We all have our way of doing things. Some are plotter, other pantsers, and some utilize something in between. I’m a hard-core plotter, not because I want to but because I need to. This is how I do it. What’s your method?
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Having ADHD makes it difficult for me to keep interest in long tasks and tasks I don’t really vibe with at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My method breaks down my story into small parts and enables me to jump between different parts depending on interest without getting completely lost and my writing spiraling out of control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I have tried a less structured method, but without having a good grasp of the road ahead, I quickly lost interest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I need to be obsessed about the story, to live and breathe it. This method has shown to be a good tool for that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I’ve taken inspiration from several authors both for the method and how to document it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I take the idea I have and write it down in a few sentences as soon as I can, either in a document, notebook, or on my phone. I keep it as simple as I can.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
No frills or flair, like:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nMira\u2019s family is killed by bandits. Left for dead in the<\/em> attack, she swears vengeance, even if it takes her 100<\/em> years.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
If I have a more sense of the story I note that down in bullet points. It can be detailed on what the core conflict is, background, characters etc. The purpose of this step is to create a foundation for the next step in the plotting process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Expand<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
I then expand on the initial idea by asking questions regarding it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For example:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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- Who is Mira and who was her family?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Were they rich, poor, religious, non-religious, specific ethnicity?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Why was Mira\u2019s family attacked?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Were the attackers really bandits?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- How did Mira survive?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Did she pretend to be dead?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Was it a fluke?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Did someone intervene?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- What would she be willing to do for her vengeance?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- How far would she be willing to go?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- How would she go about it?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
The purpose is to put some meat on the initial idea and get a sense of the story, the characters, and what the actual conflict is. I take the result of my answered questions and revise my first summary with the details. If I have a sense of certain points in the story I want to hit, important side characters, or even the ending, I highlight that. This is an iterative step, so I\u2018ll repeat it until I\u2019m content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Brainstorm<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
At this stage, I usually have some sense of the major scenes I want to hit. I list the scenes and a short description in no particular order in a document as they come to mind. This phase usually takes time and can span several hours or days. I can also do it in several goes, making one version then revising it, and so on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If I have several POV I split them up into two different parts. With these stories, I usually use some kind of table, like Excel or google table, with each column a different POV. Depending on the POV interconnectiveness I might brainstorm each POV separately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I find this phase quite freeing, as I don’t need to take order into account. Instead, it’s more of a flow of thoughts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cluster<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
I first put the scenes I’ve brainstormed into two different piles: start, middle, and end. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When I’ve done that I take a pile and divide the scenes up into parts according to the same logic: start, middle, end. I now have a clear sense of how the story will progress going ahead. It’s time to put everything together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Organize<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
I take each scene description and put them in order in a table. Each scene is a new row and if I have several POV it’s divided into one column per POV. After I’ve put the scenes in order, I go through the list and divide everything into chapters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If I need to get a grip about what season the scene is in, or have a clear sense of how many days have passed, I go through the list of scenes and chapters to calculate that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I now have a full outline of what to write. I use Scrivener to write, so I end this phase by putting the scenes and chapters in order according to the outline in the table.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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