On planning and extras

[Xerjester]

Right now, there’s an energy drink sitting on my desk, a nicotine patch on my arm, some metal coming out of the speakers, and thousands of stories bouncing around in my head.

Ready to work.

But that’s the gag for writers, isn't it? Stories to tell. In point of fact, that’s really the entire reason I recently published a digital novella based in the same world that my Archetype Trilogy takes place in.I could have just used the excess creative energy I had on other short stories, sure, but there’s such a wealth of material with the world of Calopa that I thought it would be a great diversion for me. So, I came up with the “Tales of Calopa” series to help me get out all of the extra material or narrative threads I came up with when planning the main trilogy. It also serves as an appetizer while people wait patiently(very patiently, and thank you) for book 2.

That goes hand in hand with the advice i give anyone when it comes to planning out a story. Just write. I’m serious. Write down things you like, music that moves you, movies or games or books you enjoy. jot down interesting sounding words or names or even fond memories or particularly vivid dreams you've had. when you finally settle on some kind of idea that you want to pursue, repeat that same process in the context of your idea. names. Places. Bits of dialogue. This works wonders for Fantasy world-building, but it can be applied to every single brand of fiction and quite a bit of non-fiction) out there.

Just write. Go Jackson Pollock with your words and worry about the clean-up after.

Tales of Calopa is just a byproduct of that very same crazy process. When I was starting my word-slinging during planning for Archetype back in 2011, I would fill pages with scribbles and half-formed ideas and names and even little sketches of geographical features. I swear, it looked like a less-tidy version of some of those notebooks in Se7en. I’m still unsure as to whether or not they’ll be used against me in a mental fitness hearing.

But, until then, they serve as the scratch paper of story-telling. There, I can be as messy and as ridiculous as I want to be. To use another artistic metaphor, if The Rhyme of the Golden Aegis or The Fahlworth Papers represent the finished work on canvas, then all the notes and files I’ve made during the planning stages is straight up finger-painting on butcher paper. Go nuts, kid.

Planning is half the fun. Be brave. Be messy. Be awesome at it. The rewards and other stories you can reap down the road are totally worth the chaos. 

[the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh]

Just write. Go Jackson Pollock with your words and worry about the clean-up after.

If you're somebody who can do this, this is great advice.

If you're somebody who can't - and many very successful writers are, in terms of having to get everything right before actually writing it down and being able to change very little thereafter without writing a whole new book from scratch - then it's terrible advice.

It is a good idea to figure out which you are before taking pretty much any writing advice.

[Xerjester]

Mind - this is purely advice about planning- as in the very earliest of conceptual stages, i.e. "Man, I want to write something." When I actually go forward with an idea, to the point of breaking story down, outlining, scene progression and the like, then- yes- it's pretty methodical.

But that's also why I tend to use artistic metaphors, as I come from a primarily artistic background. My writing is much like my art- I star with the loosest sketchy thumbnails that pile up everywhere before I lock onto one, and then refine it into a usable base before I go on to the next steps. But even at that stage, I have a wealth of material to draw from for other bits from other ideas that might also help out the main piece I've decided to pull the trigger on.

I only offer this advice because I see so many would-be writers get stymied at the planning stage. You should absolutely have a system and method in mind when you start to work out your tale- but at the conceptualization stage? Hell no. Have fun. Write down everything that might interest you. Get those ideas flowing, even stream-of-consciousness style. It solves a lot of the primary problems just through the sheer act of writing anything out at all.

After that? Then comes structure

[the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh]

I only offer this advice because I see so many would-be writers get stymied at the planning stage. You should absolutely have a system and method in mind when you start to work out your tale- but at the conceptualization stage? Hell no. Have fun. Write down everything that might interest you. Get those ideas flowing, even stream-of-consciousness style. It solves a lot of the primary problems just through the sheer act of writing anything out at all.
After that? Then comes structure

I'm quite the opposite, actually. Unless I start from structure before anything else, I get an unworkable mess.

The very first thing I have thought, for any story I have completed and made work, has always been along the lines of "I need this shape to happen. Therefore I need characters who will in situation X make decision Y. What sort of people would those be and what sort of world do I need to give me them ?"

[meg_evonne]

Just write. Go Jackson Pollock with your words and worry about the clean-up after.

Love it!

[Quantus]

I'm quite the opposite, actually. Unless I start from structure before anything else, I get an unworkable mess.

The very first thing I have thought, for any story I have completed and made work, has always been along the lines of "I need this shape to happen. Therefore I need characters who will in situation X make decision Y. What sort of people would those be and what sort of world do I need to give me them ?"

This is my vector as well. Which is part of why I have a habit of getting stuck in the planning/building stages and have difficulty moving on to the actual scenes.  There is a balance for me to strike, doing enough planning so that everything makes sense to me and feels consistent, but drafting a general scene list early and drafting said scene as soon as the relevant planning is done for it, rather then waiting for the mythical day when all the structure is perfect in my mind. 

[Xerjester]

Completely understandable- I realize this advice isn't a catch-all for all writers and how they might approach things. "There is no right answer" and all that. But this was, for me, one of the best pieces of wisdom on a way to approach things that I was ever given, and thus I pass it on to any who might also benefit.

[The Deposed King]

Completely understandable- I realize this advice isn't a catch-all for all writers and how they might approach things. "There is no right answer" and all that. But this was, for me, one of the best pieces of wisdom on a way to approach things that I was ever given, and thus I pass it on to any who might also benefit.

Its like with anything.  If what you're doing is working.... then why change it?  But, on the other hand, if its not working.... do this.



The Deposed King