Planning when writing a story

[pink_silk_glove]

dang. all these years and i've never seen that before. so obvious too, once you point it out.

Figured it out through experience, so I know what you mean. You don't see it that way at first but eventually you realize, a-ha!

 

[AchtungNight]

For me, it depends. I think about the story and characters- what do I need to write to establish setting and mood, intro the characters and get them together in conflict or friendship, how do I need to progress through the plot? Then I visualize everything in my head, walk through it with the characters like I’m a film director. This is where the characters frequently surprise me with new ideas. I take notes as I visualize things, outline the story. Then I go over the outline and edit it into a full story with dialogue and detail. Continue until story looks good to me. Then I put on my “new reader”, “big fan”, and “committed critic” hats in succession and read through it again looking for issues these people might find. I fix what issues I think I should. One more read through and edit if necessary of the finished work, then if it all flows right, publish!

 

[Belegon]

The only time I've ever done much planning of anything in my writing was when I was nearing what I felt was the natural ending time of my first novel. After 80,000 words plus of my typical "sit down and GO!" style, I needed to move things back to a place where I could resolve my plot threads.

Most of the time I have a vague idea of where I'm headed and then I just sit at the keyboard and try and let it flow.

The positive side, at least for me, is I feel like I get stronger characterization that way. And I also get that rare and usually positive moment when my own characters actually surprise ME!

The biggest negative is when I write myself into a conundrum where I have to scrap a bunch of stuff. That happens on ocassion and I even have one piece approaching forty thousand words that has been stuck since approx. 2006 because I haven t been a ble to find a way to write myself out of where I went... but I feel like the idea at the base of the story is too strong to completely abandon.

Ironically, the work in question has a Title and even cover art already assigned... the ironic part is that the title in question is Things Left Undone.

 

[TheExperimentalist]

Hi,

I'm new to writing erotica, or just writing in general. I was wondering - do you plan the entire story out beforehand and fill in the minutiae as you go or do you write one chapter at a time and after each chapter is completed you think of the next chapter?

I have many ideas but I think trying to incorporate them all at once is turning it into a mess. Any help is appreciated, thanks.

I'm an uncontrollable planner, to the point where I get stuck a lot on works longer than a few scenes because instead of just writing a scene, I end up thinking about all the ways the scene needs to fit in and all the things it needs to set up and wait, does this scene still leave room for this other scene that I have planned, and am I going to have to redo it later... and then I just end up staring at the blank page with decision paralysis rather than getting into a flow and fixing it later.

I think it's part of my control issues. I need to have the full picture RIGHT NOW, but pictures are created in pieces... and I haven't really come to terms with that.

I struggle with the same in my work or other projects, not just writing.

In short: Yes, I plan. No, the level to which I plan is not conducive to actually completing anything. I need to learn to just plan the broad strokes, and then adapt to make things fit (either adapt my major plot points if a scene I wrote feels right but leads the story in a bit of a different direction, or adapt a scene to steer it more toward the plot points I planned). But I can't adapt anything if it doesn't exist and I'm just stuck trying to keep it all in my head and make it make sense before writing anything.

 

[Djmac1031]

Most of the time, my stories start with the spark of an idea that only really grows when I start to write.

That said, there have been a few where I HAD to have some kind of outline first because without knowing where it would end up, there was no point starting it. Especially in some of my longer Fantasy stories, I couldn't just wing it but had to develop an actual plot first.

 

[redgarters]

I'm royally stuck with the first one that I've planned in a lot more detail than my previous ones. Am now pantsing the hell out of a plot bunny that was unlucky enough to jump out of the hedge of unwritten masterpieces yesterday, to try to fire up the little grey cells. Having a lot more fun with that approach. It seems planning is not my strong game.

 

[InvisibleHarvey]

I don't get paid to be here, so my experience of the writing-editing-publishing cycle is the only thing I care about.

Sometimes I write just to try things out and see what they look like on the page. Sometimes I adapt those things to fit in a story. Every story I've published was planned out, but I put most of them together using pieces I wrote without a plan.