What method do you use to build your novel ?

[AmbreaTaddy]

For me, it has always been the snowball method. It's a step by step method to build steadily your story, and after trying quite a few over the years, it truly is the one who suits me the most.

For the curious ones, here it is using my novel as an exemple :

---

1. Start with a sentence

Spoiler: Exemple

Ex : It's a girl that is poor and then becomes famous thanks to a system

2. Develop the story in easy words

Spoiler: Exemple

Ex : Cyrielle is poor and very sad, but suddenly a system appears in her life. She gains abilities that allow her to become more and more well known. But since people can't know that, they assume she had those abilities since the beginning and was hiding it, so they misunderstand and think she comes from french high society.

3. Write the synopsis

Spoiler: Exemple

Ex : Come on, you know what a synopsis is !

4. Do your research

Spoiler: Exemple

Ex : I had to research about the entertainement industry, what it meant to be an independant artist in France, different french events that I would like my character to attend, etc...

5. Develop the story by fleshing out the key scenes

Spoiler: Exemple

Ex :
- Cyrielle loses her job because of the pandemic
- When she sings at a karaoke, a system appears and she gains the 'singing' ability
- She is invited to sing in a bar
- etc...

6. Develop more, write the details of each scene

Spoiler: Exemple

- After losing her job because of the pandemic, Cyrielle becomes homeless
- She crashes on a friend's couch, and despairs more and more because she can't find a new job
- Seeing her depressed, the friend calls Cyrielle's best friend to drag her out and go to a bar or something
- etc...

7. Once you have your story down, flesh out the characters and the places

Spoiler: Exemple

Ex : Who is that friend that allows Cyrielle to sleep on his couch ? Why did he allow it ? What does he do for a living ? What does it mean to him to have someone at home ? What does his place looks like ? Who is Cyrielle's best friend ? Why are they best friends ? Since when ? etc...

8. Write your chapters

---

That's it for the snowball method !

And for you, which method suits you best ?

 

[MarekSusicky]

Woah that's really awesome process! I just let my characters out of the bag and they run around doing... stuff

 

[Tempokai]

My Dao Of Worldmaking anti-guide my writing process, but each step happens simultaneously. Too bad that it only works when there's no chaos called life, only when I have free time and energy or the sudden motivation that I need to do it now.

 

[Rookieqw]

An idea hits my mind.

I sit down and write a very short outline, marking motivations, plot points, and reasons.

I create a separate file named decriptons (it is very easy to forget who was injured or about a plot relevant emblem).

I draw a rough map using whatever tools I have.

Then I start writing, chapter by chapter, asking myself if my characters' actions make sense in the universe. Are their mistakes believable? Are their beliefs consistent with how they were raised and how the world has influenced them?

Before posting a chapter, I rest a day and read it again to catch any inconsistencies in the plot.

Then I finish the story, understand that no one has commented for several months, and realize that I made a mistake in my assumptions and created a story that no one but myself was interested in.I give myself time to rest a little to shake off the depression of understanding that despite my best efforts, I am so much worse than everyone else, and set about writing a new story, trying to improve it based on whatever criticism I receive, in the hope that the next work will be better.

 

[Corty]

I build it while writing the chapters. I only have rough plot points and an outline with an ending in mind to let the story develop naturally as I write. Then, I build on what I have already finished writing, modifying things in my original idea to fit what I have published, keeping it consistent, and changing accordingly to what I decided should happen.

 

[Daydreamers]

I focus on the plot more than anything, so i plan the progress i need to make in said chapter, ex: it takes 4 scenes or 5 etc then i write each separately , once i do that i think of how to connect them . It is not a good method though i struggle with transitions, sometimes the pace is uneven, and i delete some scenes for good which leads to overworking

 

[Deleted member 172779]

I focus on the plot more than anything, so i plan the progress i need to make in said chapter, ex: it takes 4 scenes or 5 etc then i write each separately , once i do that i think of how to connect them . It is not a good method though i struggle with transitions, sometimes the pace is uneven, and i delete some scenes for good which leads to overworking

Huh, your ways are similar to mines. But I just write, write, write! After the plot reach the end. I start fine tuning it.

I don't plan things out, I just let my idea and imagination combine together. Then I let my Brain do the rest of Imagination-to-text translation to my hand, writing down everything that is recorded in my temporal memory.

I don't know if someone did the same with mines.

 

[Dieter]

Doesn't matter if you start with an ending, outline everything first, iterate it, or wing it. Methodology will always fail you because its irrelevant. The only thing that matters in creative writing is how long you can tolerate that vague sense of disquietude which happens to you when things are left unresolved. During much of the creative process (the part that really matters) where from the outside you look like you're idling and doing nothing, staring into empty space, that's the part that really matters. If you want an advice, then don't open youtube or tiktok when you get stuck and feel uncomfortable.

 

[AmbreaTaddy]

Between chos and order, It seems people here are more on the chaos side !

You must have well functioning creative brains ! On my hand, if I don't do the snowball method I just space out in front of my writing software because I don't know what I'm doing with my life and I have no idea what to do with my story. I need to have clear guidelines set for myself

 

[Iamnotabot]

Stop snitching our secret, can't have every one know how to write a good novel

 

[Hans.Trondheim]

1) I plan the outline.
2) I flesh out the story by writing the plot.
3) I do research on the theme I wanted to write.
4) I start my "writing mode" by writing in short bursts.
5) Once writing mode kicks in, I focus in a chapter a day for a month.
6) Oncr I reached my goals for tbe story, I edit.
7) Once satisfied, I publish my work.

With that, I finished my 21-book novel.

 

[Nolff]

For me, it has always been the snowball method. It's a step by step method to build steadily your story, and after trying quite a few over the years, it truly is the one who suits me the most.

For the curious ones, here it is using my novel as an exemple :

---

1. Start with a sentence

Spoiler: Exemple

Ex : It's a girl that is poor and then becomes famous thanks to a system

2. Develop the story in easy words

Spoiler: Exemple

Ex : Cyrielle is poor and very sad, but suddenly a system appears in her life. She gains abilities that allow her to become more and more well known. But since people can't know that, they assume she had those abilities since the beginning and was hiding it, so they misunderstand and think she comes from french high society.

3. Write the synopsis

Spoiler: Exemple

Ex : Come on, you know what a synopsis is !

4. Do your research

Spoiler: Exemple

Ex : I had to research about the entertainement industry, what it meant to be an independant artist in France, different french events that I would like my character to attend, etc...

5. Develop the story by fleshing out the key scenes

Spoiler: Exemple

Ex :
- Cyrielle loses her job because of the pandemic
- When she sings at a karaoke, a system appears and she gains the 'singing' ability
- She is invited to sing in a bar
- etc...

6. Develop more, write the details of each scene

Spoiler: Exemple

- After losing her job because of the pandemic, Cyrielle becomes homeless
- She crashes on a friend's couch, and despairs more and more because she can't find a new job
- Seeing her depressed, the friend calls Cyrielle's best friend to drag her out and go to a bar or something
- etc...

7. Once you have your story down, flesh out the characters and the places

Spoiler: Exemple

Ex : Who is that friend that allows Cyrielle to sleep on his couch ? Why did he allow it ? What does he do for a living ? What does it mean to him to have someone at home ? What does his place looks like ? Who is Cyrielle's best friend ? Why are they best friends ? Since when ? etc...

8. Write your chapters

---

That's it for the snowball method !

And for you, which method suits you best ?

My two writing methods every day:

- Gets ideas
- Sit down
- Not receiving enough motivation
- Sees too many unavoidable distractions
- Procrastinating is my ninja way

Or

- Gets motivations
- Gets ideas
- Types the first word of the day
- Receives orders from the higher-ups (Parents) to do chores, etc
- Do orders
- Back to workplace
- Forgets ideas and lose motivations because hyperfixation expired added with ADHD-diagnosed brain

I'm a genius.

 

[CharlesEBrown]

Woah that's really awesome process! I just let my characters out of the bag and they run around doing... stuff

Ah, the RPG school of writing?

1. I usually start with a question:
What if a person suddenly woke up in a different body?
or
Can someone write an Isekai with a System in a Western instead of a quasi-medieval fantasy setting?
or
Can a superhero story work with a noir inspired hero?
or
Can I write a romance novel?

2. From there I come up with a few visual images I want to portray:
How this person now looks and maybe even acts, if possible, compared to how they were used to look. Some scenes of the character interacting with the new world.
or
The nature of the System and the character discovering it; a few visual Western tropes.
or
A collection of Noir tropes turned into visual items.
etc.

3. And then I go to:
What kind of plot would justify these images/answer these questions?

4. Usually, I have a rough outline (99% of the time only in my head) and one or two characters at this point; then I work on what other characters do I need immediately?

5. Then I start writing. Frequently I revisit steps 2 and 4 as I go along, adding visual elements, writing the "connecting tissue" and adding characters as the story seems to need them. Every once in a while, I stop to do research, especially if I'm writing in a modern world or trying to get an historical point correct (for example I have a mummy/romance/superhero story that I've spent more time researching details for than writing).

 

[Rezcore]

I mostly wing it, but I have an ai tool that was made for me, that creates a guide of what I've written, and notifies me if I contradict it. It doesn't work all the time, and I am having a new one built

 

[ArcadiaBlade]

To put into perspective, mine is just adopting a dog I saw in a shop, starting to take care of it, let go of the leash....

Now my dog begins to build a gundam and plans on defeating the eldrich gods because his lover starts an intergalactic race war because succubus are better than elves and now I'm panic because no one would believe everything I write and was told that I just came out of the mental hospital a few hours ago. Also I lost him because he went back in time to his kill his creator.

Pretty much how I usually write my story goes.

 

[RainyLiquid]

I literally just throw words at a blank page and hope for the best. :/ I didn't know we were supposed to have a method.

 

[Nolff]

I literally just throw words at a blank page and hope for the best. :/ I didn't know we were supposed to have a method.

Ah yes, the idiot treatment.

"Throw everything to the wall. Step 2, pray them all sticks to the wall."

 

[Hoshino]

1) I ask chatgpt "are you bisexual?"
If the answer is yes, then i go with plan X and if no, then Plan Y and if it refused to answer, then Plan Z.
2)Plan x, y, z are composed of different themes . For example Plan Z is themed off love.Then those themes go into sperate parts.
4)Then i start the power system which i chose by asking leo(an Ai) what is the probability of getting a viable outcome when the total possibilities is i.e. 6(the number of ideas i have) and the exponents are i.e.10(the number of possibilities i can make)If it refuses to answer then i choose the option which is substitute of x.
5)The plot i chose by my inspiration, my inspiration comes from animes, light novels, theories i make while i space out, daydreams, my dairy, mangas, manhwas, and finally by the universe.
6)The chapters are written by my mood.
7)The ending is always a tragedy cuz i don't like happy endings.

Hope that helps!

 

[istryj]

Muh metods work good

How Could It Look? Let’s Consider a Humorous Example:

We want to write a book; we have nothing. We need a hero. Let’s say it’s a young mage. What would he do? He is busy creating a magical staff of incredible power. Not interesting. He is busy creating a magical staff that his family has been working on for a thousand years. Yes. In the end, he creates it, but it’s still not interesting. Introduce an anti-hero who hates the hero (maybe the hero stepped on his cloak in childhood) and therefore steals the staff right after its creation. Not interesting. The anti-hero steals the staff, the hero’s girlfriend, and his beloved dog. There you go.

Since the staff is stolen, now there must be a chase. On dragons? Dull. On airships. There’s a whole guild of airship drivers who handle transportation in that world and are sometimes hired to bomb mages with bombs. Good. The hero chases the anti-hero, catches up with him, and a battle ensues. How do they fight? On staffs, it’s not interesting… Maybe our hero and anti-hero are nobles and have some sort of status weapon? Yes. Let it be “mawashi geri” – I don’t know what that is, never eaten it, but they say it’s a cool thing. Great – they take out their mawashi geri, and a fight occurs. The hero returns the staff. Not interesting. The staff falls overboard the airship? Not interesting. The hero’s girlfriend, along with the staff, falls overboard the airship, into the jungle where a clan of hermits cultivates their golden cores and hasn’t seen women in 10,000 years! There! End of the first volume.

Everything is written down, and we return to the beginning.
Dictionary of Terms – now we have facts about the world that are guaranteed to be in the book. Record them.

Now we can detail the first scene where the hero stands on the balcony of the ancestral estate and, patting his trusty mawashi geri on his belt, dreams of finishing his family’s work. Airships fly across the sky and occasionally bomb unlucky mages… Great.

Begin the second iteration where we complicate the plot. It turns out the hero’s girlfriend cheated on him with the anti-hero… boring. She cheated on him with the dog! Start describing details. Make as many plot twists with complications as needed, and we will have a ready plan and even written separate scenes. You can write the book.

 

[AmbreaTaddy]

Muh metods work good

The method looks good, but as someone who used to practice karate I almost had a stroke (mawashi geri is the name of a basic kick in karate, it is not an object it is litteraly a move. Imagining someone casually containing a MOVE on his belt is... wow, a whole new level in this imaginary story)