'll even do mini-outlines based on the main characters. I map out their personality from beginning to end and then fill in what events lead to that change. Once and a while I'll even make the original outline based on the main character instead of the plot, but using the same "snowflake" effect: start out with the basic arc and add details in between.
There are two main ways to do outlines like this if you're interested. I usually just make a list either on paper or in a word doc (word docs are nice because you can easily move stuff around). But if you're more of a paper and pencil kind of person, I'd recommend using notecards. You can write a scene on each notecard, and then move them around as you see fit. You could even glue them onto a poster board when you're done if you wanted. One of the fun things about doing it this way is you can color code. If your story is told in multiple POVs, you can have a different color depending on the character for each scene. Or you could do a different color for each time you add detail to the outline. (ex: red for the skeleton, blue for the 5-10 scenes, pink for the rest of the scenes, etc)
Sorry if I didn't explain that very well lol, but that's what I do for thought-out stories. And I don't know how much help I would be, but you're more than welcome to PM me for help if you want! At the very least you can bounce ideas off of me if you'd like
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Asexual
ᴛᴜᴇsᴅᴀʏ
do you walk in the valley of kings? do you walk in the shadow of men who sold their lives to dream?
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Post by ᴛᴜᴇsᴅᴀʏ on Jul 13, 2017 20:47:17 GMT -5
personally, i don't have a specific system, but a general approach. i like the pen and paper planning approach, and doing it on a legal pad makes me feel like i'm doing something really important (even though i'm usually using planning as an excuse to procrastinate something else). so i start with whatever chapter i'm at (if i didn't plan before starting the fic), and i do bullets. every bullet is an important part of the chapter, and i do indented bullets for material that needs explaining before i can move onto the next bullet, or for points that i don't want to reveal yet, but have to keep in mind going forward. basically, it turns into a long bulleted list, and i mark in the margins "chapter ##" with the corresponding number next to the first bullet for that chapter. it's not a perfect method, but it helps get the major points on the page, so i know where i'm going.
if you're doing warriors fic/fic with a lot of characters, it never hurts to make an allegiances sheet, too. keep a secret copy to yourself that no one will see that has names, brief descriptions, and if you're going to kill off characters (especially if there's a sequel), leave room to cross them out and note how they died, for future reference. or for a body count, if you want morbid statistics for your fic when you're done.
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Post by 🍁Searipple101🍁 on Jul 13, 2017 21:20:45 GMT -5
What I always seem to do is come up with the main plot component first. Like for What is the Sound of Peace I first thought of 'what if I did a story about about a handicapped cat and their sibling, but do it from their sibling's POV?' These kinds of ideas pop into my head at literally any time randomly. Then I start thinking around that to build the plot around it, like what needs to happen to them, how others treat them, what battles happen, etc. Being perfectly honest, I just wing it after that. I write and see what happens really, and new ideas keep randomly popping in my head so I find ways to work them into the story well enough. My process isn't complicated but more just random.
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Post by wadevvilson on Jul 14, 2017 3:28:16 GMT -5
I honestly don't really, at least in terms of my Warriors universe. I just let plot events and other ideas come and go from my head as they please. If one sticks, then so be it. It was always intended to be a more open thing, anyways.
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Non-binary
eph 💕
transed my gender 👍
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Post by eph 💕 on Jul 14, 2017 10:59:26 GMT -5
i don't tend to plan much, but even when i do i've found it requires a really deep understanding of your characters. so i'll write a couple chapters or so before i even do major planning. i get to know my characters, their desires and weaknesses and fears. i note the little turns of phrase that could be used as foreshadowing for later events; sometimes these things come subconsciously. then i jot some plot ideas down in a bulleted list and see how my characters feel about all of it. sometimes you try to write an ending that they just don't want, and that makes it unnecessarily hard, so i usually leave the ending open-ended until i get closer. for me it's mostly considering: what do my characters want? what do they deserve? what will i deny them and what will i let them have? how will i challenge them and how will they change? let them make mistakes and double back on positive progress and get angry and run away and feel bad about themselves. let them be messy, let them be "human." for me, a story is just a way of following a set of characters through conflict, seeing how they change and grow. but of course, it depends on the story.
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Post by tiger beetle on Jul 14, 2017 23:08:53 GMT -5
I am bad at planning but here are the steps I take on the rare occasion that I actually do
Come up with the important characters. They don't have to be perfect yet, but make sure they're ones you're willing to subject yourself to writing about. In Ash to Ash I was basically just using the POT/OOTS characters plus replacements for the ones who didn't get born. It's good to have some concept right now of where you want them to go (i.e. an extremely basic version of their development, like "this guy starts actually trying in life").
Start adding minor characters so that you have something to work with. Add in the rest as you go.
Come up with the basic framework for the plot. For my Olive story (which is not here--nor is it completed--but it is a recent story I've been coming up with) this was "Olive drags Pinecone off on a journey looking for some guy who turns out to have been using a false name, and also there are boats." In Ash to Ash, the plot was "I pretend Ashfur is a good guy, ThunderClan gets kicked out, and the Three come from WindClan."
Come up with certain scenes you want to get to. Don't spend too much time on them; if you get too absorbed in the climax of the story, you'll never actually start the rest of the story. Also, don't get too attached, because sometimes they just won't end up fitting into the story. That's okay; you can recycle them in another story later--just because they didn't work now doesn't mean they won't work later.
The villain needs to make sense. I had a lot of difficulty with Invar (from the Olive story). The villain needs a goal, a reason they would take the evil route to accomplish this, and a way to have gotten away with whatever they've done up until their defeat. That's all obvious, but it's something I really struggle with, so… (In Ash to Ash, this was basically already decided for me, since it was just an AU of POT/OOTS.)
Will these characters follow your plot? It should develop naturally out of the characters (and world, I guess). It can be hard to "fix" characters who won't follow a plot, but you have to make sure that it works somehow.
Write a more detailed plot summary. Put it in a Word document so you can change it later. It's not important that this be exactly the way things are in the final story; it is important that it spans the whole story, from the beginning to the end. For Ash to Ash I just put a brief summary (a maximum of two sentences, a minimum of two words) of each chapter. Obviously the typical chapter length and the number of chapters will affect how much you write for each chapter--Ash to Ash had 152 chapters, but they were all pretty short, so it was okay to write summaries that brief.
Try to make the summary closer and closer to what you're actually going to want to write. I cut 12 chapters from the summary of Ash to Ash, about 7% of the story. Check the summary for glaring plot holes and stuff; it's usually easier to notice them when you just have the bare skeleton for the story without a bunch of detail crowding it out.
Then write it. You can deviate from your summary; any time you do, go back and change it, then look at the other chapters you have outlined and see if they need to change. That way you know before you get there.
If you're posting it piece by piece, then you can disregard this next part: I would say write through the entire story, then go back and edit. If you realize something needs to change before you're finished writing then you can go back and change it, but don't scour the story for things that need to be edited until your finished. Of course if you're posting it piece by piece then you can't really do that, but that's okay.
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Post by nem on Jul 15, 2017 0:52:51 GMT -5
I tend to just go into a chapter-by-chapter outline.
It's not a good plan though so don't use it.
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Post by phantomstar57 on Aug 12, 2017 13:24:49 GMT -5
For me, all my stories from the vast world of my scifi, to the semi-biographical books of a cat, and a tree, to pure Fantasy to Warriors fics, it always starts out with the characters. My Warriors characters were born of a "what if' scenario, and I started at the beginning, and let the characters follow their paths. The world building, the settings, all that comes with them in what they see, feel, hear and experience. Sometimes one needs extensive character charts, maps, family trees, and at other times, just a bit of historical research, and /or a good memory.
I do plan out the tale in a rough draft or even just notes. It depends on the complexity of the tale. Some I write off the cuff with just a character and an idea or prompt, no real plot and let it evolve. I did that with NEW BLOOD's Sabotage. With NEW BLOOD-Born of Smoke and Fire I wrote up a rough draft, and an outline of where I wanted the tale to go and never had the ending until , well the end! And my characters decided many times that my path for them was not correct.
My characters start the story, and it is my job as their scribe to fill in the detail, the settings, the world where they live, and accurately depict their actions and reactions.
It will differs from book to book and even story to story, but essentially all my stories are character driven, and not plot driven.
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Post by Sea Drops by a Bird on Aug 12, 2017 17:12:52 GMT -5
It really depends on how I got the idea for the story, and how detailed the initial idea is. But for warrior's fics, I usually do the framework and then work on the details of the story. Sometimes that will also include a plot outline, but it really depends on how much material I have to work with and how much I plan on putting into the story. Like for the short story I'm currently working on, I'm pretty much free-handing it- I know the point and tone of the story, know how it ends, so I pretty much write each chapter as it comes.
But I would love to help you work on yours
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