Writing Not sure if I planned far enough

[Deleted member 68927]

So, a new story is bubbling out of me. An original one, which is not crack.

I have this freshly turned trickster god, who challenges the Grim Reaper for the crown of the gods.

Because he is young and good, he just wants to make sure the Grim Reaper stops killing gods at what seems to be at random, but has layers upon layers of reasoning.

The Grim Reaper is this level headed guy, who just does his job. The thing is, no one wants to die, so he is viewed as evil.

With all that said, I have the following plan:

Step one: Trickster God makes the Grim Reaper drown in feels.

Step two (probably arc 2 or book 2) Grim Reaper goes into the underworld, since he starts to believe he is evil, leaves his job to the Trickster God.

TG(Trickster God) can't handle the job, gives it to his pal Ares, and runs off to convince GR(Grim Reaper) to come back, because people are suffering.

Epic journey to the underworld ensures.

Step two(arc 3 or book 3) GR teaches TG the value of hard choices. They get together, but GR does not take back his crown.

TG learns how it feels to be death, grows to appreciate GR.

Then the Dark Lord I mentioned in the first chapter and only got mentions for three books straight captures his lord and master GR.

Step 4: final book

TG makes the other gods find a way through the magical barrier of the dark lord, grows as a leader, guides the story to the rescue of GR and after he puts the DL before a trial, reincarnates him into an apple tree.

Happy end, roll the credits.

So, any tips?

 

[Keene]

That's all you need.

Focus on finding your character's voice, and the scenes (and from that, the worldbuilding and arcs) will flow naturally from that.

At least, that's what I've found for myself. I'm more of a discovery writer than a planner.

When I do plan though, I've found starting at the end and roughly working backwards helps a lot. This works at a scene level, thinking of the final sentence spoken by a character, or the cliffhanger ending, and then working backwards and the natural chain of events that will lead to that final event just appears by itself. It also works at the top level, the ending of the arc (for example, something big, like a god dying or someone becoming a god) and then working backwards from that.

This is a tip I learned from planning DND sessions, by this video:

 

[Enkiari]

Wow. You have planned more than I ever did for my stories! Great job!
Honestly, for a pantser, this is plenty. If you are confident in bullshiting your story forward, start writing.
Often writing is better than being stuck in an endless loop of planning.
I know a few people who always plan and create settings, but never get to writing.

Then again, if you find yourself lost a couple of chapters in, it is probably better to go back to planning.

 

[Deleted member 68927]

Wow. You have planned more than I ever did for my stories! Great job!
Honestly, for a pantser, this is plenty. If you are confident in bullshiting your story forward, start writing.
Often writing is better than being stuck in an endless loop of planning.
I know a few people who always plan and create settings, but never get to writing.

Then again, if you find yourself lost a couple of chapters in, it is probably better to go back to planning.

Or take breaks =). I am now kinder to myself!

 

[Zagaroth]

I literally started with just a scenario in my head and started writing it.

I pieced together my antagonists from when the characters shared a bit of their histories with each other.

I kept going from there. I keep adding to the world and creating new characters, most of whom take on a life of their own.

Remain flexible in your plans, don't be afraid to throw out ideas if they don't work, and roll with new ideas that just fit and are perfect.

 

[Director_Kun]

The way I wrote a story was write a very long draft like 125000 words long, pacing doesn't need to be consistent. You just need to explore the world and characters, which my draft did, then just rewrite the entire story to what you really want it to be. Discover first then rewrite it with an actual plan in mind, which was what I did. I wrote the draft for nearly a year (started writing swords & Gunpowder last year in early august) made maps, character wikis, nation wikis and over all just explored the world the story will take place in. Then I wrote what the published iteration is, it worked really well with me.