"It is the future you see..." ---Planning your fic

1)The bunny tells me start here.

2)I decide where I want to go and come up with the major events in my head and tell the bunny to hop there then there then there.

3)The bunny hops a convoluted path from point to point in my head. I write down the bunny's path to get an outline of each chapter and some rough dialogue while I'm bored in class.

4)Then I type up the outline and make sure the bunny was behaving (or in the case of my one bunny, seeing what other bunnies he ate. I like that bunny ).

5)I cut and paste each chapter into a fresh page in Word and type out a simple draft of however much I can motivate myself to do.

6)When my motivation for new material runs out, I do some editing on the first chapter and start posting.

Major events are the only parts set in stone. I change things in my head a lot before I get to writing the outline for that part. As an example, I was originally planning to kill a couple of characters in my current story, but the bunny said no so they'll live. Also, I have no problems moving, deleting and adding things as I write if they don't work anymore. I'll even cut out whole chapters if it's necessary.

And I have one hell of a system considering I've only posted about a tenth of my first story. I want the bunnies to leave me alone. At least the one keeps eating my new ones.

 

I've always wanted to plan a story out, and do a big long epic thing. But I can't! It makes me feel like such an irresponsible writer, but I simply cannot follow an outline or even a general plan. Or even a general idea, really.

I start with one thing and end up with something entirely different. In high school, when I was forced to write outlines to turn in with my essays, I always had to go and do the outline after the essay and make it match up. If I did the outline first, the essay never matched and I just had to redo it.

I don't know what my problem is. Impatience and impulsiveness, I suppose. If anyone offered "Planning Your Story 101", as a step-by-step instructional course to plan a story, I'd take it. Seriously. I need intervention. (And someone determined enough to keep me on track!)

 

I have to plan out my story now......it helps me to focus on what I am writing. I have several little "personal" sized notebooks for writing down the various notes about my story, like the plot, characters in the story, character profiles, misc. notes, etc.

I just bought two more notebooks so I'd have one for another story that is in the works, but months and months away from even writing it.......I have to use a fresh notebook because I wouldn't want to be writing about the Rebel Alliance from ANH in the NJO era for example, would I?

 

Plan? Me? Are you out of your mind?

I don't plan. Well, not really. Whenever I get an idea, I usually play around with it in my head until I have a beginning, a middle and an end. and usually a few key scenes. But I rarely (if ever) write anything out.

I may not be able to remember Latin vocabulary from one day to the next, but I can remember scenes, dialogue and plot lines from stories that I haven't thought about in years. It can be quite handy...

Anyway, because I usually end up remembering everything, I never write out stuff. For one thing, it's a waste of time and it never really helps. THe only time I'll write out an indepth-summary (and I only outlined once in my life, with fairly disaterous results) is when someone else is working with me on the fic. Either a beta-reader or close friend who I get to discussing things with will draw me to write out an actual summary- and half the time I leave out half the details because I don't know enough (and am too lazy) to write all the details out.

But usually, whatever planning I do stays in my head- and I have a feeling that doesn't count as planning...

I did try to make an outline once for a fic of mine. I took chapter 8 and 9 and out-lined them. Now I'm on chapter 12 and I still haven't covered everything for Chapter 9 and I've also added a lot of stuff. My writing style always gets away from me, especially if I try to force it to fit a mold. So I've decided that I don't need any molds- I'll just write what comes to me when it comes to me.

It's also great for plot twists. And foreshadowing. Yes, I can do foreshadowing with only a vague idea of where the fic is going. Ask a few friends about one of my HP fics- something is so obvious and no one has a clue, because it's all foreshadowing- and that's the fic that I mentioned above, with 12 chapters and still not done with the chapter 9 contents.

I know that some people need to plan things out and some people are quite taleented at it. But I have neither the need or the talent, so I've adapted my writing style to me and heck, it fits me just fine...

So do I plan? Absolutely...not.

 

Generally, I start with a character concept.

Then, I start writing a good beginning for the story.

Once I have the beginning well and truly underway, I start considering the rest. I generally try to have an overarcing conflict that makes sense for the character(s), but leave most of it undeveloped except for a few basic ideas that I work from.

 

I have two bunny stages. Stage One is me reading somebody else's idea or suggestion, or me pondering a "what if."

Stage Two comes when the idea, suggestion or my ponderings develop a scene with characters, dialogue, internal thoughts and the like. I try to capture that as much and as quickly as possible.

I think more about the original idea and where the idea should logically take me. More scenes pop up. One of them may or may not be the ending of the story.

I write my stories non-linearly and then usually after most of the scenes are written, I place them in chronological order and write "connective tissue" around scenes--the transitions that get me from one scene to the next.

This is the reason why I rarely ever post a story until it's completely written. The exception is my Keep Falling Down. The beginning and end came to me simultaneously while listening to a song (most of my ideas take shape whilst listening to music which is partially what inspired the idea or the scenes). The idea was too good to let it linger on my hard drive until I finished it.

I have a couple of bigger stories that have been rolling around in my head, one of them literally for years, in which not only do I have scenes for the story, I also have a whole back story worked out. I don't necessarily write it down, but I keep the back story in mind when thinking up new scenes.

On occasion, I get a scene with no real idea to drive it, and those tend to sit forever on my hard drive with nowhere else to go.

In general, though, I have to have an idea of an ending in order to write the story. The end tends to suggest the means by which to get there, for me.

 

With me, it's really strange. I can write short fics simply by putting fingers to keyboard and typing as the ideas take me. With longer fics like Love's Final Redemption, I've found that to be nigh impossible to do except for adding a paragraph here and there. If I try simply typing my ideas as they come to me, nine times out of ten, they're very shoddy and amateurish.

What I do for my longer fics is actually put pen to paper and write 2-3 pages' worth out at a time, making them roughly how they'll be when I type them. I give myself a bit of room to add on or edit out of the story in case things are too vague or don't work together as I type it. To show you the difference, my written stuff is about 20 pages so far, while the typed is a bit over 20, almost 21.

 

Usually I tend to get the story in my mind, I think of the overall premise like a movie and try to remember key elements of the plot. Dreams help a lot to previsualize what I want to write about. I tend to dream of all my stories I'm writing for and it gives me a chance to get a sense of what the overall feel of the story should be.

This trilogy I'm writing is already done in my head, I know where the characters will all be by the end of it, who lives and who dies, and the outcome of the combined story. Planning ahead is always critical to my work, if I just start writing with no basic guideline...I tend to draw to a blank.

 

Um... what do I do?

I outline my stories (not too detailed, but detailed enough) and then I start writing. However, my head gets so full of plot bunnies that I keep getting new ideas on top of the old ones and the story gets out of control and insanely complicated that sometimes I contradict myself because I'm confused. Then I rewrite and the process begins again... but without the contradictment (is that even a word? ).

 

However, my head gets so full of plot bunnies that I keep getting new ideas on top of the old ones and the story gets out of control and insanely complicated that sometimes I contradict myself because I'm confused

That's happened to me before... One fic started out very simple and then I started writing and bunnies started coming and now it's out of its mind and I don't really know what to do with it. But I'm too stubborn to go back and rewrite it and I haven't contradicted myself (yet), so I don't really need to change anything- just slow down the bunny developement and pick up the pacing...

I just found a very old character outline from one of my original fics and it, um, sucked. I remember the fic and the character and the outline was nothing like the way the character actually turned out. Which is another reason I gave up- I never follow them anyway, so why bother.

I do occasionally do a character chart or something- but that's only when I'm bored out of my mind and need something to do, even if it won't have any meaning later...

Yeah, I'm horrible, I know. But I just can't seem to plan.

 

I write fairly general, chapter by chapter outlines before I start. These usually get revised a few times before I start writing. Then they get revised more as I go. Sometimes, things just

But I am someone who believes in always knowing the ending before you start. Otherwise, you get these stories that don't flow well structurally, start off as shorter bits and are written that way but then go on and on. It's not that those are bad, it's just that you might want to seriously considering editing and re-pacing after you're done, because if someone reads a story like that when it's completely finished, it's going to seem really awkward usually.

-sj loves kevin spacey

 

But I am someone who believes in always knowing the ending before you start. Otherwise, you get these stories that don't flow well structurally, start off as shorter bits and are written that way but then go on and on. It's not that those are bad, it's just that you might want to seriously considering editing and re-pacing after you're done, because if someone reads a story like that when it's completely finished, it's going to seem really awkward usually.

I agree. I always have an ending in mind before I start something. Of course, my problem is actually getting to the ending... But yes, an ending is needed. It's also easier, in my opinion, to have an ending in sight so that you know where the fic will take you- at least part of the way. No matter how many plot bunnies try to derail you (and those nasty little buggers try awfully hard sometimes), just keep plodding away. If you can add in stuff to fit the plot, then that's great. But just keep the ending in sight. The end is your goal- nothing else.

 

Of course, my problem is actually getting to the ending...

Oh, I know that feeling! I hardly ever use written outlines -- generally I have a solid idea of the basic plot and the rest fleshes itself out as I write. That sometimes means playing with the initial chapters to work in details I've developed later, which is why I never post until the story's finished. It seems to work for short to mid-length stories, but I've found myself getting lost on longer, more complex plots and having to sketch some kind of outline to keep everything straight. But I agree that the ending is the key -- once you lose sight of that, the story tends to flounder. Or so I've found... Anyway. Really interesting to see how differently everyone works in regards to their story planning.

 

I've tried all kinds of ways; making a detailed plan, making no plan, and various combinations of the two. So far, I've found that I like doing a plan, but not one that is extremely detailed.

For example, I have this little notebook in which I plan all my stories in. Each chapter takes about 2-3 phrases/sentenses, although the climaxes can take up to five or six. I like to leave myself a good amount of space to play with things as I go along, so I usually write something like this:

Chapter 11:
Bob goes to store. Finds long lost daughter. Tells her that her mother died.

Of course, this is just an example, not from a real story. Then I'll usually just make things up as I go along, and plug in conversations and character introductions wherever I think best. Sometimes I find that a chapter is too short, so I'll put two chapters together with a (* * *) in between. Or, if I find that a chapter is too long, I'll split it into two seperate chapters.

I enjoy this way because it let's me know what events I'm working towards, and yet I still have the freedom to make some stuff up as I go along.

Well, those are my opinions on the subject. Thanks for reading it.

-Lord Zeron