HankDolworth
Struggling Writer
- Joined
- Jul 12, 2012
- Posts
- 258
I'm of the mind that a good story should have all three.
Being a long time reader, first time writer, I finally had an idea that I couldn't quiet and I started to write.
My idea had a story arc, and I quickly found a way to start the story.
I used an actual experience of mine, and modified it with the germ of the broader arc. If you read my story (The Designer Ch. 01), the first encounter with the girl in the hallway actually happened, though without the magical mind control powers. It's been embellished a bit, but that story has been in my brain since I was in college. I kept it to myself, my own personal Penthouse Forums letter.
I've been chewing on the story, allowing the arc to generate, tossing in some foreshadowing and connecting the chapters together, but I don't want this to be a never-ending story. It needs to have an ending.
So last night I did some brain storming, writing down ideas about arc, decisions, consequences, possible directions. Following those ideas, I had an inspiration and I wrote what could be the final chapter and saved it in my notes. My plan is to now write towards that ending, allowing the story to flow along an undetermined path. Like Lewis & Clark eventually reaching the Pacific.
Knowing the ending, I think helps.
I'm curious how other authors use as a process to write a story longer than a single chapter.
How do you approach it?
Being a long time reader, first time writer, I finally had an idea that I couldn't quiet and I started to write.
My idea had a story arc, and I quickly found a way to start the story.
I used an actual experience of mine, and modified it with the germ of the broader arc. If you read my story (The Designer Ch. 01), the first encounter with the girl in the hallway actually happened, though without the magical mind control powers. It's been embellished a bit, but that story has been in my brain since I was in college. I kept it to myself, my own personal Penthouse Forums letter.
I've been chewing on the story, allowing the arc to generate, tossing in some foreshadowing and connecting the chapters together, but I don't want this to be a never-ending story. It needs to have an ending.
So last night I did some brain storming, writing down ideas about arc, decisions, consequences, possible directions. Following those ideas, I had an inspiration and I wrote what could be the final chapter and saved it in my notes. My plan is to now write towards that ending, allowing the story to flow along an undetermined path. Like Lewis & Clark eventually reaching the Pacific.
Knowing the ending, I think helps.
I'm curious how other authors use as a process to write a story longer than a single chapter.
How do you approach it?
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