Advice - In The Form Of Rants

T'was the deal with planning?

[I am sooooooo sorry for being so busy! I only just finished my exams recently...]

As many of you know, I have a strange love for the Jojo's Bizarre Adventure series as well as Hunter × Hunter, so you already know I have (for a lack of better words) a FABULOUS TASTE IN ANIME.

But.
But.
But.

What both of these amazingly memeable series have in common is amazing talent for planning and comcept execution! Honestly, you can't come up with a character like Illumi Zoldyck, Hisoka or Joseph Joestar on a whim; you have to plan these characters out like you would a story!

I for one, am probably the biggest hypocrite when it comes to character plans, because I never tell people to do them to avoid scripted characters- despite doing it myself. I mean, I'm sorry to break it to you but you can't just choose 5 traits in a sim creator and make a character!

WRYYYYYYYYYYly I tried, it just never seems to work. I'd try again, but I don't want to be less productive. I don't want nen of that.

A warning though: You could use all the planning in ZA WARUDO, but you could still find your ability to underSTAND it might not get better. So you could do one of three things: pull a Lucas and run away like a kid, pull a Mashima and pull constant Deus ex Machinas out of your arse (plot convenience obvs) or pull an Araki and become legendary.

I dunno about you, but every other choice sounds a little too despair inducing (I'm the type who reflects on my attempts after), so I'll go with Hajime and the Hope option.

*smashes furiously on hope button*

When it comes to planning, nothing triggers me more than a super vague plan. Like, how do you expect yourself to actually do anything, if you just write:

"MC and SC meet. They shag at the end."

Jeez, you are asking for retribution at this point.... well, the main point is to actually write (if not in detail) the things that will happen- the events. Then it should be written alongside the reaction.

This is so painfully crucial that most stories do this; Most turn into a clusterfuck without them. For example, it was so goddamn obvious when I was watching The Asterisk War that the writer of the series didn't have an original bone in his body, and that he hadn't planned things beforehand. There was literally an entire segment dedicated to FUCKING EXPOSITION which made ZERO FUCKING SENSE because he didn't plan out shit.

My saltiness aside, to be honest, you need to write a concept first. What are you trying to achieve?

This is the original concept of Insignia:

Strong, female protagonist leading in a (fairly) innovative story, accompanied by a large cast. Constant themes of morality, friendship, sacrifice as well as adult themes.

A concept is literally what the story is- or at least, a summary it. This is where you could effectively say "MC and SC meet; They shag at the end".

The premise follows:

Approximately 300 years into the future, World War 5 has begun. 10 people with power like no other are the forefront of the battle, destroying everything in their path. An uncontrollable woman of the 10 joins forces with the UMR and faces many trials of love, friendship, morality and the future. All to prepare her for the top.

The premise on the other hand, is the beginning, middle and end of a story... without detail. It should reference information about the protagonist ('an uncontrollable woman'), other important characters ('10 people with power like no other') and the beginning and end (beginning: 'joins forces with the UMR and faces many trials'. End: 'All to prepare her for the top').

Just to add, if you've written a story before, your readers should effectively be able to write a premise for you. If they can't, there may be an issue...

You don't necessarily have to write them, but it helps in a way that establishes the order of your story. Without it, you can still write a story.

So far, we have a concept, a premise and a plan. But, there is still some things to talk about when it comes to planning! If you haven't already, try to write your own story concept, premise or plan over here. Other people can offer you advice and so can we on how to improve and where or how you can express something. It'll really help! If you have, nice work!

To be honest, this part is getting part 3 Jojo long, so I'll break it into two chapters XD