Resources to Better Writing (ReOrganizing & Editing)

Creating Your Writing Process Pt.1

Every story, no matter its length, begins with an idea. So the first thing to ask yourself;

Is your idea workable? Your plot must have rules that are defined with why and how Is it stupid? Self explanatory really Is it interesting? Does it have merit and do you believe in it?

If you can answer yes to all three then it's time to work on an outline for your story. An outline is basically a skeleton of a body for your story to help keep you on track with where you want it to go. This provides the story with its fundamental form and structure. The whole process can be as simple or as complicated as you need it to be.

Personally I find it helpful to do an outline for the overall story and then one for each chapter, making sure to include any key elements like location, characters, majik, and/or special items.

However, before jumping into the outlines let's do some mega-brainstorming so we have something to put into the outline. So before you piece together ideas, facts, and stories into a single document, brainstorm!

Don't bother organizing it yet. Put information in a document whenever you read, hear, or experience something that's relevant to the general idea of your story. Doing this is trivial because most individuals will always have a smartphone handy. If you are among the few who don't, always carry a notepad and pencil or pen.

Collect, collect, and then select. Keep adding ideas to your brainstorming until it becomes painful not to write the story itself. Goodbye writer's block!

Now let's organize those ideas from the mega-brainstorming and build the 'Archipelago of Ideas'. Think of the ideas in your brainstorming as islands in the ocean. The 'Archipelago of Ideas' is about building bridges between all the ideas. These bridges give the piece unity and cohesion. This is a two-step process.

Step 1:

On a sheet of paper or in a document create four columns: Idea, Relevant to, Source, and Notes Now pull the ideas from your notes and organize them in this table.

Step 2:

On a sheet of paper or in a document create three columns: Point, Subpoint, and Bridge. Each idea from the first document should be a Point in this one. For each point you make (point 1, point 2, etc) create Subpoint A and Subpoint B for each of them. Then under the Bridge column write what connects Subpoint A and Subpoint B.

Now we are ready to do an outline! For the first outline draft, let's make it as simple as possible. This way you can focus more on ideas and less on structure. The first draft is always terrible, but good writing has to start somewhere. If it helps you stay focused, write an intro and a conclusion with the outline.

Intro: What is the purpose of the story? How is it going to proceed? Conclusion: How did this story proceed? What was its purpose?

Outlines force simplicity. They make it easier to see the ideas and move them around. Organize your outline with subdivisions, sections, and paragraphs. Each paragraph is a stepping stone to your final destination and every one should focus on a single idea. Write ten to fifteen sentences per outline heading to complete the paragraphs.

While working on the outline, keep moving, keep writing, and don't get bogged down by the details.

Personally I find it helpful to do an outline for the overall story and then one for each chapter, making sure to include any key elements like location, characters, magic, and/or items.

A story outline can look like this:

  Original Story Idea: 

  Characters: 

  Magic: Item(s): 

  Location: Book Outline (just a brief description of each of the following): 

  Exposition (Introduction) - presents the characters, the setting, and the central conflict 

  Rising Action (Development, Complication) - main character(s) will face various impediments to the achievement of their goal, this is part of the story's satisfaction (keep in mind readers love to see struggle and feel as though the payoff at the end is well deserved). 

  Climax (Crisis) - turning point in the story 

  Falling Action - this is where the central dramatic all encompassing question is solved/answered one way or another 

  Resolution (Conclusion) - typing up lose ends

The chapters basically work the same way as the book outline and it is a chance to broaden the storyline and make things interesting, for both you as the writer and your readers. Many examples for chapter outlines can be found on the WWW with a simple search or you can follow one of the links below;