How I work out a story
If you look for my stories online, you will, unfortunately, come up empty, except for my website that is. That being said, it doesn't mean that I am not an author, writer, and storyteller. Currently, I have one novel that still needs one more edit and a read through, and a second WIP that is taking me far too long to complete. In my current WIP, I winged it for the first four chapters, and then my writing dried up. I was unsure of what and where I wanted to take the main character. Should have her delve in long-forgotten dungeons, or take her out and about the land I have created looking for adventures along the way? I was stalled. I didn't know my direction, or hers, so I began to jot down some ideas. I floundered in a lake of uncertainty, at least that is how it felt to me, and then while lying in bed, it came to me, write a synopsis of the story. It was a great idea, not original, but great nonetheless. There was a problem, though. I was using Open Office, and that made it challenging to keep my ideas and plotlines organized. It was a successful writer that I follow that suggested using Scrivener. I have to be honest, I wasn't too keen on buying a new program for my writing, but it had a thirty-day free trial, so I thought, What the heck, and I downloaded it. Once I got past the extensive tutorial, I started moving my WIP from Open Office to the new platform. I'm not going to get into all of the great things that Scrivener does for you, but I will share how it helped me keep on track. Scrivener is great for being able to make notes while you're writing, and It gives you an easy way to keep track of your plot lines, current, and to come, by the use of it's 'Cork Board' feature. Characters, locations, and anything else you need to keep organized can be kept in the 'Binder' for easy access. I'll give you one example. You begin your story with your character; we'll call him Ted. Ted arrives in the Tower of Lonely Ghosts and has to find his way out of the situation you have put him in. First, you will make a Character template, name it Ted, and provide all the details you currently have about him. You will add his appearance, fears, what gets under his skin, and lastly, you will add that he starts in the tower and why; as the story continues, you will add to the character and keep track of changes by referencing the chapter and page in which he appears. Secondly, you will create a Location template and do much the same as you did with the Character sheet, except this time you will mark all those who make appearances in the tower and when. Scrivener is great for keeping you organized and reduces the chances of creating plot holes and such. When trying to keep track of the distance between locations, and weather changes, for example, I can't say enough about creating a map to keep your mind focused on where your MC is at all times. There is a great, free program out there called Inkarnate. The map-making tool allows you to create excellent maps that will help you to remember things such as, Ted having moved on to the Withering Wastes, which is very much a desert. No rain will fall here, and Ted's armour needs to be carried because it's much too hot to wear, and again, you will make a note of this place in Scrivener by adding that Ted has arrived, and why. You will also make notes on the location, and any persons of interest that dwell in it. You can see how using tools like the ones listed above can make your life much easier, and so far, they have helped me stay on track. Anyway, I have strayed from my earlier thoughts of me wanting to outline or summarize my story if you will. Knowing where to begin wasn't going to be the issue. I knew where I was, and kind of where I wanted to go with my WIP, but the future of my character remained cloudy. After much contemplation, I decided to write down how I wanted the book to end, and after an hour or so of making notes, I was happy with the finale. I added the folder to Scrivener, but I still needed to get the MC from where she was, to where I wanted her to be. My plan of attack was simple. First, I would make notes of major and minor events I wanted her to experience. I placed them in a timeline, first to last in the 'Binder,' and then I filled in the rest of the story by doing a summary of each chapter, making notes of plots, locations, and characters as I went. Over the course of two days, I spent my time evolving from coffee to gin, while I lead my MC through the story of her life quests and journeys. Surprisingly enough, the outline I had created flowed nicely and smashed down the writer's block that I had created for myself. It was a win. I don't think I could have done it without the tools I had gathered. Writers of old must have torn their hair out, trying to keep track of everything. Now, to be fair. The first novel that I wrote was written wholely on Open Office, and I think I did reasonably well keeping track of everything. I guess the difference is that it was written in a first-person tense, where my current work is not. Why that makes a difference, I can't say, but in my little brain, it does. In conclusion, I won't go as far as to say that my way of doing things is the best, but it did help me get to a point where I could easily carry on my WIP without struggling with trying to find direction and a purpose for my MC. I hope this helps to alleviate some of the many challenges we all go through as we crawl along, hoping to give our readers out there a satisfying ending to our tall tales. You can find me on twitter @NormBoyington. Happy writing everyone.