Crafting a general fiction story

[ElectricBlue]

I might need to write Alex now. Fuck. It's not like I don't already have enough half-finished stories.

Get on with it, and stop messing about!

 

[onehitwanda]

Get on with it, and stop messing about!

Bite me. Just not in a way that leaves marks.

 

[PennameWombat]

How do you authors research a particular topic? Do you just Google it? Do you use a particular resource that has been created for authors over the years? Or do you rely upon anecdotal information that you receive from persons you know in the particular trade?

“Just” Google it? Not exactly. Other than using it to focus in on resources. For instance, I wanted to work up a number of different orbital paths for satellites in my Mel & Chris series, and found a couple of different orbital simulators I could download as apps. I already had my plot line, used the simulators to fine tune.

I can’t say I use “resources created for writers” for research. As examples, If I’m looking for emergency medical items, I’ll use references such as the US Army survival manual, survivalist websites and the like. I have a background in first aid training so can vet plenty of it, but it depends on what POV I want (“Holy shit, the bone’s sticking out!” “Victim has a type 3a open fracture.”)

I wouldn’t bother with consulting with someone for a story here. For a novel, possibly. Like with first aid, many subjects I build from my background knowledge and go from there.

 

[Nicefella]

“Just” Google it? Not exactly. Other than using it to focus in on resources. For instance, I wanted to work up a number of different orbital paths for satellites in my Mel & Chris series, and found a couple of different orbital simulators I could download as apps. I already had my plot line, used the simulators to fine tune.

I can’t say I use “resources created for writers” for research. As examples, If I’m looking for emergency medical items, I’ll use references such as the US Army survival manual, survivalist websites and the like. I have a background in first aid training so can vet plenty of it, but it depends on what POV I want (“Holy shit, the bone’s sticking out!” “Victim has a type 3a open fracture.”)

I wouldn’t bother with consulting with someone for a story here. For a novel, possibly. Like with first aid, many subjects I build from my background knowledge and go from there.

Thanks, but I like bothering people here! But in all seriousness, your exemplar advice is helpful Re emergency medical terms. I can always look in legal and/or medical treatises or manuals instead of relying on google based web searches

 

[onehitwanda]

For instance, I wanted to work up a number of different orbital paths for satellites in my Mel & Chris series, and found a couple of different orbital simulators I could download as apps. I already had my plot line, used the simulators to fine tune.

You missed a prime opportunity to play Kerbal Space Program. Even NASA use it to teach people orbital mechanics.

 

[PandemicReader8]

I heard this referred to once as being "lost in the muddle". It's been so long ago now I can't even remember where I heard it first. But its incredinly frustrating, and insanely common.

To best it, I find that I must plot. Not so much for things I might share on Lit, but for every mainstream piece I've written, I must plot. I've read hundreds - maybe even thousands - of articles on how best to plot. Some have been valuable. Some were filler for another writers blog. At the end of the day you have to find what works for you.

Right, not helpful...

But it's true.

Read, maybe even take a class or two, hit some workshops if you can, and grab onto the bits and pieces that work for you. Then, kludge then together until you come up with your process.

 

[Nicefella]

Kludge it together! Yeah!

 

[djrip]

You missed a prime opportunity to play Kerbal Space Program. Even NASA use it to teach people orbital mechanics.

 

[MarkeySan]

You must have an idea or you would not be wanting to write. So write it down. It doesn’t matter if it’s the beginning the end or the middle. Put it down.

Don’t worry about spelling, grammar punctuation etc. don’t even worry if it doesn’t make sense.

Once you have everything down from your head now think where it might go or how it might have started , put them in there.

Take some time, walk away. How do you think he might have met her? Be creative? What would they really say in that situation, what turns YOU on?

Once you have a good flow beginning to end, look at your characters, give them some personality, describe them better, make them visible to the reader.

Now build it up, ask your questions. Read it, how does it sound to you? Is it too wordy? Too impersonal or too factual? Do you feel it? Does it seem real? Would they really do that? Would someone really say that or look like that?

Now correct your grammer , punctuation etc and think if you can visualize what is happening from the writing. Can you see it taking place in you mind. Did you describe it enough for someone else to see it too.

repeat the above until you like what you’ve got. then put it down for a few days.
when you pick it up look at it like you never read it before.

 

[Bodington]

I usually start with one main idea. From there I can elaborate on the consequences of what would logically flow from expressing the idea. For example, my longest novel containing over 400K words started from the idea of writing a story about a girl 13 years old getting pregnant but not resorting to an abortion, instead giving birth and raising the child. So I let my imagination run in directions which I would deem plausible. I had no ending in sight for a long time as more plot ideas sprung to mind to continue the story.

Another long novel I wrote was inspired by my reading of Thomas Hardy’s novel, “Tess of the d'Urbervilles”. In that novel there is a scene where the seducer of the heroine is erotically aroused by witnessing the heroine milking a cow. Bearing in mind that this novel was first published in 1891 during the prudish Victorian era, it was remarkable to me how Hardy’s prose could nevertheless express a very erotic vivid scene. So, I decided to replicate such a scene but with the freedom to describe sexual emotions more graphically.

So, I set the locale in Wisconsin as the state most renowned for its dairy industry. Since nowadays cows are milked by machines, I had to conjure up a plausible reason for why my female character was hand milking a cow. Once I cleared that hurdle, I was off to the races in following that character from the age of eighteen to thirty.

 

[Emilymcplugger]

I’m hoping to get back into writing fiction story content (with built-in erotic themes). Often I have what I believe to be a good beginning and conclusion to a story, and I will spend significant time crafting the theme of the story (based on that opening/end) - only to find that it is much harder to write the middle parts of a compelling fiction story. Winging it almost always ends in failure for me. I’m just not that talented.

So, my question: assuming you know the substance of your product, how do you craft your story from start to finish? What work and process do you use? Do you Outline the story with chapters and themes in writing each chapter? Do you write the middle part first?

I do not wish to draw the ire of the well-heeled crowd here so I will add that I am not trolling, lol, and truly would like to finish a story without getting stuck in the same places again.

Thanks in advance.

In my head I know how I want the story (roughly) to build and so that, coupled with winging it, works for me.

Usually I find the characters find a space in my head and once I start getting stuff down they guide the story to where it wants to be, usually with some fun stuff on the way that I didn’t see coming.

The best thing to do in my opinion is not worry about getting it right just get it written. If you need to change something later you can, if you want to amend an entire scene adding sex or even taking it away you can do that also.

Write more, worry less, listen to the characters.

And good luck!

 

[Nicefella]

In my head I know how I want the story (roughly) to build and so that, coupled with winging it, works for me.

Usually I find the characters find a space in my head and once I start getting stuff down they guide the story to where it wants to be, usually with some fun stuff on the way that I didn’t see coming.

The best thing to do in my opinion is not worry about getting it right just get it written. If you need to change something later you can, if you want to amend an entire scene adding sex or even taking it away you can do that also.

Write more, worry less, listen to the characters.

And good luck!

Thank you!

 

[Emilymcplugger]

I try not to make my storyline or plot technically cumbersome. This is very helpful.

Ooh, another good point I just thought of.

If you find you’re getting bogged down by a part of the story…go somewhere else.

A flashback

A flash-forward

Someone else’s viewpoint.

Doesn’t matter. Keep it interesting by making it interesting for you. Sometimes being linear isn’t all that.

For my stories the only restraint is that the beginning is the beginning. I HATE that dropping people in the middle then going back. It’s a shitty fictional trick that’s been done to death.

Have faith in your beginning.

 

[Trionyx]

I HATE that dropping people in the middle then going back. It’s a shitty fictional trick that’s been done to death.

May have been done to death, but the one time I did this, it was by far the fastest out of the gates in terms of view numbers. Not a bad score, either. I also use flashbacks occasionally. In my opinion, things don’t always have to be 100% chronological but make sure it’s clear when there are time shifts.

 

[Emilymcplugger]

May have been done to death, but the one time I did this, it was by far the fastest out of the gates in terms of view numbers. Not a bad score, either. I also use flashbacks occasionally. In my opinion, things don’t always have to be 100% chronological but make sure it’s clear when there are time shifts.

Fair enough.

I’ve seen it so often in TV shows and films and often it just masks dull beginnings and dull characters and is sensationalistic.

I prefer a beginning to be a beginning and I think the more you do them the better you get at them.