When I was first getting into writing I wasn't much of a planner. Instead I just write whatever came to me. It work pretty well for short stories. But when it came to much longer stories with many chapters I never could finish them and I still haven't finished them either.
However, now I plan out my stories, especially the longer ones. I never have to worry about writer's block because once I have a basic outline of the story with a couple of notes of what each chapter should contain, I know what to write/what should happen. It feels like a reachable goal, so I don't have to worry about losing interest or thinking it's impossible to finish. Because with planning I know where I'm going with the story and how much I have left to write before I end it.
Besides I don't know why people say it's restrictive. It's not like every writer has to follow their planning exactly. It's just an outline, they can always change and/or add things to it. Whether they do it as they are writing it or they do it when they go back to edit it.
As for how I plan out my stories, it usually starts with an idea and from that idea I build it up, basically creating a world or a society. I find that very helpful to do first because that gives me enough information to start creating a main character. With that information I developed the character so that their design, personality, and back story fits into the new world I created or whatever setting they are in.
After that I get more ideas on what I want to happen and I start questioning things. Such as why this main character, why do they react like that, why did they make that choice, how would they react if they were in this situation, how would they overcome this, who would want to stop them, what reason could the bad guy have to hate the good guy for, why would they want to take over the world or cause harm and so on.
Questioning things is a great because it really makes you think about the characters and their placement in the story. It allows you to make them more realistic, go into depth, and help you figure out how to progress the story. Honesty, it is the characters that tells and drives the story. If you understand them better, than you would know what actions and thoughts each character would do advance the story. And you'll rarely hit a writer's block, though you'll probably have to worry about losing inspiration if you reach parts you're not excited to write about.
Of course, I don't always do it this way, but this is usually what happens.
 DamnBlackHeart · Mon Feb 21, 2011 @ 10:21am · 0 Comments |
