Quest for a beginning

[flip]

Hey everyone, I was wondering what kind of processes everyone goes through getting prepared to start writing a story/novel. What do you start with? What kind of planning is all involved.

I am currently working on a project that started with knowing who the two main characters were and what kind of people they were going to be. My story kind of developed from there. I am planning the plot right now...it is supposed to be a trilogy. I know how the trilogy is going to start and how it is going to end...but it is kinda weird trying to find the middle.

What do you guys do when writing?

[Gwalchmai]

I've done a couple different things trying to really make my own novel writing work. What has been most successful for me is to do one massive brainstorm of everything you would like to include in the novel. It will come out fairly random like for me: The sky is a pale green, so it's also a note I have to work out what colour the ocens and clouds would be etc.

Any way I then go into some serious outlining. Breaking it down into chapters really helps but what I've also done is start a timeline of events that the story will follow and then I'll go back and group them up into chapters which works out fairly well.

My English prof. was most definatly right in saying that the more you write out before you write the essay/story/novel, the easier it will be to write.

Well anyways, thats what i do for my own writing.

[flip]

Ok, I will keep that in mind. I've done a little outlining, but I need to do more.

[thegrimmsleeper]

Stuff comes to me at such random times. I usually have a notebook or recorder with me to take down ideas, and if that fails I'll call my own cell phone and leave a voicemail until I can get to a computer.

Once I get an idea for a story, I'll write down whatever random notes come my way. Sometimes it takes awhile for things to gel; I generally don't rush it or force it. Once I know enough about the story, I'll write a three or four paragraph summary, which usually leads to more ideas and further notes.

I've had stories where I knew the outcome right away and stories where even I was kept guessing until the time came to write it. I try to be as "professional" as I can these days, making time to write at least once a day for a little while so the knife stays sharp, so to speak.

But the biggest thing that works well for me - and this takes a lot of patience, which I have developed over the years - is that if something doesn't work out right now, sometimes I'll let it rest for a week, a month, six months... and whenever a solution finally presents itself, it's usually golden. I'm not in a hurry; I have enough story ideas going that I'm always working on something or other.

Obviously if you hope to write professionally you can't really let stuff sit and simmer like that. But it works well for me.

[CynanMachae]

gwalchmai said:

My English prof. was most definatly right in saying that the more you write out before you write the essay/story/novel, the easier it will be to write.

Mine says the same thing.

There is a process called freewriting, which can be used at the VERY beginning of work on a novel. Basically, it's like word association with yourself, and moving far faster than anyone cares to write. Tak a pad of paper and a pen/pencil, and just start writing. What do you want to do with your story? Who are the characters? What happens? Write EVERYTHING down, and, here's the key: don't STOP writing. Even if you go completely brain dead, keep writing random, absurd things that may or may not have anyting to do with your story. My prof. says that all the ideas in your head are tumbling around, and the oly way you can organize them on paper is if you stop focusing on one idea in particular and just randomly reach into your brain to retrieve te others.

Also, don't even think about writing - especially a trilogy - until you have a COMPLETE outline; beginning, middle, end. Most people say that writing the ending is the easiest, but that's not necessarily true. Know EXACTLY where you want to end, down to the very word, before you write the beginning. That way, you don't get bored as easily.

[Treskillard]

I started out by brainstorming and writing down everything I could think of regarding the story and the characters involved. This composted for a number of months. Because my story had historical elements, I also did some research, but not *too* much.

After that, I wrote a sample chapter, right out of the middle of my book. I picked that spot because I didn't have to worry about (a) all the back story or (b) getting that opening paragraph just right. I chose a spot in my story that seemed especially exciting, and just wrote it out. It was refreshing and gave me some orientation and the first sense of the voice that I would use in the novel.

After that, I didn't "write" again for at least a year. I did a *LOT* more research, honed my outline (via Randy Ingermanson's Snowflake Method), and fleshed out my characters. Part of the reason that it took me so long is that I was mapping out a potential five book series, and so the research & design of that was very in-depth.

For my outlining, I used Excel, and as part of that developed what I call the THIRST method of outlining. The important thing about this method is that it makes you think about how each scene will affect the reader's emotions. I'm going to be posting a sample spreadsheet soon, but you can see what I've written about this at my blog.

After my outline was done, then I started at the beginning and wrote my prologue (which I am constantly improving), and then moved page by page through the book. I am now past 60% done, and just two days ago I made a major milestone: I got to the point where I was able to grab that "first" out-of-order chapter that I had written two years earlier and begin "melding" it into the book! It is amazing to see that at least 80% of it is usable as is, with the rest just needing editing and revising.

Anyway, that is the process I have gone through, FWIW.

[miacalima]

My stories usually starte with the character. I'll go around for months sometimes with a character in my mind just waiting for a plot to put them in. I usually try to write down all I do know about the character or story, which sometimes turns into whole scenes and chapters.
I try to write outlines, but they often get changed quite a bit mid writing as new plot threads appear.
As for beginning, I like to remember some advice that an old art teacher gave me, "Draw what you see, not what you think you should draw." Visualize how your story will unfold like an inner movie, and write what you see. At what point does the story begin in your mind?
Maybe the story actually begins after your character is dead; or maybe when they buy a magical harp on E-bay. Sheesh, Shreck begins with him coming out of an outhouse!

[Seeker Of Truth]

My story started out as a dream I had one night, crazy as that might sound, and when I woke up I just started writing down everything I could remember from the dream, and it has just slowly evolved from there. Since then I've done brainstorming, freewriting, listing, and actually writing the parts that I could see like scenes playing out in my head. Finding names for the people and places actually helped me a lot too.