Preparation for stories

[Caite-chan]

So I've redone my story 3 times now because of bad layout and planning. I have a really bad habit of rushing thing with no rhyme or reason. So now this last time I redid my story I planned it out. Though now the problem is I know where I want to go but there could be 2 or 3 CH's in between one idea and another. But I don't want it to make it seem like I'm rushing things yet I don't want filler crap in between.

So how do you do your stories? Do you plan them out or wing it? How do you get from one idea to another with out rushing things?

[VeloJello]

For me, it really depends. I have a tendency to ramble on (particularly in bits with lots of drama/dialogue), so I don't usually worry about moving too fast. XD However, I've very often rushed into writing without a plan and I have to say that it really just depends on how you approach it. On the one hand, if you just rush in and try to create a whole story right off, you're probably going to fail. But just writing can be awesome for brainstorming, and there comes a point where you've planned enough and you need to just get it done. The approach I've been favoring lately involves constructing a bare-bones outline and then allowing room for expansion depending on how the characters and plot play out. My approach is pretty "loose" I guess. I feel like my characters need a lot of room, because the story is about them and needs to be driven by them. They surprise me quite often. XD

However, it's still important to plan ahead. If you just start writing with no idea where you're going and no end in sight, you're likelier to get discouraged and give up. Not to mention that your story can be vastly improved if you know how it's going to end, because that way your tone and foreshadowing will stay consistent. I've had that lesson beaten into me before.

[Nagisa]

It's important to plan ahead. I tend to rush in and improvise, then read over and smooth out the creases, but a lot of the time, it can always feel weird when reading, but I just can't plan. So what ends up happening is I write, I fix, then I write again from scratch, taking into account that ended up weird and such. But you should plan.

[Felly]

I used to just wing my stories. I'd read the previous chapter before starting the next & just have at it when I was done. I'd have a general idea in mind, and it helped, but they turned out awful. I've looked back on it, and it really does look awful.

I started actually writing down stuff relevant to the story at least 2 or 3 years ago, and it helps a lot. I feel like I've improved a lot by having it written down and next to me when I'm writing so that I don't forget a detail or something while I'm writing.

[Scytherwolf]

I'm definitely a 'wing it' person. I do often start stories with some ideas and concepts for the future, but those usually end up getting tossed out anyway when I find out what I want the real plot of the story to be. For my main pokemon story I'm in the 60s with chapters now, and I have ended up planning several chapters ahead recently, but it's more because I get inspiration for new stuff faster than I can write it down. xD Apart from that, I'm really just making the whole thing up as I go.

It works for me because I leave details open so that I can bring them back in future chapters of the story when the inspiration strikes me to find an explanation or further plot points for them. It's kind of an "I'll figure this out later" sort of thing in the beginning, combined with getting a "hey, I have this great idea of how I can use that now!" in later chapters. This is pretty much how I made up Path of Destiny's plot. xD

I write down a lot of notes of things I need to remember and all the things I've still left open, so whenever I think of a story idea that fits I can take the plot in a direction that fits that thing. I didn't really have any idea what the plot was about when I started the story. It was basically just "I want them to go on an adventure so they're looking for this legendary, okay yeah, that sounds good." It wasn't until I started writing more chapters that I discovered that that was merely a detail of a much bigger plot. xD

So where is the story heading after everything I've thought up for the next little bit?

I dunno. I'll figure it out when I get there.

I am not a big planning person.

[Neo Emolga]

I'll be honest, I wing it.

I almost always wing it, unless an awesome idea pops in that absolutely HAS to be used, but I've really only had that kind of thing happen once. I have tried to make an outline for a story and make a formalized approach toward writing a story, and I really just didn't enjoy it in the slightest. Felt more like work than fun.

Honestly, when you wing it and just throw a lot of ideas and things on the table, tying up the loose ends is something that can wait until later. I also find that winging your story writing allows you to be more unpredictable and not feel like a train just chugging along a track you built for yourself, which can get derailed if suddenly you realize you forgot to have a means to connect point E to F or J to K. Writing by winging it means I get enjoy it more because I get to write whatever I feel like writing about at that particular moment, just so as long as it could potentially fit in the story's context (and writing fantasy allows you to do pretty much anything).

As for finishing such a story, you just need to eventually have most of the loose ends get tied together, resolve the conflicts, and have some kind of conclusion come out of it. Chances are good if you wing it, the reader might not know what to expect out of your ending! You would have taken your inspiration for a story from many different sources rather than the limited few you used on the days you planned it out.

I used to make mazes for my mom just for fun, and honestly, winging a story is a lot like that. You create a lot of open paths that lead in varying directions, and every now and then you close one off, open a few more, close a few others, fill in the empty spaces with stuff, and eventually close off all open paths until only one gets to the end. Characters in a story should be in a situation where not every path seems to take them in the right direction and they need to go back or work in some other solution. Sometimes it may feel like they're going the right way, and then bam, they realize they took a wrong turn but there's still some open possibility of getting back toward going the right way again, even if it looks like hope is fading. You should actually want to have your characters get hurt, lost, confused, saddened, and into all kinds of conflicts along the way. It makes them much more likable and interesting.

I understand this method isn't for everyone, but I enjoy it the most and it allows me to just enjoy the story at my own pace while great ideas come to me rather than draw a wavy line first and build the maze around that.

[Noblejanobii]

I think it varies person to person and you have to find what works for you but here's a summary of my style.

My advice is make a beginning, an end, and major plot points in between. Then connect the dots. That's what I do. I tend to make it up as I go along but I usually have an end goal in mind that I need to get to so the chaoters have direction you just don't always see it. Often I write my ending before I've finished my second chapter. However, this method takes A LOT of creativity, imagination, and the ability to just wing what you need to when you need to.

This method isn't for everyone but because of my lack of attention span it works great for me.

[Scytherwolf]

Wow, Neo, you put everything into words a whole lot better than I did. That's exactly how I feel about writing my stories.

[FedoraChar]

Yeah, the thing about writing is that there's no set way that every single writer has to write. I've seen/read lectures that propose there's two camps of writers: pantsers/gardeners and plotters/architects. Pantsers write off the seat of their pants and jot down anything that comes down to their mind, with little or no planning ahead. Plotters take time to write down a detailed plotline and world-build like none other.

Both have their pros and cons--pantsers might get more done but they might be prone to plot-holes and so forth. Plotters have order and direction on their side but might spend so much time getting down the details that they don't get the story written or they become tired and frustrated.

Now I'm not saying that every writer is either a pantser or a plotter--it'd be more accurate to say that there's a range between the two. Some people do well with a little bit of both, and not everyone has the problems I listed ahead under any one style. I primarily used to write my stories just by whatever came to my head, but I kept finding it hard to stay focused and finish anything that I wrote. I still struggle with ending things, but now I've come to do a little bit of both. When I first get an idea in my head, I'll go ahead and "pants" it for a little while, and once I get a little sense in the direction I want to go I sit down and write a plotline--but I leave it very open and edit it frequently even as I continue writing the story. I do like exploring a lot of things when I write, so I let my plot line be very flexible.

Here's something I would suggest, Caite-Chan: stop rewriting. One of the things I've learned with NaNoWriMo is that sometimes you should press on and keep writing, no matter what the quality of the writing is. Editing should be something you do after you get all your writing out of your system. :)