Organizing the Plot

[lhasa]

I'm sorry if a similar topic has already been posted. I think I checked all of the threads, but I'm always bound to miss something.

Are you a meticulous plotter? Do you have your entire plot written out already or are you the type of person who just starts a story and works on the plot as you go along?

If you are a plotter, how do you organize it? Do you just write or type it out, use index cards, or use another 'system' entirely?

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I think I'm somewhere in the middle (most of the time). I have a bare bones outline of story events before I start and I just fill it out as I come up to a certain chapter. I usually write or type ideas out first and then use index cards to arrange the elements.

Recently, I've used Liquid Story Binder (a birthday gift from a friend) to organize the outline and type character descriptions. It's pretty useful for the outline and character description feature, but I prefer writing out ideas on MS Word or in pen.

[thelunarfox]

This is a good question. I'm curious to see what others will say because I am SO horrible at this. I really am.

For me, I just write a lot. For the 13 chapter Michael and Edith story, I filled up one composition book with scenes I saw in my head. Then I went to work on plot once something became clear.

Even then, I don't really map out the plot. Instead I organize the pieces I've written looking for clues. It really does work out a lot like one of those sequential picture puzzles when you were a kid where you had to put the events in order.

[girlyesterday]

Every writer is different in how they work, some find the actual story writing easier if they meticulously plan their plots and others just 'wing it' and go with the flow, chopping and changing where required. I think that's called organic writing where the plot pretty much writes itself.

I would say I am one of those organic writers.

I have a general idea (ie. This character is trying to find out who they are) and from there, the bulk of the fleshing out is done on the spur of the moment, as I write a chapter. Most times, my stories take very sharp and jarring turns because of this.

I admire people who can plan their plots meticulously. I've tried doing that, it doesn't work for me. I always feel like I am bound by the darn outline which in turn usually ends up making me feel:

1) Restrained
2) Like I am being creatively muffled
3) Resentful of the story
4) Thereby losing interest ... fast

Which is why organic works for me, even if some of the things I write don't really make sense. Eventually, they'll sort themselves out.

A good topic for discussion Ihasa.

To add: I've recently resorted to not writing anything down at all and just keeping it in my noggin. If I feel the need, I'll sit down and just write out whatever scene happens to bombard my brain or alternatively, I've resorted to writing comic style conversations between characters to give me a bit of a jumpstart when I come to actually writing the chapter itself in its narrative form.

[laura]

I love these kind of posts, where we sit and try to dissect our process

I think I'm a plotter, which sounds weird to say since my stories are about a thousand percent character-driven. But I always find myself sketching ahead of where I'm writing, testing out scenarios, finding out how all the different pieces affect each other, or all the possible ways they could affect each other in slightly different situations, or if one character did or said something differently.

I rarely ever want to write something unless I know what it's doing or where it's headed (or where it could be headed, I guess.) I like having that momentum. Even if the character changes their mind about where they thought they were going (as we often do), I'll just resketch where I thought things were going. This is partly why my sketching ahead is usually kept pretty rough. I just don't want to polish it until I've worked through the start to make sure it's going to stick.

So lhasa, I'd say I work a lot like you, except for the bare bones part. My sketching ahead, though rough, is usually pretty meaty, with dialogue and scene ideas and everything.

Yes, I would say I'm meticulous. It's the Virgo in me I use good old fashioned text documents for my "real" writing. I sketch my outline/notes ahead of where I'm currently writing, in the general order they should happen, right into the chapter slots where I imagine they should go, and fill and polish things as I go along, though sometimes (okay, often) not in order.

Strangely (or not strangely maybe), I write my LH stories the exact same way. I have one giant draft post saved that I keep editing, plotting and sketching ahead - I am TERRIFIED I might accidentally publish that thing some day, hit the wrong button, and disclose all my secrets, lol! I have that sketched out well ahead of where I'm writing now, each update having a slot for where it will go, and what I plan to do with it. Some updates are much more planned than others, some even to the point of fully written before I've even turned on the game.

Carnaxa, I think it's fascinating how a certain method could work for, or otherwise completely stifle, two different writers.

[Stacy]

I personally could not write if I knew the plot beforehand. I think what I love the most is seeing what Valley wants to do and where it goes and having sudden insights into it.

[laura]

Dec 25, 2009 0:51:55 GMT -5 Stacy said:

I personally could not write if I knew the plot beforehand.

Sure you could, it's just called second-drafting. First time through is all discovery and fun, second time through is pure work

[mdpthatsme]

So what's tenth drafting? A chore?

turkey and stuffing

[dbloveshermac]

For the Fisherman and his Wife story, I wrote the words first, then simmed and snapped in a very regimented fashion until I had what I wanted. I was in control. I was pretty pleased with the way it turned out.

For the Foliage legacy, I have no idea what they are going to do until they do it, and it surprises, horrifies, and delights me continually. It is a little bit of work and a lot of fun!

[rad]

This is interesting for me at the moment. In the challenge-based stories, it mostly depended on what happened in-game, though I have at times (especially in The Lazarus Dispatches) manipulated gameplay to fit what I wanted to happen.

However, Taken is proving to be a weird beast. My initial inspiration started from two things: one was a girl pretending to be a friend who had gone missing or died, the other something that currently is due to occur right near the end of the story. I then realised these could be part of the same story and the story was about these young people who were going 'missing'.

After that, Naomi's situation came to me, then the place where they were being taken to, then some of the details of the place and what was happening there, then, later on, the two major scenarios you will encounter roughly half-way through. So the five key storylines were with me relatively early on, and some of the details, too. For example, what happens to some of the characters is clear. Who some of the characters are you have yet to meet is also clear. I know quite a lot of the fine detail about the place the teens have been taken and why they are there, and some details about who is behind it.

Then there are the surprises. I had a very specific storyline in mind when I created Naomi, but she's taking a direction I hadn't originally planned which seems much more fitting. I still like aspects of the original idea I had (and I'd even created a bunch of sims for that storyline) but I'm really not sure I will carry on with it, certainly not as I had envisaged it originally (I won't tell you what that was because I may keep aspects of it, either for Naomi, or for someone else).

*Spoilers if you haven't read chapter 9 yet*

The current chapter - well I had a boy/girl plot in mind but no idea who the characters would be and I wasn't clear exactly where it would go, but when I was playing around with the 6B girls and the 2B boys I realised who it should be, and where their storyline would go.

I know what will happen to Jenny and Nita, but the other four girls I am still working out. I thought I had a storyline for Niamh but now I am wondering if it really belongs to Irina... and I think they're best friends so actually whichever one has the storyline, it will impact the other. As for the 2B boys, I am still figuring out who they are and which of them will become important characters and which won't. There are a bunch of things that need to occur at the classified location, but I don't yet know which will use the 6B/2B groups, which will use other B-Blockers, which will use other residents.

And then the other night, a new character appeared in my head. I know who she is n herself but not who she is in relation to the characters/scenarios I have, so I am looking forward to finding out.

So, yeah. I have plenty figured out but the surprises keep coming, and in some cases, they change the plans.

[celebkiriedhel]

Tolstoy wrote 'War and Peace' 40 times. I'd hate to say what the 40th re-write would be! :lol

I like to set up an initial premise, and then see where it takes me. Then when I get stuck, I write an ending, or 5 scenes ahead to see where it goes.

I've got a story where I've done detailed plotting from beginning to end, and I just don't want to write it. It feels like it's done already.

So minimal plotting for me.