How do you write: Planning and plotting stories

[Areala-chan]

Everything usually starts with a "what if...?" question that I can't let go of for a little while. If I can pair that 'what if' with an ending that puts a bit of a twist on the scenario that readers hopefully won't see coming, that's when the real writing starts. If it's a really short piece (only a few thousand words), then I'll just start writing and see where things take me as I develop the characters. The story I wrote for @StillStunned 'City of Scum' project was exactly like this.

Longer pieces, like Dead Space: Kendra and Crash Into Me, will usually see me write down a few bullet points for scene ideas that I will work into the story where they seem to fit the best, but even with Kendra, I didn't use all of the ideas I had written down. That's OK; they'll be there for the next one. Or the one after that.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

I tend to think of my characters as being "real" enough to actually drive the story forward themselves. Basically, if you write character-driven, then that's what ought to happen.

I write character driven and I plot relentlessly. All you do is follow the motives of your characters and jot down the plot points of where they take you instead of writing out full scenes as you think them up. Then go back and flesh them in later.