How far do you plan your stories?

[AncestorDuck]

The title is quite obvious. How far, and above all, in what way do you plan your stories?

 

[Deleted member 146224]

First I try to come up with the general plot for the story, what kind of journey I want to send the MCs. Then I come up with with the ending. I want to know where should I be heading with it. Then I start moving to key events that should happen. Afterwards, I go into more details and smaller events. Lastly I build timeline with everything that I came up with and try to outline.

The general idea is like with drawing, to focus first on giving the general shape and only then zooming in and adding all the fine detail.

 

[TheEldritchGod]

START AT THE END.

You need to know what the ending of a plotline is, At least the final gut punch you plan for the reader to have. You can have an epilogue afterward, but you need that final scene in your head at least. Just writing because "I have a cool idea." Doesn't work. You need to know the ending.

Most books are three acts.

You need a plot that starts then finishes in Act/Act, in order of importance:
1/3
1/1
3/3
2/2
1/2
2/3

What I mean is you introduce a plot in Act 1, then it ends in Act 3, followed by Act 1 ends in Act 1.

The overall plot, that goes from plot 1 to plot 3 is the most important, but 1/1 is the second most important because it KEEPS THE READER READING.

That means, before you start the story, you need to have 6 endings. I don't care how much you write it out, but you need 6 plots and 6 plot endings. ANYTHING ELSE IS BOTH UNNEEDED AND DANGEROUS. You also need to know how the plot STARTS. So you need 6 beginnings and 6 endings. However, if you work those out ahead of time, everything else is just filler to get the story to move from one key scene to the next.

For example:

1/3: Joe is summoned and he has to defeat the demon lord
1/1: Joe is dropped into a strange situation and needs to adjust.
3/3: Joe will have a setback he needs to overcome
2/2: Joe will go on a training montage.
1/2: Joe will encounter the miniboss and have to overcome them.
2/3: Joe will have a romance subplot where he meets a girl and they fall in love by the end.

So three things begin in the first act, 2 starts in the second, 1 in the last.
There is one conclusion in the first, 2 in the second, then 3 in the ending
(and if you do it well, it all comes together in one scene.)

It's simple, it's formulaic, IT WORKS.

If you do this, you won't "write in the wrong direction" because you know where the ending is. Once you work out those 6 starts and 6 ends, everything else in the book is just connective tissue.

 

[Tyranomaster]

I do a detail as needed model. When I started writing, I knew my premise, the beginning, a few major plot points, and the ending.

As I write each novel, I flesh out their outline near the beginning of the novel, so I know the beginning, major plot points, and ending of that novel's arc, as well as the next novel's beginning. That lets me flesh things out as I go, without accidentally steering too far from my original premise. Also keeps things manageable for workload.

 

[AmeronWerschrux]

The title is quite obvious. How far, and above all, in what way do you plan your stories?

I plan certain arcs, and I want certain events to happen in these arcs. In general, I want my stories to finish between 100-200 chapters because I don't like overstaying my welcome, but if I feel like I'll be pulling out some big hard-hitters, then that limiter is broken off to as long as it needs. I do more of guesswork for its length

 

[melchi]

The plan is to have an obvious ending that is out of reach.

The title / synops say what the main thing should be. Twist the plot around to create more of the main thing while advancing towards the out-of-reach ending.

So yeah, maybe a couple of chapters and lots of potential ideas.

 

[Dieter]

A chronologically-assorted list of scenes/moments I want to have in my story. I move them around, add stuff here and there, till I have a skeleton. Me writing chapters also follow a similar pipeline, whenever I get around to writing one ie. Also, a separate page for lore dump, for my own sanity's sake. That's basically it in a nutshell. Sometimes I have an ending in mind, sometimes I don't. But I don't sweat it.

 

[Akaichi]

I know nothing, and just write with a vague target in mind. I always find a better ideas as the chapters progress. Sometimes they turn out very bad though... Or I might dig myself into some huge plot hole...
Anyway, This is the only way I can continue writing without getting board. I can't write if I know the end. It would be no fun!

 

[KoyukiMegumi]

I usually start by knowing the end, and then I figure out how the rest goes by starting. The first chapter is usually the hardest for me to write.

 

[RepresentingCaution]

Plan my what now?

 

[ParticleOfSand]

I have a giant list of arc ideas in the background that I constantly add to. When it comes to the arc, I do a rough outline of events and further define it as I go. Most of the time, the subtle details are completely different from the outline, but that's the fun part. I get to see how much my ideas have changed/modified to better fit the narrative.

 

[Deleted member 84247]

You guys plan your stories?

 

[PancakesWitch]

I barely plan anything other than "this will be what they're working towards" and "this is the event i want to happen" or "they have defeat that one guy somehow", but it's all mental planning and i usually dont write anything most of the time, I let my own imagination and improvisation fill in everything else, so sometimes things may change over time whenver I feel they got too boring to write, so I gave them twists, add new characters, or new enemies as long as it can make it fun

 

[RiaCorvidiva]

What's a 'plan'? Is it something you eat?

 

[Deleted member 84247]

What's a 'plan'? Is it something you eat?

I plan to eat you.

 

[RiaCorvidiva]

I plan to eat you.

I figured you were more a 'drink my blood' rather than an 'eat my flesh' kinda girl, but sure, I consent. You know where to find me.

 

[MDupree]

I lay out some events that have to occur and some people that have to be met/interacted with, and create some empty “chapter” documents that I can dump ideas relevant to them in as they crop up.

Overall, I'd say I like to have an idea for half an “arc” but with a lot of pantsing and moving parts around around as I go.

 

[RainyLiquid]

I've been winging it for the last 100 chapters.

 

[melchi]

Plan my what now?

Don't give up!

 

[WeissBlatt]

I plan as much as I can, whether I follow said plan or not is a different matter.