Writing What are your favorite steps in creating fiction?

[Eldoria]

What are your favorite steps in creating fiction?

1. Story Idea Research: This includes researching story ideas and finding a story premise that is original, authentic, engaging, and has a hook for potential readers in its market segment.

2. Story Idea Design: This includes character design, world-building, conflict and plot, and moral values.

3. Chapter Writing: The story design is implemented into a story draft.

4. Review: The draft is thoroughly evaluated, either independently (through brainstorming, etc.) or with the assistance of others.

5. Editing: Correcting flaws in the draft based on the review results.

6. Illustration and Cover Design.

7. Publication: This includes releasing the story on various platforms, scheduling releases, and engagement and SEO.

8. Promotion: Attracting new readers with various advertisements.

9. Adaptation: Fiction is packaged in various media, including text (novels and short stories), visual (comics), audio (Audible), video (anime and films), and opera.

Note: These steps are not always in order. It depends on the method you use in your fiction-making process.

 

[RepresentingCaution]

Playing several version of the first few chapters over and over in my head until I get a version that feels right

 

[Exiled_From_Earth]

Outlining is always my favorite part. I love turning my vague bullet point ideas into a full set of chapters

 

[JayMark]

Daydreaming.

Lucid dreams are the best.


1. Story Idea Research: Whats that? I just write what I fancy.

2. Story Idea Design: Probably #2. I like making characters, but it doesn't work for me when they are not in action. So the character file starts bare bones and grows organically. I like mapping out worlds in advance though.

3. Chapter Writing: Oh no, drafting, acruel mix of tripping fingers, suffering, love, selfloathing, and daydreaming.

4. Review: I like sniffing my own farts. #3

5. Editing: Rearranging the molecules of my farts and adding perfume is fun too. #4

6. Illustration and Cover Design. Not really. Got excited about AI, then not excited about AI, still learning this to be more well rounded despite already being fat.

7. Publication: This is just work. But yeah #4 because of the sense of satisfaction of releasing something for a change.

8. Promotion: I hate this. i hate it all. Why can't it just promote itself!

9. Adaptation: What's this? Can I eat it?

 

[LightHikari]

My favorite part is just winging it and being told that it's good afterwards.

 

[Juia_Darkcrest]

My favorite part is just winging it and being told that it's good afterwards.

Agreed =)

 

[Hush25]

1. Story Idea Design: This includes character design, world-building, conflict and plot, and moral values.
I have this terrible fear of my characters not fitting into my story, so as soon as the plot idea pops into my head I'm creating my characters, then doing the rest. I once wrote a 100k novel with THE WRONG HERO (it was actually the second male lead). Takes a certain kind of skill level, that.

2. Story Idea Research: I need to learn more self control. I end up down some pretty weird rabbit holes. Like, really weird.

3. Chapter Writing: Write the chapter and edit the chapter. I literally can't move on without doing this. I am like the tiger in KPop Demon Hunters with the flower pot.

4. Editing: Yes! Holds hands akimbo and lets out an eldritch screech.

5. Review: Literally walk away from it for as long as possible then come back and wonder what the hokey hey I was thinking in chapter 7.

6. Illustration and Cover Design. Yep.

7. Publication: Just do it. (I'm sorry Nike.)

8. Promotion: Nope.

9. Adaptation: * Cries *. You mean I need to do more work?

 

[Eldoria]

1. Story Idea Design: This includes character design, world-building, conflict and plot, and moral values.
I have this terrible fear of my characters not fitting into my story, so as soon as the plot idea pops into my head I'm creating my characters, then doing the rest. I once wrote a 100k novel with THE WRONG HERO (it was actually the second male lead). Takes a certain kind of skill level, that.

2. Story Idea Research: I need to learn more self control. I end up down some pretty weird rabbit holes. Like, really weird.

3. Chapter Writing: Write the chapter and edit the chapter. I literally can't move on without doing this. I am like the tiger in KPop Demon Hunters with the flower pot.

4. Editing: Yes! Holds hands akimbo and lets out an eldritch screech.

5. Review: Literally walk away from it for as long as possible then come back and wonder what the hokey hey I was thinking in chapter 7.

6. Illustration and Cover Design. Yep.

7. Publication: Just do it. (I'm sorry Nike.)

8. Promotion: Nope.

9. Adaptation: * Cries *. You mean I need to do more work?

I should have added the 10th step, translation, considering that much fiction is written in mother tongues and translated into English for global audiences. You'll probably cringe even more. But that's the complexity of fiction writing, and readers often don't realize it. Lol

 

[CinnaSloth]

Story Design.
World building, and Character creation are my absolute favorite.

Personally, everything else is just a fallout from that primary love. Wanting to share those worlds I create, or wanting to share the idea of characters, and their tribulations, and triumphs need me to write them, to share, to make real, and publish- which are all work. It's easy to find some enjoyment in it, especially when you see the interaction, and the engagement from that work put in, but I will never truly see it anymore, or less, than that; Work. Creating, and building, and imagination are my passion, but nobody can see what's in my head the way I do. So the rest are all necessary, but not the initial passion.

I can fully, completely respect anyone else's love for the crafts they adore, but I can't dive into the other sections of the creative process the way they would. Promotion, and advertisement are important and needed because nobody will see these amazing things otherwise. Creating book covers, thumbnails, or cover art for albums can carry enormous amounts of passion, but what if you hate coming up with your own stories? You need a source, something to inspire that side of passion. For me, creating is creating from either also from inspiration, or sometimes just from nothing, from your own imagination, from dreams, from nightmares, and expanding from small locations to, if you choose, into entire universes.. it's like magic!

I once fell in love with playing Sims, and couldn't NOT play, but it's a real time sink. I needed to move away from it like an addiction because, although, it had that source of creativity I loved, and craved for, it wasn't doing anything for me in reality beside the self-serving part that allowed me to fiend off of. But, at the same time, nobody else was seeing it. Nobody was able to indulge in it. It was essentially an empty shell; A bubble.

Writing, animation, art, music, and other creative sources are outlets creative people need in order to, in my opinion, invite people to truly see them; To see into their soul, as a person, as a human, as an individual. -It's work, hard work that needs to be learned, but Masterpieces are difficult works of passion.

That's just what I think. I just like books.

 

[Hush25]

I should have added the 10th step, translation, considering that much fiction is written in mother tongues and translated into English for global audiences. You'll probably cringe even more. But that's the complexity of fiction writing, and readers often don't realize it. Lol

I have edited more than my share of translated (bl cultivation) novels and translated a couple too. It indeed takes work and I don't think the beauty and subtle nuances of a language ever fully make it across into another tongue. Which is a case for learning more languages I guess.

 

[Nekyo]

Only the Story Design and Art Direction, everything else for me is pain and despair

 

[pangmida]

1. Story Idea Research: I don’t really do this, to be honest. An idea pops into my head, and I sort of just work with that. Most of my research relates to actual elements of an established idea. Should I start studying ideas and trends more? ?

2. Story Idea Design: Best part! I love character designing and worldbuilding. Takes hours upon hours of research, sometimes days if I get stuck on a small detail that I don’t know how to explain logically. It’s a labor of love. Readers will never know how many hours could’ve been put in a tiny line of detail that honestly holds no significance to the story, only worldbuilding flavor. ? I also love imagining my characters in certain scenes, and I will absolutely find ways for those scenes to happen in the plot. Anyways… yeah, this is the best step.

3. Chapter Writing: Love and hate this. If it’s a chapter that I’ve been excited to write, then I pump out words in super speed. If it’s something like a transitional chapter, then… I’ll take as long as possible to finish. Prose is always a challenge to write because I end up with countless open tabs like a thesaurus, Google Translate, several Google images for the best imagery, etc. just to cook up the most vivid description I could. Dialogue is fun because I like writing character interactions and occasionally voice act the scenes out loud to get into the zone.

4. Review: All I have is me, myself, and I. Once done writing, I close my eyes, kiss my draft goodbye, and publish. Regret is for later when I reread it and wish I’d done something differently.

5. Editing: I go over the original draft once, edit whatever I need, then publish. Then go back to an already published chapter and fix more mistakes. You may ask, why not just do that before publishing? The answer is—because I get impatient.

6. Illustration and Cover Design. I like this! I draw my own covers and illustrations, so it lets me refine my character designs more and also determine the mood I want to set for the story.

7. Publication: Kind of hate this :’) I get so anxious before publishing. Massive overthinker here. Cross-publishing in different platforms is even more overwhelming because I tend to stick to one platform and do my best to engage with others there. No energy left for other platforms.

8. Promotion: Absolutely hate this. I sound like a desperate whre begging for views. Trying to be nonchalant here (even though I want readers too).

9. Adaptation: What am I, famous? Just kidding lol. I like drawing, so sometimes I draw out certain scenes or even make little Webtoon style comics of my or other people’s stories.

 

[empalgepuk]

Outlining.

It's where I could write as free as I want before I have to prune most of them