Writing Tips

Story Planning

So, you've got an idea for a story and you're super pumped about writing it, so you just jump right in, but... everything ends up uncoordinated and the plot has holes and makes no sense. How do you fix that?

Well, it's simple: plan it out and write it down.

The easiest thing to do is go off script with a story (I know from experience), but with a written plot and timeline, it's much easier to stay on track. Depending on what kind of story you're writing, it may benefit to think of every single event that would happen and write it down before you start writing. Or, in some cases, it might be better to just keep track of key plot points and events that you know for sure need to happen.

So, where do we start?

First, you need to know what kind (meaning genre) of story you're writing, and you need to know the general plot. For example, let's use my book 'HotGuy and Canary.' This story is a modern-day superhero story, and the plot is this: Two unlikely superheroes are trying to do as much good as they can in the world by fighting villains and keeping civilians safe, all whilst the most feared supervillains in history are trying to rid the city of all heroes. That's genre plus the general plot checked off.

Next, name some important events in your story that must happen to move it along. Some of the events in 'HotGuy and Canary' include: HotGuy and Canary getting into an argument about fighting Parakeet, resulting in Canary following them alone; Parakeet killing Scott and Grian rushing over, claiming a villain attacked them; and Joel dying. Those are a few events that needed to happen for the story to move forward (and also for character development).

Then what next? Well, you can stop there if you're writing a more plot-less, book-of-oneshots kind of story, like MMATCI, that are less plot heavy and more shoujo. But if you're writing something that has more depth in the plot like CCEP or APBAON, you should elaborate on the events a little more.

Ask yourself these questions:

What specifically happens to each character involved? How does each character react? How do they feel? How does the environment change? How do their relationships change? Is something important to a character destroyed? Will they ever get it back, or is it gone forever? How does the tension rise? What kind of trouble are the characters in? How does this affect the characters' egos? What steps backward do the characters have to take before they can move forward?

Hope this helps!!