How do you write: Planning and plotting stories

[ShelbyDawn57]

For my brief career as a writer, about six years, I've been a gardener, a pantser, writing with the flow of the story. I've let my stories and characters lead me where they wanted to go and, so far, it's worked just fine. A problem I've noticed is that on days when my muse is at the beach and I'm stuck at home, it is very difficult to find that flow. I've also noticed that it doesn't seem to work very well for larger works(I have three non-erotic novels wallowing in despair as I write this) with multiple characters and varying POVs.

So... My question is this; For those that actually take time to plan out your stories, how do you do it? What tools do you use to map your chapters, to keep track of your POV characters?

Please make specific suggestions or just talk about your process. I feel that this is a topic we can all learn and benefit from. I mean GRRM claims to be a gardener but GoT is 60 chapters and close to 300K words with I think 20 - 25 POV characters. I could be wrong, but there's no way he keeps all that in his head.

 

[Voyeurkenneth]

Sometimes I like to use a whiteboard app to outline. Fun to draw lines to connect disparate blocks of thought. I can easily rearrange text boxes to test the order of things. Apply text color to help my mind distinguish different approaches. Pasting images is great too, basically a vision board.

 

[Dearelliot]

Compared to many here, probably even most, I'm a novice, but I'll tell you what I do.
I take my idea and start writing, no plan no outline, no idea where it will all end. As I write, I go where the story takes me, and then go back and see where I should have opened that door, and closed the other one. I let the characters develop and follow their lead. I enjoy building the story, like working on an old house. I fix this and patch that, whatever looks best. And again and again and again, until I am somewhere close to finishing.

 

[Bamagan]

I favor a spreadsheet for tracking character relationships and such data. Where Character A and Character B intersect on the sheet I put my notes, or a short bio of A where column A and row A meet. I also keep a rough timeline to keep track of what changes occur at what points.
That being said, my one work that's pertinent to this discussion is also around 300k words (and incomplete) with about a dozen principal characters and as many supporting characters that occasionally get a POV segment. For the most part, I don't need the notes unless I've set it aside for a while. So I don't automatically discount what GRRM claims. You spend enough time writing them, and your characters are no more difficult to keep track of than your extended family.

 

[NotWise]

I write a synopsis of the story and especially plan the beginning and the end. Writing the synopsis is pretty much a seat-of-the-pants experience, but when I get down to writing the story itself I mostly fill out the synopsis.

How well that works depends a lot on how good my initial concept is. If I can dash out a good, detailed synopsis, then the final story will be easy. If I can't then the story bogs down and sometimes I find myself back at square one, looking for a better idea. At least I can get to that point without knocking myself out.

 

[StillStunned]

The only real plotting I've ever done is for "The Dome". So far it consists of about five lines of what will happen in future chapters.

 

[OffNSFW]

For longer stories, I like to stay organized. I keep different notepads (literally, just .txt files) for a slowly mutating outline, character names and descriptions if there's enough of them, catch-all bits of research and other dribs and drabs, and usually an additional file for workshopping titles, short descriptions, and possible tags.

For shorter stories, I just try to get them done start to finish before I lose the thread.

 

[ronde]

For my brief career as a writer, about six years, I've been a gardener, a pantser, writing with the flow of the story. I've let my stories and characters lead me where they wanted to go and, so far, it's worked just fine. A problem I've noticed is that on days when my muse is at the beach and I'm stuck at home, it is very difficult to find that flow. I've also noticed that it doesn't seem to work very well for larger works(I have three non-erotic novels wallowing in despair as I write this) with multiple characters and varying POVs.

So... My question is this; For those that actually take time to plan out your stories, how do you do it? What tools do you use to map your chapters, to keep track of your POV characters?

Please make specific suggestions or just talk about your process. I feel that this is a topic we can all learn and benefit from. I mean GRRM claims to be a gardener but GoT is 60 chapters and close to 300K words with I think 20 - 25 POV characters. I could be wrong, but there's no way he keeps all that in his head.

I don't write chaptered stories, but I do write "serials", meaning that I use the same characters in different plots. I have a few notes so I keep the names, occupations, and physical descriptions consistent.

My process starts with an idea of a reason for the plot, i.e. why would the characters have come together? I then decide how I want the story to end. After that, the reason for the plot combined with the personalities of my character basically write the plot for me. I do ask myself questions about how a character would react and what they'd likely say but I don't do a lot of planning for the plot because sometimes my characters change it on me.

If the story is going to span a significant length of time, I have a timeline spreadsheet I use to keep dates straight.

 

[MillieDynamite]

I write a plot, an outline, and a scene outline inside the outline of the various acts. If it is a novella, there are chapters in each act, and the scenes are inside those chapters, an outline of the scenes. However, if it a short story that I'm shooting for 5000 words or less, total seat-of-the-pants writing.

 

[yowser]

A problem I've noticed is that on days when my muse is at the beach and I'm stuck at home, it is very difficult to find that flow.

Sorry, my first (smart-aleck) thought is to go join your muse. What's important after all?

A huge amount of my writing is done in my head, on trots around the neighborhood, with trees and greenery as succor. Often a key piece (either manufactured in my head or back at the keyboard) is One Good Sentence. A crystalline sentence. Could be the story ending or just some illuminating aspect of a character. But a distillation, an essence, so that that sentence (and it needs to be near perfect) turns into an unlocking key, and frames the journey.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

Sorry, my first (smart-aleck) thought is to go join your muse. What's important after all?

Yeah, sucks, doesn't it? This whole adulting thing makes that hard sometimes. Goes onto the list of things my parents never told me...

 

[StillStunned]

Yeah, sucks, doesn't it? This whole adulting thing makes that hard sometimes. Goes onto the list of things my parents never told me...

I'm pretty sure my parents never figured out the adulting thing.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

I'm pretty sure my parents never figured out the adulting thing.

Except for the fact that my two adult boys still call and ask me to buy them lunch, I'm pretty sure I'm fucking it up pretty badly, too.

 

[SimonDoom]

When I come up with a story idea, I open a folder in my Lit Stories folder with that story's name on it. In the folder I have two word documents, one for the story and one for the story notes. In the story notes I have the proposed title, which I often rework, a proposed tagline, a summary of the story concept, a list of characters with a few notes on their roles. Then I create a numbered outline of the story, with each successive number representing a successive major point in the story. I may have a separate section on themes I want to explore. For example, I am working on a story in which the color yellow plays a role, so I listed a bunch of yellow things to include in the story.

The outline is just a reference guide. I almost never follow it carefully. I let myself be free to deviate from it if the story seems to require that. But I find the outline to be very helpful.

I sometimes write the last paragraph or last scene of the story before getting far into it. I can't recall ever having written a Lit story where I didn't know how it would end.

 

[YmaOHyd]

I think about future events and storylines and relationships while I'm on walks, in the shower or driving somewhere by myself. If I have an idea that strikes, I'll text it to myself. Every now and then I go through my texts and put the ideas or concepts into a Word document. Sometimes I'll outline upcoming pieces of a story.

All of that gets me to the point of opening a blank document, saving it as "Chapter x" or "April Fools Day Story" or whatever, and writing the first line. From there, all bets are off. It kinda goes where it wants to go.

The parts I do plan (that I forgot about the first time I thought about this) are physical locations. Houses, businesses, cars -- any space where someone's going to spend a lot of time. It never comes up in Whatever It Takes, but the car the story takes place in is a Citroen C2. The cabin that's the office in What's Left of Me, and the lawn it's on with -- I could draw you a map of that campus. Same deal with the hotel room in April's Fool. That way, when my characters start wandering off, I have some idea where they're going. I wouldn't have had so much of What's Left of Me take place on the walks to and from work if I didn't know that everyone parks in the same small lot, that everyone walks the same route, and that it's a pretty long walk, and the only parking space at the office itself is for the boss. But because I knew that, it became the natural place for characters to talk to each other.

My most important tool, I think, is another Word document that I use to keep track of character descriptions, attributes, storylines, hobbies and so on. When I learn something about a character in the process of writing them, it goes into that document. I had no idea that Emily in What's Left of Me had been raised a Catholic until I realized that my narrator said "oh my God" and "Jesus Christ" but she never did. I didn't realize Corrine's love language was affectionate abuse until she told April to shut her dickwarmer. And when Dave appeared in chapter 1, I thought he was a bit lazy but otherwise not a bad guy; when he revved his BMW in the parking lot I learned that he's actually gonna have a difficult summer, because he's all artifice and image in an industry that doesn't really tolerate either one.

In a way, the writing is the planning. In another way, the important part about the planning process is the thinking about the story, the act of planning, not the planning output. It's like the Eisenhower quote -- "when preparing for battle, plans are useless, but planning is indispensable." What I put down as my outline for Chapter 4 isn't going to survive opening a blank document and titling it Chapter 4. But what I learn in the process of creating that outline will shape what goes onto the page.

 

[KittyOfSteele]

I'm a plantser. I can't plot because I'll spend more time plotting than actually writing. What do I plan? Well, I plan little enough to get me started: a story idea*, and a tiny cast that is < 5 characters. Maybe I'll have some key events and milestones, and then I'll write those off as notes in a notebook, as I always go with a mixture of analog and digital. In that same notebook I also add stuff like new threads, plot twists, Chekhov's guns... that sort of thing. If I see something that can be a payoff later on, I'll put an asterisk and then resolve that on the notebook, or put it on a sticky note.

The most complex thing I do is something that I took from Vampire: The Masquerade's 5th Edition Core Rulebook: The Relationship Map (page 142). Again, I do it on paper, not digital. I do my best to do less digital stuff.

Suffice to say is that, whenever I sit down to be a plantser, I do so with the mindset of preparing myself for a first session of Vampire: The Masquerade.

This is for long projects though. For stuff like short stories, I just sit on my pants and go all the way through. If I'm stuck, that's when I pull out Mythic and start rolling D%. However, I'm currently pantsing two things: one as an exercise of pantsing (the phone project), the other one because I started writing that book out of the blue, with no idea of what I'm doing, and I still don't have any idea of what I'm doing.

 

[Cali_Love]

Two o’clock in the morning, horizontally, the story becomes. At dawn, vertically, it turns into pages.

 

[YmaOHyd]

The most complex thing I do is something that I took from Vampire: The Masquerade's 5th Edition Core Rulebook: The Relationship Map (page 142). Again, I do it on paper, not digital. I do my best to do less digital stuff.

Ha! I have a project I'm vaguely working on that uses the Conspyramid mechanic from Night's Black Agents.

 

[Cagivagurl]

For my brief career as a writer, about six years, I've been a gardener, a pantser, writing with the flow of the story. I've let my stories and characters lead me where they wanted to go and, so far, it's worked just fine. A problem I've noticed is that on days when my muse is at the beach and I'm stuck at home, it is very difficult to find that flow. I've also noticed that it doesn't seem to work very well for larger works(I have three non-erotic novels wallowing in despair as I write this) with multiple characters and varying POVs.

So... My question is this; For those that actually take time to plan out your stories, how do you do it? What tools do you use to map your chapters, to keep track of your POV characters?

Please make specific suggestions or just talk about your process. I feel that this is a topic we can all learn and benefit from. I mean GRRM claims to be a gardener but GoT is 60 chapters and close to 300K words with I think 20 - 25 POV characters. I could be wrong, but there's no way he keeps all that in his head.

I've never ever planned a story...
Mine all come from some weird overheard conversation, or some snippet.
If that's worked for you in the past... The question is, why isn't it working now?
Most here have probably all written themselves into a corner, and are hoping for that little miracle that'll get them out of it....

I'm not so sure having a plan helps... Guess it depends on the individual... If it works, it works.

Good luck... I hope it works out. Sorry I couldn't offer something helpful.

Cagivagurl

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

I've never ever planned a story...
Mine all come from some weird overheard conversation, or some snippet.
If that's worked for you in the past... The question is, why isn't it working now?
Most here have probably all written themselves into a corner, and are hoping for that little miracle that'll get them out of it....

I'm not so sure having a plan helps... Guess it depends on the individual... If it works, it works.

Good luck... I hope it works out. Sorry I couldn't offer something helpful.

Cagivagurl

Everything is helpful. Besides, I was as much looking to start an open dialog about story development among the group as I was looking for a suggestion

 

[pink_silk_glove]

Every story that I write starts with brainstorming. I will wake up with some sort of idea in my head, or I will dream something up while I'm driving. I will hone that idea (a character, a scene) in my head for a while. If the weather is nice, go for a walk and brainstorm. While I'm doing the dishes or mowing the lawn, etc, brainstorm, daydream it, work it into shape.

Once I get to the point where the idea won't leave me alone I start writing it. There are two ways that I might start.

1 ~ If all that I have is a scene or two or a strong character, I will write that scene that I have been honing and see what else comes of it. Sometimes it will be two or three scenes (not necessarily connected). This will give me plot ideas which I can start to connect with point form notes chronological or semi-chronological (nothing is in stone, cut/paste later is your friend). Soon I will have a plot outline or a semi-plot outline.

2 ~ If the idea that I have is a more complete plot, I will plot it out in point form and have a plot outline or semi-plot outline before I start fleshing.

After that, I scroll through the notes and find the spot that inspires me most, that I have the strongest ideas for and start fleshing it out. The notes become sentences and paragraphs and full scenes, and on subsequent run-throughs (there will be several edit run-throughs) the sentences and paragraphs get honed and polished.

If during the writing/honing anything else inspires me, the plot outline gets edited and I continue. If the plot outline is largely complete before I start (especially for a shorter story) then there won't be much plot changing. If it's a semi-plot outline, then as I flesh the notes into scenes (very common on a longer story) I will add to and edit the outline as I go.

If the cast gets larger and/or there are any reference notes that I need to keep track of, I list them at the bottom of the file. I should probably keep them in a separate file, so that I don't have to scroll down 30k words to see them and then back up again (just keep two files open) but I don't. One story, one file. (shrug)

I don't cut much out of a story - not because I have to keep everything or refuse to throw anything away - but because I do so much brainstorming that I rarely write anything down until I'm sure that it should be in. Oh, I get bad ideas just like anyone else but they rarely make into the file. My process is quite slow. There's a reason that I only have 10 titles published here. However, nothing is ever sacred - nothing is in stone until I hit submit.

 

[Audiflex]

For my brief career as a writer, about six years, I've been a gardener, a pantser, writing with the flow of the story. I've let my stories and characters lead me where they wanted to go and, so far, it's worked just fine. A problem I've noticed is that on days when my muse is at the beach and I'm stuck at home, it is very difficult to find that flow. I've also noticed that it doesn't seem to work very well for larger works(I have three non-erotic novels wallowing in despair as I write this) with multiple characters and varying POVs.

So... My question is this; For those that actually take time to plan out your stories, how do you do it? What tools do you use to map your chapters, to keep track of your POV characters?

Please make specific suggestions or just talk about your process. I feel that this is a topic we can all learn and benefit from. I mean GRRM claims to be a gardener but GoT is 60 chapters and close to 300K words with I think 20 - 25 POV characters. I could be wrong, but there's no way he keeps all that in his head.

First off, congrats on sticking with writing for six years, that’s awesome! Switching from pantser to planner can feel like a big shift, but it’s all about finding what works for you. For planning, some writers swear by tools like Scrivener (great for organizing chapters and POVs) or even simple spreadsheets to track character arcs and plot points. Others use index cards or whiteboards to map out scenes visually.

As for POVs, keeping a character bible helps, just a document with key details, motivations, and arcs for each character. And yeah, GRRM might be a "gardener," but he’s definitely got some serious scaffolding hidden in there. Experiment with a mix of planning and flexibility, you might find a sweet spot that keeps your muse happy while giving your larger works the structure they need.

 

[Audiflex]

Every story that I write starts with brainstorming. I will wake up with some sort of idea in my head, or I will dream something up while I'm driving. I will hone that idea (a character, a scene) in my head for a while. If the weather is nice, go for a walk and brainstorm. While I'm doing the dishes or mowing the lawn, etc, brainstorm, daydream it, work it into shape.

Once I get to the point where the idea won't leave me alone I start writing it. There are two ways that I might start.

1 ~ If all that I have is a scene or two or a strong character, I will write that scene that I have been honing and see what else comes of it. Sometimes it will be two or three scenes (not necessarily connected). This will give me plot ideas which I can start to connect with point form notes chronological or semi-chronological (nothing is in stone, cut/paste later is your friend). Soon I will have a plot outline or a semi-plot outline.

2 ~ If the idea that I have is a more complete plot, I will plot it out in point form and have a plot outline or semi-plot outline.

After that, I scroll through the notes and find the spot that inspires me most, that I have the strongest ideas for and start fleshing it out. The notes become sentences and paragraphs and full scenes, and on subsequent run-throughs (there will be several edit run-throughs) the sentences and paragraphs get honed and polished.

If during the writing/honing anything else inspires me, the plot outline gets edited and I continue. If the plot outline is largely complete before I start (especially for a shorter story) then there won't be much plot changing. If it's a semi-plot outline, then as I flesh the notes into scenes (very common on a longer story) I will add to and edit the outline as I go.

If the cast gets larger and/or there are any reference notes that I need to keep track of, I list them at the bottom of the file. I should probably keep them in a separate file, so that I don't have to scroll down 30k words to see them and then back up again (just keep two files open) but I don't. One story, one file. (shrug)

I don't cut much out of a story - not because I have to keep everything or refuse to throw anything away - but because I do so much brainstorming that I rarely write anything down until I'm sure that it should be in. Oh, I get bad ideas just like anyone else but they rarely make into the file. My process is quite slow. There's a reason that I only have 10 titles published here. However, nothing is ever sacred - nothing is in stone until I hit submit.

Your process sounds super thoughtful and intentional, love how you let ideas simmer and evolve naturally! The mix of brainstorming, daydreaming, and flexible outlining is such a creative way to build stories. And the fact that you rarely cut stuff out because you’ve already refined it in your head? That’s next-level efficiency. Slow and steady definitely wins the race, especially when it results in polished work.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

Your process sounds super thoughtful and intentional, love how you let ideas simmer and evolve naturally! The mix of brainstorming, daydreaming, and flexible outlining is such a creative way to build stories. And the fact that you rarely cut stuff out because you’ve already refined it in your head? That’s next-level efficiency. Slow and steady definitely wins the race, especially when it results in polished work.

Or I could just use AI. : P

 

[Cagivagurl]

Everything is helpful. Besides, I was as much looking to start an open dialog about story development among the group as I was looking for a suggestion

Good thread....
Always gonna find something that helps.