1. Welcome to Religious Forums, a friendly forum to discuss all religions in a friendly surrounding.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Our modern chat room. No add-ons or extensions required, just login and start chatting!
    • Access to private conversations with other members.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!

Writers...

Discussion in 'Literature' started by The Sum of Awe, Jan 25, 2023.

Top Posters
Page 1 of 2
  1. The Sum of Awe

    The Sum of Awe Brought to you by the moment that spacetime began.

    Joined:
    Jan 23, 2011
    Messages:
    16,070
    Ratings:
    +3,448
    Religion:
    Pan(en)theist - Hard Determinist
    What do you do when you have a mess of things in your draft and you don't even know where to begin?

    I'm about 3/4 done plotting and I have tons of things I want to get settled for the continuation of the story. I also have a lot of changes I want to go back and look at. I have one of my most recent chapters unfinished/unplotted because I need to figure out what happens next before I can figure it out. And on top of it all, I'm trying to decide what I want to keep and what I want to remove because I've already plotted this quarter of the plot before, but after making some renditions on writing my second draft, there are a lot of things that wouldn't work and some changes need to be made.

    I considered taking a break, and I essentially did (except it was always in the back of my mind and I'd glance at my story once in a while). It's time to get back into it. I just don't know where to begin. I have ten pages full of notes regarding changes to the past, present, and future of the plot....
     
    #1 The Sum of Awe, Jan 25, 2023
    • Like Like x 1
    • Friendly Friendly x 1
  2. The Sum of Awe

    The Sum of Awe Brought to you by the moment that spacetime began.

    Joined:
    Jan 23, 2011
    Messages:
    16,070
    Ratings:
    +3,448
    Religion:
    Pan(en)theist - Hard Determinist
    #2 The Sum of Awe, Jan 25, 2023
  3. The Kilted Heathen

    The Kilted Heathen Crow FreyjasmaðR

    Joined:
    Jan 9, 2017
    Messages:
    4,897
    Ratings:
    +4,242
    Religion:
    Heathenry
    I usually just start writing on something. Take a draft and an outline, even if it's just one scene, and write it out as much as possible.
     
    #3 The Kilted Heathen, Jan 25, 2023
  4. icehorse

    icehorse Veteran Member
    Premium Member

    Joined:
    Feb 5, 2014
    Messages:
    12,240
    Ratings:
    +7,501
    Religion:
    spiritual anti-theist : )
    I'm a huge fan of quickly drawn mind-maps. I also use two pads of paper and while I'm looking at version 1 of a mind map, I draw version 2 on the 2nd pad of paper. Then when i'm looking at the second version of the mind map, I draw the 3rd version on the first pad. And back and forth.

    Mind maps open up creativity and connections of ideas much more than linear lists :)
     
    #4 icehorse, Jan 25, 2023
    • Like Like x 1
  5. syo

    syo Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    May 27, 2016
    Messages:
    5,915
    Ratings:
    +2,068
    Religion:
    pagan, omni, anarchy, nihil, and nicene christian
    Enjoy the explosion, friend! :)
     
    #5 syo, Jan 25, 2023
    • Funny Funny x 1
    • Creative Creative x 1
  6. The Sum of Awe

    The Sum of Awe Brought to you by the moment that spacetime began.

    Joined:
    Jan 23, 2011
    Messages:
    16,070
    Ratings:
    +3,448
    Religion:
    Pan(en)theist - Hard Determinist
    If my earlier chapters are uncertain, should I continue with my later chapters? Or should I perfect my earlier chapters/outlines first?
     
    #6 The Sum of Awe, Jan 25, 2023
  7. The Sum of Awe

    The Sum of Awe Brought to you by the moment that spacetime began.

    Joined:
    Jan 23, 2011
    Messages:
    16,070
    Ratings:
    +3,448
    Religion:
    Pan(en)theist - Hard Determinist
    hmm. How do you structure your Mind maps if you don't mind me asking? Chronologically? Part by part? Chapter by chapter?
     
    #7 The Sum of Awe, Jan 25, 2023
  8. Twilight Hue

    Twilight Hue Twilight, not bright nor dark, good nor bad.

    Joined:
    Mar 7, 2009
    Messages:
    48,759
    Ratings:
    +21,958
    Religion:
    Philosophical Buddhism
    Sounds normal. I think your in the right track.

    Keep refining it.
     
    #8 Twilight Hue, Jan 25, 2023
    • Funny Funny x 1
  9. icehorse

    icehorse Veteran Member
    Premium Member

    Joined:
    Feb 5, 2014
    Messages:
    12,240
    Ratings:
    +7,501
    Religion:
    spiritual anti-theist : )
    Good question! The quick answer is: all of the above. For me, each mind map has a title. Some examples might be:

    - overall table of contents ideas
    - chapter 7 topics
    - part 3 chapters and topics

    And so on.

    Chronologically is an interesting one. The advantage of mind maps is to collect unordered, unstructured ideas. Chronological order is - well - ordered. So I've never tried to make a mind map to support developing a chronology. It might be interesting, but at the moment it's kind of a stumper for me :)
     
    #9 icehorse, Jan 25, 2023
    • Informative Informative x 1
  10. The Kilted Heathen

    The Kilted Heathen Crow FreyjasmaðR

    Joined:
    Jan 9, 2017
    Messages:
    4,897
    Ratings:
    +4,242
    Religion:
    Heathenry
    I sometimes do, yeah. In fact usually when I start a story, I write the beginning, then the ending, and then bridge the gap while changing the ending as needed.
     
    #10 The Kilted Heathen, Jan 25, 2023
    • Informative Informative x 1
  11. The Sum of Awe

    The Sum of Awe Brought to you by the moment that spacetime began.

    Joined:
    Jan 23, 2011
    Messages:
    16,070
    Ratings:
    +3,448
    Religion:
    Pan(en)theist - Hard Determinist
    I guess that's sorta relieving. But in February this would be the beginning of my 3rd year since starting the book, I'm hoping to not slip much further.
     
    #11 The Sum of Awe, Jan 25, 2023
  12. The Sum of Awe

    The Sum of Awe Brought to you by the moment that spacetime began.

    Joined:
    Jan 23, 2011
    Messages:
    16,070
    Ratings:
    +3,448
    Religion:
    Pan(en)theist - Hard Determinist
    I will try a mind-map out, thank you. I've never heard of that before.

    The way I've been writing is "what happens chapter by chapter" so I probably made this a lot more difficult for myself.
     
    #12 The Sum of Awe, Jan 25, 2023
  13. The Sum of Awe

    The Sum of Awe Brought to you by the moment that spacetime began.

    Joined:
    Jan 23, 2011
    Messages:
    16,070
    Ratings:
    +3,448
    Religion:
    Pan(en)theist - Hard Determinist
    Hehe, I'd say the part I'm stuck on is that bridge in the middle.
     
    #13 The Sum of Awe, Jan 25, 2023
  14. The Kilted Heathen

    The Kilted Heathen Crow FreyjasmaðR

    Joined:
    Jan 9, 2017
    Messages:
    4,897
    Ratings:
    +4,242
    Religion:
    Heathenry
    I feel that, but it's okay if it's in pieces. You should see some of the works in progress that I have. In the second book of a planned trilogy I've got the first few chapters, a segment of the middle, a rough outline of the rest of the book and a major character death completely written out toward the end.
     
    #14 The Kilted Heathen, Jan 25, 2023
  15. icehorse

    icehorse Veteran Member
    Premium Member

    Joined:
    Feb 5, 2014
    Messages:
    12,240
    Ratings:
    +7,501
    Religion:
    spiritual anti-theist : )
    Thinking some more about this, and specifically chronologies. Do you have a big timeline board on your wall? I did a search on the phrase "timeline chart for novels" and got a lot of hits for good images. I would also recommend a fantastic, short, fun book called "Save the Cat". It was written by a successful hollywood screen writer, and it has a lot of good ideas for how to play around with plot structures. Think movable post-it notes on the wall :)
     
    #15 icehorse, Jan 25, 2023
    • Winner Winner x 1
    • Useful Useful x 1
  16. The Sum of Awe

    The Sum of Awe Brought to you by the moment that spacetime began.

    Joined:
    Jan 23, 2011
    Messages:
    16,070
    Ratings:
    +3,448
    Religion:
    Pan(en)theist - Hard Determinist
    You know, now that you mention post-it notes, I did begin the story using notecards and that could be the reason why I didn't have this much difficulty before. Maybe I should look into using that method again. Thank you for the tips.
     
    #16 The Sum of Awe, Jan 25, 2023
  17. icehorse

    icehorse Veteran Member
    Premium Member

    Joined:
    Feb 5, 2014
    Messages:
    12,240
    Ratings:
    +7,501
    Religion:
    spiritual anti-theist : )
    This is a pretty good article about mind-mapping. FWIW, I've never used color, but it could add something. One thing I think is missing from this article is that - for me - once I've filled the page with initial ideas, I often start drawing lines across the page to connect related ideas. for me, a mind map often exposes connections to ideas or categories of ideas that i hadn't visualized before.

    What is Mind Mapping? (and How to Get Started Immediately) - Litemind
     
    #17 icehorse, Jan 25, 2023
    • Informative Informative x 1
  18. Shadow Wolf

    Shadow Wolf Registered People sTabber

    Joined:
    Apr 11, 2005
    Messages:
    89,157
    Ratings:
    +41,564
    Religion:
    God is in the Rain
    Sort things out by taking a knife to the tangled mind, cutting it in half, and sorting it out.
     
    #18 Shadow Wolf, Jan 25, 2023
    • Funny Funny x 1
  19. The Sum of Awe

    The Sum of Awe Brought to you by the moment that spacetime began.

    Joined:
    Jan 23, 2011
    Messages:
    16,070
    Ratings:
    +3,448
    Religion:
    Pan(en)theist - Hard Determinist
    I’m not sure what that means.
     
    #19 The Sum of Awe, Jan 25, 2023
  20. Harel13

    Harel13 Am Yisrael Chai
    Staff Member Premium Member

    Joined:
    Nov 20, 2019
    Messages:
    9,132
    Ratings:
    +12,884
    Religion:
    Orthodox Judaism
    I recommend considering whether you are at a stage where you are able to explain how the story gets from point A to point B, A being the set up of the challenge portion of the plot and B being the resolution of that challenge, setting aside how complicated this process might seem at first. If you're not there yet, focus on mapping out your plot until you are satisfactorily able to explain the progression from A to B. If you do have that, then you can go back and ask yourself whether the progression is logical or involves unnecessary details or complications, such as pointless side-quests.

    To get a bit of an idea what is unnecessary in a plot, I recommend watching film theory videos on YouTube, where people often break down movie plots and point out pointless scenes and unnecessary details. How It Should Have Ended videos also work.
     
    #20 Harel13, Jan 26, 2023
    • Like Like x 1
(You must log in or sign up to post here.)
Page 1 of 2
Loading...