Plot Evolution

[queenoftheskies]

I'm curious again, folks. I spend lots of time curious.

How do your plots evolve for you? What kind of writer are you?

Do you have an entire story in your head before you start? Do you know all your characters in depth?

Do you start with only an idea and allow it to evolve organically?

Do you start with a scene and go from there?

Do you start with an image and allow it to evolve?

Do you change with each project?

Do you write in a linear fashion?

Or do you skip around to whichever scenes strike your fancy and then fill in the blanks later?

And, most importantly, have you found THE way that works best for you?

Comments

[beth-bernobich.livejournal.com]

Um, my answer is all of the above.

For me, it all depends on the project and the current chaos level.

[nycshelly.livejournal.com]

Off the top of my head, because I'm about to go out and run errands, here's the short form....

I start with characters and setting, likely a holdover from my fanfic days.

Plots evolve in the writing, though I usually have a starting point, but not always. They come to me as I write, sometimes just immediately ahead of what I'm writing, sometimes giving me ideas as to where things are going a number of scenes ahead. By the time I reach the middle, I usually but not always can see where things will end up though the details won't show up til I get there.

I tend to write linearly because that's how my plots involve, though I might follow one character's pov a bit beyond where I know other characters' povs will be, then go back and fill in their scenes, but that's rare.

This method seems to be best for me, but each project ends up being a bit varied.

[aberrant1.livejournal.com]

THE way? Nope. It really depends on the novel. I'd say I'm lucky if I manage to find THE way that works for a particular story.

[merebrillante.livejournal.com]

Linear but organic, if that makes sense. The one thing I know is that an outline is the kiss of death for me. If I already know what's going to happen, what's the point of writing it?

On my current WIP, I know definitely one character is going to die, but I don't know when or how or why. Maybe one of the major characters will die as well, but I kind of hope not, because I like all three of them. One of the secondary characters, I don't know if he's good or bad. I'm still in the process of finding out, and I don't reckon I'll know until one of the major characters knows.

[slobbit.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm just a baby writer still. But I was dealt a character card, and my imagination only extends to the world inhabited by this particular set of characters. I think this lends itself to using the same approach with each work, because it's more or less a continuum. I start with the characters, and little scenes they show me. Often times there's a hinted subtext in what they show me that isn't explained until they show me something else.

I'm definitely not a linear writer. Even now, when I've had to sketch out something aproximating an outline (and which looks more like a mindmap than an outline), I'm still writing scenes from here and there in the novel. There will be some things that I can't write right now, as I'll have to "write up to them" to figure out how the characters will actually react. What I end up with are pearls, which I have to string together. (Which is not to say I think the writing is semi-precious -- clearly the earlier stuff was not.)

But, enough rambling . . .

[jediknightmuse.livejournal.com]

How do your plots evolve for you? What kind of writer are you?
Umm. Mostly over time. There was a long period of time, when I was younger, where I'd outline with a lot of details. but I don't do that as much now.

As for what kind of writer...o.o I'm hoping a fantasy novelist.

Do you have an entire story in your head before you start? Do you know all your characters in depth?
Depends. With my current story, I created the character for RP. I had wanted to use the nickname Mystic Moonblade for a while, and I gave that name to her. I came up with the two main places in the story, and started a RP using those two places, and I came up with some ideas of my own before I started the RP, and then the co-mods helped come up with some other ideas (which I ended up using in the story since the RP is now dead). When I started working on the story, I didn't have a ton of ideas. Then when I was talking to my friend in IM one night, we were both writing and I felt like I needed a climax in the story, so we were talking and I came up with an awesome one, and came up with a bunch of ideas.

As for characters...no. I don't usually know them in depth ahead of time unless I've written about them before or I've RP'd them out, or I've just started writing to get an idea of what they're like.

Do you start with only an idea and allow it to evolve organically?
I've gone without an outline before, but usually that's for a Star Wars fan fic that I plan on keeping short, like the last one I wrote which was a songfic.

Do you start with a scene and go from there?
Umm...I dunno. o.o If I have an outline, I start with what I plan as the first scene of the story...and then I might add some scenes between the main events.

Do you write in a linear fashion?
Yes. The only thing I haven't waited to write was a scene that's in an upcoming chapter, but I wanted to try and keep my focus on the story, so I used that scene for my creative writing project, and it was nice to be able to experiment and see how it would go from there.

And, most importantly, have you found THE way that works best for you?
I think so.
1. Outline.
2. Start writing. Every couple of pages, type it up.
3. Once the story is finished, THEN I will start editing.
4. Edit the entire story, using whatever critiques I possibly can that I actually find useful.
5. Rewrite the story.
...And go from there. I think doing it this way and not worrying about editing is what's helped me get so far into the story. Five chapters and almost 100 pages is really good for me.

[arkiewriter.livejournal.com]

Most of my writing is done "in my head". I have mulled stories over for days, weeks, even months before actually putting them to paper. Occasionally I'll write down a scene that is too perfect to not capture as is in that perfect moment, but mostly it's all upstairs. That probably explains why I have trouble with novels!

I like to let plot evolve as I go, so I'll start with the main idea and just let the characters throw all the monkey wrenches they like into the mix. I've got two novels that are outlined, chapter by chapter, and for some reason, those are the hardest two to dust off. It's like some of their mystery is missing because of the outlining, perhaps.

The linear method is about the only method that truly works for me. If I start writing out of order, it often sours my mood towards the tale I'm telling.

[(Anonymous)]

Everything I have done has come about through a different process. The answers would be different for each one.

[cicadabug.livejournal.com]

All of the above (-:

No, seriously. Every story is different. Some leap right into my head, plot and characters and everything in one big shiny ribbon-festooned package. Some I start without any idea where I am going (in a few cases I've had nothing except a cool title). Sometimes my characters object to what I've got them doing and the plot entirely changes on the rewrite. Also, sometimes my plot rejects my characters.

With longer stuff, sometimes I'll do a one-page sheet of notes and thoughts, and once in a while it'll almost resemble an outline. Often, though, any notes evolve along with the story, or even after the first draft is done and I'm looking at the start of revision.

I do write from beginning to end. When I revise I do that in order as well. Sometimes on a third pass I'll skip some stuff that I think is good and only touch those that need work, but I can't do it in any way other than straight from beginning to end. I think because I do so much of my writing on the fly and I've always got all sorts of tangents evolving in my head as I go along that it would be just too chaotic to also skip around -- couldn't hold it all in my head anymore if I added having to keep track of where I've been and not.

[jandersoncoats.livejournal.com]

Totally depends. My historicals are all strictly chronological. I start with characters and a vague idea of how it'll end. The rest of the process is organic. I start the character on the path to the end, and use the historical events as a very rough skeleton.

My contemporary project is completely the opposite. I started with a rough idea of plot, and the characters grew out of that. I wrote it all out of sequence; the beginning, then rising action, then conflict, then climax, then more rising action, then conclusion.

I'm not much on outlines, and I usually only plot a few scenes in advance. I find myself limited by anything too concrete. I use crayons a lot because I can't take anything written in crayon too seriously.

I try to let the project dictate process, and do what works. If I try to follow a strict process, I just get all rebellious and dig in my heels and the project stalls. Someday I'll have that tattooed to some part of my anatomy: do what works. It's the best I've come up with so far.

[wrathchylde.livejournal.com]

Sorry, that was me trying to post between calls at work.

Everything I have done has come about through a different process. One started with a visual image, which birthed a scene, which, as it turned out, took place at the end of the story. I wrote what is now a trilogy to get to that scene. The script I wrote in a fairly linear manner.

I think I pretty much jump in, start writing, and then at some point stop and outline everything.

[shanrina.livejournal.com]

How do your plots evolve for you? What kind of writer are you?
I don't really know the world or the characters until I start writing, so I kind of start with a very vague idea that could be a character, or a scene, or whatever, and kind of go from there. I write mostly fantasy with some science fiction thrown in for variety.

Do you have an entire story in your head before you start? Do you know all your characters in depth?
I don't write character bios or anything and I usually don't have anything close to an ending, but I feel like I know what my characters' basic personality traits are and what they would tend to do based on those traits.

Do you start with only an idea and allow it to evolve organically?
I never have a formal outline, if that's what you mean.

Do you start with a scene and go from there?
Yes.

Do you start with an image and allow it to evolve?
I start off with an image of what I want the story to be, but that image can and will change anytime I can come up with something that I feel is stronger.

Do you change with each project?
I usually tend to try new things, but I always come back to finding that I really don't like to write using an outline or taking all that time to write bios and stuff down.

Do you write in a linear fashion?
I think I kind of have to be a linear writer because of this, since I won't know exactly what's passed between two characters until I write the scene before it.

Or do you skip around to whichever scenes strike your fancy and then fill in the blanks later?
I can't imagine ever having this work for me...you never know, of course, but I don't know that I'll ever get around to trying it.

And, most importantly, have you found THE way that works best for you?
No. It depends.

[magicnoire.livejournal.com]

All of the above, with two clarifications.

I always know all of my (main) characters in depth. They just come to me like that. I very rarely have anything to do with it. And all of my novel idea seeds have come from images. Always.

Those have been the only constants for me.

[lousy-timing.livejournal.com]

I get stories in different ways, but always have a full plot outline for it before I begin. Short stories generally materialize as an entire piece based on a "what if" thought or play on words I made, where as book ideas tend to be the culmination of several situations that come together like pieces of a quilt to make an entire blanket right before my eyes.

From there, I just write. Rarely do I use a written outline or notes, because it's usually already in my head, but I have had to keep a few before to keep track of character names and certain plot twists, etc, as I got deeper into a book.

My writing is linear for the most part, my characters' character and personality known only as "protagonist," "antagonist," etc, until I begin writing them. I get to know them as I do, just as one would if they were reading.

The biggest problem that I have had is finishing a tale. I always know how my books are supposed to end and how I will get there, so it isn't that...I suspect my problem is that I have let too many people read them along the way and not said, "Comment on nothing until it's over." All I can figure out at this point is that I end up trying to fit things to what people tell me they want, or change what they tell me doesn't work for them even when I know why it must be a certain way for later, and that makes me need to distance myself from the entire project for a while.

I'll let you know if that turns out to be the problem; I'm going to try writing another one soon without putting it forth for inspection until it's finished. ;)

[madwriter.livejournal.com]

To all but the last question, the answer is--Yes.

To the last question, the answer is that whenever I figure I have The Way, another story comes along in a different fashion to shoot down my theory.

Every story is different. Most may start out with a "What if...?" question, but other than that they all evolve differently, and many have been written differently.

I just go with whatever feel right for each particular story.

[pet-hypothesis.livejournal.com]

As far as novels go, I'm still floundering around. I've only ever gotten to the words "The end" for a novel twice. The only constant is that I start with a premise, a "What if there was this?"

I do have a system for short stories though, which does seem to be THE SYSTEM for me. It goes:

1) Premise, which occasionally comes with a central scene attached.

2) Resolution.

3) Premise and resolution give me an idea of my main characters, and I build brief profiles from there.

4) Fill in rest of plot.

5) Write rough outline (one line descriptions of scenes.)

6) Write, linearly, one scene at a time.

And then editing :)