Writing

Story line

Hey! so here is more tips when writing, and this one is about your story line.

When you go into writing a book, you at least have to know the beginning and the end. not word for word, but they way you want it to play out. I've read many cases where they know how they want to start a book, and what has to happen in the middle, but they didn't think they were going to end the book, so they didn't plan an ending, and when they got to it, it was very sloppy and cut off... this can't be the case, the ending can ruin a whole book, or a whole series! Take Divergent for example, and don't hate on me for this, but I couldn't continue reading it once i heard what ending it was. It would have just been a waste of time to me, no book should end that way. did you know she actually planned the ending differently? she wrote it completely different! it would have been amazing! but sadly, it would have taken the same rout the The Hunger games did and they made her change it. That's right, Tris would have lived, (sorry for the spoiler) and her brother would have died instead, and her and Four would have lived happily ever after. Now I don't know about you, but that sounds like an ending that actually flowed with the story and how it should have been played out. Now its this bull crap. The point of this rant was to give you a little insight on why the ending is an important part to plan. Now sure, she didn't plan on that exact ending from the very beginning, but she planned on Four and Tris being alive and together and the system being broken, taken down and all that jazz. And that's what were going to be talking about, how to plan that.

First things first!

You already know you character, that's what we talked about in the chapter before this. Now, What type of Story is this?  you should already know your genera, but what type of story is it? I'll give an example. If i picked out two characters, and i wanted them to be the main action, the romance, the couple of the century if you will, how are they going to meet? For Military's Girl, I chose the best friend rout. So that's what made it the ever so typical Wattpad style of "best friends falling in love". Now, if I were talking about The Street Fighter, I chose the "strangers who bumped into each other" rout. So, there you have two examples of what exactly the story is about. Now i'm not saying that's the meat of the story, or the main thing about it, but that's what makes up the Type of story.

Second things second!

How did it happen? Were there things that lead up to the main part of the story?  For instance,  in my book Magissa Academy, I gave a back drop first to the story, about who Kaliope is, how she grew up, why she grew up that way. Her current living situations and how it got that way. Then I started the main part of the story. Now, some books jump in on the middle of the action and then cut back to the slow parts and how ti happened. But you know what? they had to know this part of the story first, before they just started with the action.  So, you have to know this part for sure.

Third things third!

Where do you want this story to end up? Do you want it to end with a happily ever after? or do you want it to end tragically? and if you want it to end tragically, what is the purpose? Take my book Charlie's Hero for a second. Her death was planned from the very beginning. In fact, I planned her death before I planned her beginning story. I wanted to end a story with a sad death, my one and only story probably, but I also had to figure out why she died, who was around her, and who will it effect? I wanted it to be simple, yet tear jerking, angry, upsetting, denial evoking, something that left readers wondering why they started the book, but also glad they read it.  So i planned her death. I did her research, i gave her cancer.

Now, the fun part!

So, you've planned your characters, you've mapped out what your story is going to be about. What you need to do now? Figure out a timeline. When is your story supposed to end? When I wrote the street fighter, I didn't want the ending to be too soon, but I dind't know exactly how long it was going to take. Where as with Military's Girl, i knew it was going to be about a year or so of the actual story. So, if you have trouble with your ending timeline, at least know how youre going to end it, and the figure out the steps in between! because hey, you already did the hard work of who its gonna be, what it's gonna be about, how it's gonna start/the actual start of the story, and how you want it to end. Now, just make a mapped timeline.

For example, when I wrote the locket:

Beginning- start with her in a crown heading to work, the story about the locket going over in her head because of her something coming up.

next big step- meets him, get's flustered. Then sometime later with her in ear shot, he activates her locket, and her's starts to glow too.

next big step- her hiding from him

next big step- the mother figureing it out and trying to get her in the same room with him a few times

next big step- they actually get to know eachother

next big step- she scared, then talks to her mom about why

next big step- she finds out he's leaving

next big step- she makes her decision

final step- they run to each other and he says "I knew it was you"

And that's what I wanted to base my story on. I picked out the beginning, the ending, and the figured out what I wanted to happened in between to lead up the to how it was supposed to end. these were just minor steps, but they carried the story and its basically what I summed up throughout the book. So, when planning a book, you don't have to plan the whole thing out, but plan the beginning, plan the ending, and plan the major steps in between. I did the same thing with Military's Girls, and all my books since. I'd say it works. So :) Try it! enjoy! let me know if this helps you! and let me know if you;ve tried any of my advise on here:) also, comment if you want more tips and tricks!

-KenZ_Dizzy95