Planning when writing a story

[ILoveMilfs69]

Hi,

I'm new to writing erotica, or just writing in general. I was wondering - do you plan the entire story out beforehand and fill in the minutiae as you go or do you write one chapter at a time and after each chapter is completed you think of the next chapter?

I have many ideas but I think trying to incorporate them all at once is turning it into a mess. Any help is appreciated, thanks.

 

[TheWritingGroup]

Hi,

I'm new to writing erotica, or just writing in general. I was wondering - do you plan the entire story out beforehand and fill in the minutiae as you go or do you write one chapter at a time and after each chapter is completed you think of the next chapter?

Some people don't even write chapters. They sit and write a short story and publish it. (Some of us revise and edit them first!)

People just sit down with vague ideas like "A mystery story where the detective uses his position to demand sexual favors from the killer to avoid arrest" and start writing. These are called "discovery writers," or "pantsers" (from the expression "flying by the seat of his pants").

Some people write out the entire plot and little characters sketches. Before they write down any words that will be part of the actual story, they know every scene and every story beat and where all the players are at the end. These are called "plotters" or "outliners".

Most people are in between those two extremes. I am. For, say, my "Heels Over Head", I knew nothing when I started except the business with the laundry hamper.

For "Maria in the Tack Shop Again", I had a very detailed plot. Most of the characters were known to me, too, because that's a sequel and I had used them before. I discovery-wrote Luis (who had never been on stage before), and he changed some of the plot, but it's still mostly what I originally outlined.

If you have a long story with many chapters, an outline can save you throwing away a lot of words because you realize that Chapter Four has to be redone, since Christina can't know about the red dog before it destroys the fancy couch in Chapter 10.

--Annie

 

[TarnishedPenny]

I am what many refer to as a ‘pantser’, writing by the seat of my pants. I myself think if it as ‘ink blot’ writing - I have a scene or three in mind and they expand like ink on blotting paper. It serves.

 

[MelissaBaby]

Hi,

I'm new to writing erotica, or just writing in general. I was wondering - do you plan the entire story out beforehand and fill in the minutiae as you go or do you write one chapter at a time and after each chapter is completed you think of the next chapter?

I have many ideas but I think trying to incorporate them all at once is turning it into a mess. Any help is appreciated, thanks.

Everyone has their own process, you will find yours as you go along.

I see writing a story like taking a journey. I know where I am starting from, have a good general idea of my route, and a certain destination. If I come across an interesting side trip or detour around the way, I may take it, but I keep the destination in mind.

 

[SmilingLez]

Hi,

I'm new to writing erotica, or just writing in general. I was wondering - do you plan the entire story out beforehand and fill in the minutiae as you go or do you write one chapter at a time and after each chapter is completed you think of the next chapter?

I have many ideas but I think trying to incorporate them all at once is turning it into a mess. Any help is appreciated, thanks.

 

[SmilingLez]

I'm a poet and I definitely flesh out my subject matter. If it's a period piece, I immerse myself in the music, fashion, art, and "feel" of that era. That is how I wrote My Tribute to The Beat Generation and Midnight on Lenox prose. I also research subject matter, I believe that's important for authenticity. All of the personalities in my works have a little bit of me sprinkled in. Some have more, some have less. HTH

 

[dirk2024]

Hi,

I'm new to writing erotica, or just writing in general. I was wondering - do you plan the entire story out beforehand and fill in the minutiae as you go or do you write one chapter at a time and after each chapter is completed you think of the next chapter?

I have many ideas but I think trying to incorporate them all at once is turning it into a mess. Any help is appreciated, thanks.

For me, I start with my idea and write out a premise, which for me is a collection of "facts" I want in the story. I try to go from point A to point Z, but I sometimes jump ahead and jump back. I often actually even have my ending before I start writing the actual story.

When I do start writing, because of the way my mind works, I still jump around even with a complete premise. So I do spend time trying to smooth together the sections so the story flows. You'll need to spend a fair amount of time self-editing, maybe get a beta-reader (though hard to come by) and find a text to voice application. (I use Read Aloud in Word) This is another way to review your story so it makes sense.

Since you're new here, I'll just throw this out there now, DON'T USE AI TO WRITE YOUR STORY. This site will reject it like old rotten meat. You'll find MANY threads here about AI, from people trying to make it work for them to others who've had stories rejected by the site's AI detector.

 

[dirk2024]

This thread has some helpful advice in it: https://forum.literotica.com/threads/self-editing-for-authors.1634588/page-7#post-102126611

There are also helpful articles here: https://www.literotica.com/c/adult-how-to Just keep scrolling back.

 

[Kelliezgirl]

 

[Phatstick]

This thread has some helpful advice in it: https://forum.literotica.com/threads/self-editing-for-authors.1634588/page-7#post-102126611

There are also helpful articles here: https://www.literotica.com/c/adult-how-to Just keep scrolling

Thanks, this will be a great help for me.

 

[YmaOHyd]

I have many ideas but I think trying to incorporate them all at once is turning it into a mess. Any help is appreciated, thanks.

So don't use them all. That's the biggest thing, I think. Use the ones that make sense to the story and leave the rest for something else. I feel like often in my writing I start with a ton of ideas that I expect to be in the story, and then they just... aren't. They're replaced by other ideas that aren't better or aren't worse but fit the story better as it's revealed to me.

Lately I've been reading the short story anthology Unfettered. Each story is introduced by a short preface by its author, and probably two-thirds of them, from Terry Brooks to Jacqueline Carey to Todd Lockwood, go something like this: "a long time ago I had this great idea for a story. By the time I finished writing it, it looked nothing like what I'd originally planned. This short story is my original idea."

 

[alohadave]

I have many ideas but I think trying to incorporate them all at once is turning it into a mess.

Don't include every single idea into your story. Narrow the focus and only include ideas that are relevant to that story. Save the other ideas for a different story.

 

[Rob_Royale]

I'd say it's a bit of both. I sit down with a plan. This happens, and then this happens, and then this happens, and then it ends. A rough mental outline. The rest of it, the filling in the cookie so to speak, is as I write.

 

[VerbalAbuse]

Liar, liar, pants on fire

S King is a liar when he says he's a pantser. Yes, he may not have a detailed outline on paper when he starts writing a story, but he's too consummate a writer to ever need one.

He has a very strong sense of where he wants to take the story -- and you can't miss that when reading his stories.

It's true that sometimes you get the feeling the plot meanders a little, but overall, it progresses inexorably towards the inescapable conclusion.

And if you wonder how much he makes up as he goes: many times he has said that the stories have been with him since childhood.

Then he steps forward in front of the camera and tells you that, oh, no, I've no idea what I'll write next when I sit down in front of the computer.

Gotcha, Steve.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

Everybody has their own way of doing things and there is no wrong way to do it. Use whatever method that works best for you.

I myself can be a notorious plotter working with outlines and skeletons and filling them in. That's just what works best for me and the easiest way for me to organize all of the details.

I will say that if you plan on pantsing, don't post any chapters until the entire story is complete. The advantages of this are endless, while the only advantage to posting as you go is to satisfy your own impatience while you write a poorer quality story.

 

[ronde]

I always start with an ending because if you don't know how the story is going to end, how would you know how your characters are going to get there. Sometimes my ending changes in mid-write, but in general my ending determines the plot and the characters.

 

[blowhyoooge]

I am of the plan-less-write-more mindset.

I will often start with a basic idea, maybe a phrase that i think is appealing--for example, a woman saying to a man, "You are going to get blown."

i'll then concoct a simple scenario. Jim buys his friend Joe a gift certificate at a brothel. Joe goes, not sure if he can go through with it, but finds that these determined ladies won't let him out the door without getting his dick sucked.

these basic elements give me a vibe: a business-like attitude towards sex that contrasts with Joe's image of himself as a romantic. maybe one more element, like, what if whorehouses were run by corporate retail, with enforced cheeriness and mindless edicts like "remember, associates, customer satisfaction is our number one job!"?

since it's erotica, we know the ending. Joe will have a mind-blowing orgasm and come in the pretty girl's mouth.

that's all I need to start writing. i find that if i plan any more, i plan my way out of a story. it sounds like that's happening to you, with too many ideas turning your story into a mess.

Instead, i like to see where the story goes. i have something that is not quite a synopsis, but if the story goes in another direction, that's okay. maybe there are a bunch of guys waiting. maybe there's a whole team of women (and a couple of men) who just do blowjobs. maybe there are levels: oral certified, vaginal certified, anal certified. maybe the blowjobs are done not just by the oral team, but by other women who specialize in anal, and when it's busy they do blowjobs between assfuckings to give their assholes time to recover. maybe the madam says something like, "you're waiting to get blown, right? if i can't find you a girl in the next ten minutes, i'll blow you myself," and Joe realizes he has an undiscovered fetish for fifty-year-old semi-retired hookers who smoke three packs a day. if that happens, maybe my earlier ideas go out the window and i have a new story.

(disclaimer: of course prostitution is a terrible way to make money and not what i want other women to be doing. we deal in fantasy, not reality.)

like @MelissaBaby said, sometimes you have to let the story go where it wants to go.

i tend to save a lot of different versions, so if a plot twist takes me down a dead end, i can easily backtrack. not all sidelines work.

this happened with the story i'm working on now. it's a balloon fetish story (my specialty), and it was originally about a wife, disgusted by her husband's fetish, who feels compelled to pop a bunch of balloons she blew up after her husband found them and masturbated with them. it was inspired by a couple of phrases from a balloon porn video that i thought were hot: "this balloon is going to get popped" and "i'm taking this balloon downstairs to pop it". the inevitable future of the balloons destruction at the hands (or feet, or lungs, or knitting needles) of a controlling woman, that was the dynamic. but as i wrote it, i found myself writing about the circumstances of the balloons' inflation,and that became the first half of the story.

now, the problem with writing this way is that it gets very wordy. i try to write in a free-flow, then go back later and trim the fat. writing is the cattle farmer, editing is the butcher.

also, i like to get into the action quickly. i'm writing whacking material, mostly for hetero guys. they want to get in and get off. set up is good, but not too much exposition and keep the action coming -- like the poles of a tent, placed at adequate intervals to hold up the story.

lastly, remember you have more than one story in you. so don't worry about using all your ideas, and don't be afraid to deviate from them. i've had ideas that spawned several stories before they got fleshed out by themselves.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Hi,

I'm new to writing erotica, or just writing in general. I was wondering - do you plan the entire story out beforehand and fill in the minutiae as you go or do you write one chapter at a time and after each chapter is completed you think of the next chapter?

I have many ideas but I think trying to incorporate them all at once is turning it into a mess. Any help is appreciated, thanks.

Like @TarnishedPenny I'm a pantser. I might have a loose idea in my head but I never write a plan, or an outline. I start writing, the story unravels as it will, I get to a point where it stops. Minimal edit, submit. Done.

 

[StillStunned]

I have many ideas but I think trying to incorporate them all at once is turning it into a mess. Any help is appreciated, thanks.

As others have noted above, don't try to incorporate them all.

In fact, if you're a beginning writer, focus on just one idea. I think many people start writing with the idea that they're going to produce a novel, or a long series of stories, or some kind of masterpiece. But sooner or later they run out of steam, or the plot bogs down, and they give up.

One of the great things about Lit is that you can publish anything that's at least 750 words long. So start small. Write a single-scene stroker ("I woke up with wood, my wife's arse was pressed against me, I pulled her close, etc."), publish it and move on to the next one.

Each time you finish a story it becomes easier. Each time you'll write a little more. When I first started writing, 1.5k words felts like the Complete Works of Charles Dickens (Unabridged and Annotated). Now that's barely an afternoon's writing.

And the feedback you get from publishing also keeps you going. It's a rush when people read your story, and it sustains you as you write more. On the darker side, if the site rejects your story for whatever reason, better that it be for a 1.5k word stroker that you spent a week on than your great literary masterpiece that took you two years.

But most importantly: write the way you want to. That's really all that matters. It's a hobby, we do it for fun. So find the best way to have fun.

Good luck!

 

[VerbalAbuse]

I woke up with wood, my wife's arse was pressed against me, I pulled her close, etc

please don't stop...

 

[geronimo_appleby]

Hi,

I'm new to writing erotica, or just writing in general. I was wondering - do you plan the entire story out beforehand and fill in the minutiae as you go or do you write one chapter at a time and after each chapter is completed you think of the next chapter?

I have many ideas but I think trying to incorporate them all at once is turning it into a mess. Any help is appreciated, thanks.

i tried planning but it's like trying to herd cats when the characters get life. i'm not serious enough on Lit submissions to plan at all, so i go the discovery route -- which can have some unexpected and sometimes hilarious results when, again, the characters get life.

 

[StillStunned]

please don't stop...

Yes, that would very likely be the next line.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

There is a saying in the literary world:

"Writers want to get published, Authors want to get paid."

I've worn both hats, and now consider myself a "story teller".

I don't so much plan a story, but rather track it as it develops in my head. I use a spreadsheet with separate tabs for each project I am working on to keep details, characters, and plot elements straight as I think of them.

It is sort of like taking all the pieces of a puzzle out of the box and arranging them so that all the edge and corner pieces are visible to me before I begin to put it together. It's still a puzzle, but a more organized process - at least for me.

 

[StrentWriter]

I physically plan out:

Three act structure
Ten chapters with suggested titles
A synopsis for each chapter
List of characters
Timeline of interactions
Main aims (sex as literary device, character aims, etc etc)

Then when I’m happy with the outline, I start writing whatever chapters feel strongest to me.

Once filled out and around 100K words, that’s the first draft and it gets edited.

I have done this for one novel here and am stating a second, but the format and approach is identical to my IRL job and reports/papers I publish.

 

[millamomud]

I generally know how my story will end and roughly how I want to get there when I start writing. And a rough estimate on how many chapters I will need to tell the story.