RS, Author, Novelist on Nostr: #WritersCoffeeClub Ch 14 Nbr 10 — How do you research and plan your stories? An ...
#WritersCoffeeClub Ch 14 Nbr 10 — How do you research and plan your stories?
An idea comes to mind, or a situation with characters (often from other stories) presents itself, and I write it down to capture it. If I need to do extensive research, especially if the details become quickly boring, I move the idea to the Idea File, where it likely dies. Otherwise, if it has a starting scene, characters with an agenda, and a reasonable ending idea/scene—I start writing.
I research as I go, as I need it. If what I learn is actionable by the characters, the characters use it. If it's too technical, I add an in-story expert, like an auto-mechanic, to lampshade understanding in lay terms. I'll often backfill for foreshadowing purposes and sometimes revise to make the story fit what I've researched.
I also do not-research research while writing the story by noting down about how characters use magic systems, creating maps as the characters travel, listing vernacular as it gets spoke, and record history as character actions require explaining stuff. This research can be inherited from other stories.
Planning? That's what the ending is for. I write toward the ending. As I go, ideas come to me, usually when I'm trying to sleep. I write those down, along with what I think will happen when I get there. Occasionally, I do write a treatment that can be as long as about 10 pages, but I have to be careful not to write so much as I lose interest because all the sense of discovery is suddenly gone.
Yeah. Pantser.
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