Essential Secrets to Planning a Story

Tell Me A Story

So just what happens with a story outline, how do you use it?  A story outline is nothing miraculous, nothing to be suspicious of. A story outline is merely a scheme that helps steer your writing - a basis for your story - a route map.

• Just like any map, a story outline makes the journey less painful. It assists in showing you where best to go, and improving the quality of the story by providing an overall understanding of its construction.
• Underpinnings are essential to a building, and whether you like it or not, you are in the business of building - building a story. You might think you’re arty-farty, but remember, artists of all persuasions have to be craftsmen as well. Devote time and consideration to a plan and your story construction will be sound.
• Foundations should be deep and strong before construction commences - your outline needs to be just the same.

Prepare

The first thing you need do is to prepare a sequential order of events, and then plan out each chapter, allowing about half a page for each. Include the most important scenes and show how they influence your protagonists.

Preparing an order of events gives you an indication of how each character progresses due to actions they become caught up in. Characters should always develop, without character development the story won’t have moved.

Proper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance.

• Route maps don’t need to be prepared chronologically. You can prepare a later chapter before an earlier one.
• You won’t write yourself into a corner when you’re finally typing out that precious story – you’ll understand where the story is heading.
• All difficulties will already have been understood and sorted before you start writing.
• The WORST plan is better than no plan at all. You will always know where you're heading.
• The plan isn't set in concrete. It can be changed at any time - PROVIDING a new plan is then made.

Having recognized the problems as you make your outline, you’ll be well prepared to avoid them. When you get down to it, your actual writing will be smoother, faster and far more professional. You’ll be well on your way to being an author.

Writing - Proper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance

Tell Me a Story - question

Hello, AJ. I'm having a dilemma. I think it's descriptive power syndrome. I over-describe things (maybe) and get stuck right after writing a great descriptive paragraph and become unable to continue the plot. Every thing I start to write results like that. Please do recommend me methods or tell me tips to overcome my problem. Thanks.

Hello Aiman from Singapore. Thanks for sending this in. Descriptive Power Syndrome, mm.... That's a new one on me, I guess you not only recognize you have a problem, but have named it as well. Perhaps you’re talking about what in the past was called ‘purple prose’.

It seems to me that you almost have the answer in your own hands. Most people don't understand what the obstacles are with their writing and that's where their actual problems lie. Once they KNOW they have a problem, they work on it and polish it away. You seem to understand exactly what is wrong - so let's try to see why you can't get over it.

Edit it away

Most authors simply get on with writing their story and return later to edit away the crap. Don’t imagine that writers produce a beautiful piece of work hot off the press. Stories aren’t written, stories are re-written, several times. Everyone has to edit the rubbish away. The trick is recognizing what the rubbish is. You already seem to understand this.

Let's try a plan

Okay, so maybe the real problem lies in planning. I know I hammer this a lot, but a lot of hiccups in writing come about because of insufficient preparation.

If you make an outline of the story before you start to write, you won’t grind to a halt because any sticking points will be ironed out in the planning stage. A plan doesn’t have to be all-inclusive, it can be as sketchy as you like. Just make one. The worst plan is better than none at all - and the plan can be altered at any time to accomodate new ideas.

Proper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance

Some writers claim that making an outline inhibits their flow of writing, that their creative juices are stunted. In fact, it can have the opposite effect. Once you know where the story is going, you can write free-flow then wham! Words just fall off the ends of your fingers.

A plan is merely a guide, a map of where you want to go; it isn’t the journey, it isn’t writing. Writing is where you release the juices and the flow of creation comes into it’s own.

Good luck - and let me know how you go on.

• Next post on Tell Me a Story
• Romantic Suspense

What is the normal rate of writing a novel

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Links on Tell Me a Story

• How To Describe - Mastering Descriptive Writing
• To Write A Story - 20 Ways To Write A Story Better
• Story Characters - 7 Cool Ways To Jump-Start Your Writing

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Tell Me a Story - advice

Hello Anthony. I have a question for you, what is the 'normal' rate of writing a novel? I only seem to get about two to three pages written in a three hour session. My typing speed is about normal, so what am I doing wrong? Is this a normal rate or am I super slow?

Hi Andy, thanks for sending this question in. First off let me say there's no such thing as a 'normal' rate of writing. Everyone has his or her own comfort zone. I know some super-fast writers, whose work is hardly earth shattering. On the other hand, I know of writers who’ve taken years to produce a novel, but the end result has been a best seller.

Do you plan your writing?

I fully advocate making an outline before you even begin to write. Planning really can help you to be more efficient. Planning helps you know where the book is heading. It can be as detailed or as sketchy as you like, but making a plan means there’s less likelihood of writing yourself into a corner or spending hours staring at a blank screen.

One more thing, don’t be tempted to edit as you go along. Editing as you work can seriously slow you down. Get words down, finish the book before coming back to edit. The time to make your work perfect is the polishing stage – and that can be longer than the original writing.

Please don't worry about your production rate. Just do your own thing – oh, and don't forget to enjoy it. Writing is about enjoyment not worrying about time-scales.

• Next post, Tea with JK Rowling.

Planning that Outline

Tell Me a Story - writing tips

Okay, so what is a story outline. It's nothing magical, nothing to be wary of. A story outline is just involves planning a guide to help you during writing - a foundation for your story - a route map.

• A story outline makes the writing journey easier and assists in developing the story’s quality by giving you a complete understanding of its construction.
• Foundations are fundamental to a building; you’re building a story. It’s no different. Devote time and consideration to your plan.
• Foundations should always be deep and strong before construction commences, and your outline needs to be just the same.

Prepare
The first thing you should do is to prepare a sequential order of events, after that, planning each chapter, allowing about half a page for each. Include the most important scenes in it and show how they influence your protagonists.
Preparing the order of events will give you an indication of how each character progresses due to actions they are caught up in. Characters should always develop, without character development the story won’t have moved.

Proper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance.
You can prepare a later chapter before an earlier one. Route maps don’t need to be prepared chronologically.

1. You won’t write yourself into a corner when you’re finally typing out that precious story – you’ll understand where the story is heading.
2. All difficulties will already have been understood and sorted.
3. The WORST plan is better than not planning at all. You will always know where you're heading.
4. The plan isn't set in concrete. It can be changed at any time - PROVIDING a new plan is made.

Having recognized the problems as you make your outline, you’ll be well prepared to avoid them. When you get down to it, your actual writing will be smoother, faster and far more professional. By planning correctly, you’ll be well on your way to being an author.

• Next post on Tell Me a Story

Writing Tips - Unsticking Your Story

Time and again the same question seems to crop up on forums. A writer has come up against a wall and wants to know how to get moving again. My answer is always the same - most problems with writing boil down to planning.

• Next post http://ajbarnett-story.blogspot.com/2008/05/plot-thickens.html

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