#character plot

So, fair warning this is going to be a long post of each of the mods writing out their process. While we’re going to be similar in some aspects, other parts will be different.

You’ll find that writing prompts such as the ones provided on this blog will help you get started with the theme and the plot.

Mod Elizabeth: I have two processes, one is for short stories and one is for when I write books. I do the basic “Who, What, When, Where, and lastly, How?” strategy at first while I brainstorm then go from there.

For short stories I pick the relationship first and I often build around that relationship because it’s going to be the focus of the story, especially in romance or fluff pieces that I usually write. Most of the time in writing you’re watching the character respond to the plot. Short stories are no different.

After I’ve decided the relationship, I decide the characters personalities. Are they anxious, confident? Do they have ticks? Are they chill? These kinds of things and then I go for the plot based on that. What do the characters need to overcome? Then I think, in real life how would this type of person overcome this particular problem. How would they react? Most of the stuff in between after this is just me writing on the fly.

For books, I’m hella strategic. When I write books, I calculate out how many pages I needed per chapter while I brainstormed characters and ideas. Each character had a sheet of their personalities and their hang ups and backstory. What made them the person they were and why they are still a certain way. So, once I have personalities, I develop a plot line. My plot lines are done chapter by chapter where I’ve written out the exact main points per chapter and what needs to happen to get to the climax and then how I wrap it up at the end. Getting yourself a plot diagram that you can write on will be really helpful.

This works for me, but I’ve encountered plenty of writers who figure out the problem and the solution first and then build the world around that. Really, it ends up finding a process that works for you because my process might not work for you, but it really works for me :)

Mod Traveler: I’m not going to lie, half the time I’m flying by the seat of my pants. I usually have an outline, a basic plot, and a character, but everything else I mostly make up off the cuff as I’m writing it. I tend to find inspiration from many sources. I wrote a story based on a drawing I once saw, and on a stuffed animal I once owned.

I also know what my strengths and weaknesses are, and I play to my strengths. I’m bad at action sequences, so I just don’t write them. I’m really good at dialogue and character development, so I write a lot of that. As far as developing a plot, Elizabeth’s “Who, what, when, where, why, and how” is a very good way to go about it. Make a chart, kind of like you would in D&D. Give your character a name, a short background, a driving force, a strength, a weakness, a character flaw. Add as much detail as you need to to jumpstart the creative process.

Here’s a few links you might find helpful:

Character Chart Worksheet

The Ultimate Novel Writing Resource Masterlist

Writing Reference: Characters

Hopefully this helps!

Mod Aelia: I’ve dispensed some writing advice on my own blog that tends to revolve around the theme of “just go for it and do what’s fun” (Getting Started in the Community & Don’t Doubt Yourself) but I don’t think I have ever really talked about the “how to do the thing” with writing. Settings aren’t my strong point, but I tend to try to think about what sort of story I want to tell. Do I want to tell a high fantasy story, or something more modern, or a sci-fi story? That’s going to determine a lot of other things for me, so I tend to start with what sounds the most fun on a given day. D&D and other RPG handbooks are actually great resources for this kind of thing. There are a ton of worldbuilding resources out there, but don’t feel like you need a fully fleshed out world to write a great short story.

At that point you also want to decide what you want to write. If you’re writing romance, are you writing the meet cute & beginning of the relationship? Or do you think you’d prefer to jump into the middle of an established relationship? Once you decide that, you can start to figure out your plot, and what you’re building toward. 

If you want to write a slow burn romance, your key point to figure out is “why aren’t the characters together now?” which is going to be the question you need to keep coming back to. Remember that any plot that can be solved with a simple conversation is going to be frustrating to the reader. Make it more interesting than that. 

Ultimately though, write the story you want to read. Have fun with it.

Mod Ghosti: I’ve got the tough gig, coming in last after some top quality advice, and I would say that my approach is most similar to Elizabeth’s. Work out who they are and what they do, and then how they might meet. It doesn’t have to be super unusual: like ‘is it a friend’s birthday and one of them gets dragged along to a bar’ or ‘are they in the same class at uni’, or you can think about ways to put a little twist on it, so, sticking with the ‘same class’ idea, ‘are they both attending night classes for something, and if so, what’s their reason?’

It is hard to think up plots and motivations etc, and it’s ok to take your time and maybe feel a bit stuck, but sitting down with a pen and paper (or whatever your preferred form of verbal doodling is) and just thinking about what they do in their daily lives that could cause them to overlap, can be a good place to start. What do you want from these characters? Why are you wanting to write them anyway? Do you have an image of them doing something (it can be just a tiny flash, a one frame only kind of image)? If yes, then build a story around that…

Screenwriting tutorial: Basic character construction | lynda.com

@scientistofthevoid

Weston slipped his coat on over his shoulder, his house keys in his pocket as he slipped his shoes on at the door. “Gil, Gabe! I’m off to work!”

Gilbert poked his head around the corner of the kitchen, peeking at him with an excited grin. “Nyeh! It’s your first day at the new lab! Have fun, brother!”

“It’s science! Of course it’s going to be fun!” He gives a laugh, and steps out the door, flitting off to work before Gabriel could poke his head around and wish him off.

“He forgot his lunch again. Looks like we’ll have to bring it to him in a couple hours.”

Weston scuttled along and let himself into the lab once he reached it. He enjoyed that it was a few degrees warmer inside than it was outside.

Once inside, he shook the snow from his loafers, and gave a soft whistle. “Hello?” There wasn’t anyone immediately out front for him to get directions from. “Is anyone here? I’m Doctor Weston Dexter Gaster, transferring from Laboratory Sector Seven?”

18 Summers ago– Age 7 [Korekaze’s First Entry.]