Writing What questions did you ask yourselves when you started writing?

[BomBomBom]

I wrote and published a prologue on a whim as a way to say "Hey! Imma do this. I can and I will!"

And now I realized there are ideas that keep jumping through my head but I HAVE NO CLUE how to get the story actually going. So I want to ask you all:

- How do you decide the way your story unfold?
- What questions do you ask yourselves about the story? Or about anything related to writing?

 

[theInmara]

What is the coolest thing that could happen next?

alternating with:

What is the most fitting devastating thing that could happen next?

Each one followed by:

How would our characters react to this?

The results were that sometimes the cool thing or the devastating thing would come from the environment or the plot of the story itself, the villain or the circumstances, the way the rest of the world was reacting to what was going on, and sometimes either thing would come from one of the characters. At one point, a lover walked away from the relationship they were in, and we were like, "WHAT?!" But we went with it to see where it went, and it went good places.

To get started, we began with wish fulfillment. And then, we followed that up with some struggle and discovery, and then hit them with disaster. Then alternated from there.

 

[Renaxan]

1. Think of the ultimate ending of your story, whether you want to decide write short or long story I think the ending is the most important so you wouldn't get so lost at writing.

Of course there are pantser who could think anything they want at the moment, so this is might be subjective answer.

2. I always ask myself whether the story is actually readable or not to people, and whether I did convey want I have in my mind correctly in the story. And yeah, usually I ask people to tell me if there is something wrong in the chapter, told them to just comment.

 

[Plantorsomething]

Edit: after all of this shit I realized I misread the question because ADHD, but fuck it I’m posting this anyways.

Okay. I think I always had really fun and interesting concepts to use, and a vast majority of those have stayed with me, just transformed into more refined and complex ideas. But my start as an author was really fucking wobbly, and since I always place high expectations on myself constantly, I was really insecure when all of my cool ideas just couldn’t seem to fit into writing.

TLDR; Very slow, fun, eye-opening, self-esteem boosting, confidence lowering, frustrating, overall roller coaster of my emotions. The most interesting part of writing is how much it made me learn about myself and emotions, on top of making me research so many amazing things and guiding my inherent curiosity. I’d say my writing is a part of my identity now in a way none of my other hobbies really have been. But the learning curve, as well as the battle with your own expectations, can be extremely frustrating or depressing for me at some times.

Life story;
I genuinely enjoyed myself at first, but I let the expectations get to me and I stopped writing for about a year or two.

I picked it up again after I dropped drawing for the second time (irrelevant story), and I needed another medium to harness my ideas into. I was still not good, but I was noticeably much better than before, and I managed to piece together the begginings of a work that I was actually proud of for once.
Then I started a cycle of making original stories, getting confused as I couldn’t refine the ideas well enough, repeat. Then I entered a cycle of making original stories, getting bored, repeat. I’m breaking into a third cycle now, and I’m exited to see what’ll come next.

 

[greyblob]

figure out an ending.
carefully craft the waifus you need
plan out a bunch of key events and try to reach them
fill in what's left as you go by

 

[NotaNuffian]

Have a big ending.

Then have smaller endings that lead to there.

Most of the time I ask myself these questions:

1. Am I that bored to try and make a story that I will never publish?
2. Are there porn for me to distract myself?
3. Why am I even writing when I can get my fix somewhere else?

 

[BomBomBom]

1. Think of the ultimate ending of your story, whether you want to decide write short or long story I think the ending is the most important so you wouldn't get so lost at writing.

Of course there are pantser who could think anything they want at the moment, so this is might be subjective answer.

2. I always ask myself whether the story is actually readable or not to people, and whether I did convey want I have in my mind correctly in the story. And yeah, usually I ask people to tell me if there is something wrong in the chapter, told them to just comment.

I do actually have an ending scene playing in my head, and hopefully if not thing change, that will be the ending I want.
What do you mean by "readable"? Should I just...do my best and hope some people will point out things I can improve?

Edit: after all of this shit I realized I misread the question because ADHD, but fuck it I’m posting this anyways.

Okay. I think I always had really fun and interesting concepts to use, and a vast majority of those have stayed with me, just transformed into more refined and complex ideas. But my start as an author was really fucking wobbly, and since I always place high expectations on myself constantly, I was really insecure when all of my cool ideas just couldn’t seem to fit into writing.

TLDR; Very slow, fun, eye-opening, self-esteem boosting, confidence lowering, frustrating, overall roller coaster of my emotions. The most interesting part of writing is how much it made me learn about myself and emotions, on top of making me research so many amazing things and guiding my inherent curiosity. I’d say my writing is a part of my identity now in a way none of my other hobbies really have been. But the learning curve, as well as the battle with your own expectations, can be extremely frustrating or depressing for me at some times.

Life story;
I genuinely enjoyed myself at first, but I let the expectations get to me and I stopped writing for about a year or two.

I picked it up again after I dropped drawing for the second time (irrelevant story), and I needed another medium to harness my ideas into. I was still not good, but I was noticeably much better than before, and I managed to piece together the begginings of a work that I was actually proud of for once.
Then I started a cycle of making original stories, getting confused as I couldn’t refine the ideas well enough, repeat. Then I entered a cycle of making original stories, getting bored, repeat. I’m breaking into a third cycle now, and I’m exited to see what’ll come next.

Relatable. I dont have ADHD but I tried picking up a few hobby here and there. And then when people told me I was actually good at it, I just...dropped it. That why I'm feeling kinda weird right now, cuz there is a high chance I will get bored and just drop writing, but part of me actually want to work on this and make it into something I actually proud of.

How do you decide on your writing schedule?

 

[RepresentingCaution]

I daydreamed a lot, and I kept changing things in my head until I had something workable.

 

[Motsu]

What the fuck am I writing?

 

[DarkGodEM]

I wrote and published a prologue on a whim as a way to say "Hey! Imma do this. I can and I will!"

And now I realized there are ideas that keep jumping through my head but I HAVE NO CLUE how to get the story actually going. So I want to ask you all:

- How do you decide the way your story unfold?
- What questions do you ask yourselves about the story? Or about anything related to writing?

 

[Maldon]

I wrote and published a prologue on a whim as a way to say "Hey! Imma do this. I can and I will!"

And now I realized there are ideas that keep jumping through my head but I HAVE NO CLUE how to get the story actually going. So I want to ask you all:

- How do you decide the way your story unfold?
- What questions do you ask yourselves about the story? Or about anything related to writing?

Is this dull to write? if it is then it's probably also dull to read.
Could something cool happen here?
How would this character react to this?

I'm saying it in a cool way, but I basically just wing it.

 

[Renaxan]

I do actually have an ending scene playing in my head, and hopefully if not thing change, that will be the ending I want.
What do you mean by "readable"? Should I just...do my best and hope some people will point out things I can improve?

Readable in here, mean that when you read it on your own, you are satisfied about the result of what you write instead of you got a reaction "what the fuck did I just write?" lmao.

Also people pointing out did happen, but it is very rare. Unless your story got have very interesting premise, plot going and popular tags *cough*, it is very small chance people bother to do that, ngl.

Keep your expectation small for that happen, but along the way don't give up on improving yourself. Good luck!

 

[Chadken]

'Are you winning son?'

 

[Plantorsomething]

I do actually have an ending scene playing in my head, and hopefully if not thing change, that will be the ending I want.
What do you mean by "readable"? Should I just...do my best and hope some people will point out things I can improve?

Relatable. I dont have ADHD but I tried picking up a few hobby here and there. And then when people told me I was actually good at it, I just...dropped it. That why I'm feeling kinda weird right now, cuz there is a high chance I will get bored and just drop writing, but part of me actually want to work on this and make it into something I actually proud of.

How do you decide on your writing schedule?

Definetly feel that lol!
In short;
Schedules and adhd are difficult to say the least, especially since there‘s nothing to enforce it but me. So I think of it more in terms of cycles of motivation, and I fill in the gaps between the cycle when writing one story by coming up with other stories. This way I’m always doing something, and it naturally falls into my style of motivation and idea generation.

Long Story;
I, and other people with similar energy styles (not only adhd I think), often live in the extremes, so I either work on it and get a fuck ton of progress done way quicker than others in a very short time frame, or I spend weeks trying to muster the energy to start the next chapter. If I want to create a new story, I let myself, and by the time I get to the first chapter I usually drop it or sometimes move on to the next story. It’s sort of frustrating, but fun in it’s own way as long as I can remind myself that this is how my brain works and I shouldn‘t hold myself to others’ standards.

As for long term projects, I only have a single recent experience with one of those. I managed to harness my impulsivity and skip the planning phase (it being a fan re-write of a mediocre WN with a very nice aesthetic definitely helped too) and I started out very fast, churning out many chapters within a week. That fell to one week as I fleshed out the world, magic, characters, and my future plans (in this case, changing the original author’s stuff and filling in the very many blanks). The thing that kept me going was primarily the feedback of validation, and not wanting to disappoint the readers. This has been a double edged sword, but I think it’s had a more positive effect than a negative one on me personally, and has been a very interesting experience that made me think a lot about how I write.

I THINK(not sure) what made this lean more positive was the fact that I almost always did enjoy the writing itself, even if motivation was tough to come by. I learned that lesson early on; always write what you want to write, because then what’s the point? And both you and your readers will find it very obvious, and the story itsef will suffer.

 

[BlackKnightX]

I wrote and published a prologue on a whim as a way to say "Hey! Imma do this. I can and I will!"

And now I realized there are ideas that keep jumping through my head but I HAVE NO CLUE how to get the story actually going. So I want to ask you all:

- How do you decide the way your story unfold?
- What questions do you ask yourselves about the story? Or about anything related to writing?

I’m pretty much a pantser. I used to do a rough plot in the past but soon found out that pantsing will make things flow more smoothly, and you’ll also have more control over the details.

Before I start to write a chapter, I will remind myself of the writer’s job—“First, you watch a movie play out in your mind. Second, you write them down.”

It’s pretty much that simple. You just have to let go of the fear. Tell yourself, “fuck it!” and start dreaming.

Oh, and don’t forget to have fun!

 

[Ilikewaterkusa]

I wrote and published a prologue on a whim as a way to say "Hey! Imma do this. I can and I will!"

And now I realized there are ideas that keep jumping through my head but I HAVE NO CLUE how to get the story actually going. So I want to ask you all:

- How do you decide the way your story unfold?
- What questions do you ask yourselves about the story? Or about anything related to writing?

No thoughts, head empty

 

[CypherTails]

I wrote and published a prologue on a whim as a way to say "Hey! Imma do this. I can and I will!"

And now I realized there are ideas that keep jumping through my head but I HAVE NO CLUE how to get the story actually going. So I want to ask you all:

- How do you decide the way your story unfold?
- What questions do you ask yourselves about the story? Or about anything related to writing?

1. Start with a story gimmick and premise
2. Build the world systems
3. Build the world
4. Fill the world with races
5. Fill the world with civilizations
6. Put cultures on the civilizations
7. Draft main character
8. Establish main objective/plot
9. Plot rough ending
10. Map out a few story arcs
11. Plan entry of plot point/world mechanic
12. Finalize the main character
13. Establish roles/purpose in the story of supporting characters
14. Finalize supporting characters
15. Integrate supporting characters into the world
16. Final thematic cohesion check
17. Begin writing

Just rephrase these as questions and that's my process

 

[EternalSunset0]

I wrote and published a prologue on a whim as a way to say "Hey! Imma do this. I can and I will!"

And now I realized there are ideas that keep jumping through my head but I HAVE NO CLUE how to get the story actually going. So I want to ask you all:

- How do you decide the way your story unfold?
- What questions do you ask yourselves about the story? Or about anything related to writing?

- I decided on the ending that I wanted to see. Like, a finishing scene that I would rewatch over and over again on Youtube as well as some of the lines being spouted, the music, etc. You get the picture. Then, I started putting the pieces together and gathering key scenes that I want to see. Stuff that would make me feel excited, stuff that would give me goosebumps, stuff that I could see being meme'd, stuff that would make me feel horny, then eventually everything compiled to create a story split across several volumes.

- How do I fill in the blanks in a way that would make sense? I don't have high standards with the media I consume at all, but I still don't want my work to end up being completely shitted on by people. Basically, something like a 6 or 7/10 (hopefully 8) is fine, but I just don't want it to become 2/10 or something, so stuff still had to make sense. I don't mind being generic, but I don't want to be completely unenjoyable if you get it.

As for writing in general, it's mostly related to execution. As a writer and a user of the English language, I'm pretty meh, so I had to keep asking for feedback from my beta reader on stuff like word choice. Plus, I almost always have a physical light novel by my side so I can have a point of comparison while keeping my own writing style.

 

[MyukiMruieast]

I made my first story offline during sixth grade and when I looked back I came to say “What the fucking hell is this thing ?”
Writing became a hobby not long ago, began with me trying to write a story to make myself happy and fulfilled. The start would start on how I would like, and how I continue it would based on how I wished to and what my mind tells me to do. Then, I started to share my stories online which I just recently found out I could. I began a new story, no idea on how it should em but it broke the 10 chapter barrier I was having and I was happy then I decided to plan it out — and it was a very bad idea! I will never plan anymore, I don't know why it wouldn't follow. So. When I have a story idea, U do this.

(Idea)

(Dream about how it should flow)

(Think)

(Look back)

(Think)

(Read)

(Just write anything)

(This is okay)

(Updates)

(And repeat)

 

[Olga_Haus]

For me the big question was "what am I trying to do here?"
In the sense of "What kind of fun am I trying to offer readers?"

Like... my story's got a lot of horror, comedy, sex and world-building. So I had to ask myself where the balance was.

Did I want people to be horrified? Amused? Aroused? Nerding out over fantasy concepts?
Which bits of the story was meant to do which things?

Once I was clicking 'publish' then I've got no control over how it gets read. Some readers might find horror beats horny or horny beats horrifying, or confuse the jokes and the lore (getting that one a lot) but that's the way it should be. Readers get the final say in how they react.

But if I didn't ask myself "what am I trying to do here?" I'd find it hard to do anything.