Creating a Story (How to do it for beginners by Blarg)

[blarg]

How to create an idea for a story
By: blarg

Hello guys. If you haven't noticed already my activity on the forums has spiked up a bit of late simply because of my increased time spent on the computer (Damn the midwest)... So anyways moving on to the purpose of this thread. Adisc has always had a bit of unstructured writers. So guys... this is for you. I suggest that any novice writer,even amateur, should go over either this or their own custom one.

This is almost like a checklist/things to do list. Simply read through this and you should be able to fill out every question prior to writing your story.

(I will use example to create a work of fiction and write with it too! Watch this magical process)

Setting:
What time frame is this set in?
Where does it open? (location)
Where does it end? (location)

Example answer to Setting:
What time frame is this set in? Medieval ages
Where does it open? (location) Tavern
Where does it end? (location) Cot

Characters*:
Main Protaganist:
Other Protaganists:
Main Antaganist:
Other Antaganists:
Static (Supporting & unchanging) characters:
Symbolic/Comic Relief characters:

Example answer to Characters: (This is really shortened for my own sake, yours should be longer than this)

Main Protaganist: James: Tall (6'1''), Toned, Strong, Intelligent, Blue eyes, blond hair, Swordsman, blunt, charming, honorable

Other Protaganists: Mary: Medium Height (5'8''), Well rounded, Loving, Brown eyes, Dark Hair, doesn't fight, gullable, hearty, strong woman
(There could be more than one other protaganist!)

Main Antaganist: Victor: Tall (6'5'', buff, Immensley strong, brute, dark eyes, bald, mace-wielder, gruff, rude

Other Antaganists: (None in this particular story, but it's always nice to have a duo or more!)

Static (Supporting & unchanging) characters: Tavern Knave: Young boy, black hair, noticingly bad teeth, intelligent.

Knight Davion: Charming, blond hair, rich, honorable, noble, chivilarous, handsome, sharp, blue yes

Jennata: James's lover, beautiful, dark hair, lucious lips, extremely defined, doesn't love James, flirtatious

(Static characters are extremely important to the story, you need them to teach your characters lessons throughout the novel/story!)

Symbolic/Comic Relief characters: Technically they're not important but they're always good to have especially if your antagonists and protagonists are not too memorable. I.E. Zifnab in death gate cycle is very much a comic relief character!
(Tip: These types of characters are good to have because if you're having a writer's block you can simply throw them into the story, comic relief will make the reader smile, while a symbolic character will deepen the content of the story.)

Basic Plotline: (Mine is extremely short, make yours longer!!!)
[There's not actual rubric to this, just make points of reference as often as you can, because my story is short i can make a decent amount of plot ponits]

-Opens in Tavern with James slightly intoxicated and Victor walks in and after flirting with the very flirtatious wife he decides to take her from James.

-James wakes the following day all alone with no lover and only a tavern knave to help him find where she went (He helps him for a coin or two)

-James goes on his hunt for Victor the bald giant man. As he exits though he's intercepted by Mary who hears of his troubles and decides to help

- the "couple" search throughout the town and figure out that Victor has left the village for his cot on the country side

-Trip throughout the planes where they run into Knight Davion who's simply trying to catch up to his regiment when he stumbles upon them.

-The trio split ways, James and Mary continue towards the cot and eventually arrive there.

-Distraught cheating lover finds James outside and before long the angry Victor engages James in a dual which is taken to the extremes and before long both wound each other.

-Mary helps James out and ends up finishing off Victor because Jannett isn't willing to help Victor out as much as Mary helps James.

-The story ends with a conversation between Mary and James and a kiss is the closing scene

So there you have it. Excuse my incorrect grammar etc. But that shouldn't deter you too much from using my guide. I hope it'll help! These simple steps will basically create a story for you. Just use what you put down. If you wish to view this story which i will write myself stay tunned for it on the first page of stories-in-progress!

If you have questions about how to do things such as writing a scene or other technical things visit the other guide threads.

P.S. This will be my second guide. Suggestions are welcome, i tried to make it nice and short but if you feel there's something still necessary (Part of the planning process) Then please by all means tell me what it is!

~blarg

Extra things posted by others...

By Rance

Blarg,

I think you touch upon some really good points, and it's good to have a resident writing "instructor" like you around!

I think a lot of people don't put enough thought, time, or sympathy into how much work it takes to develop even the smallest of stories. Writing is one of those jobs that requires one to be quite adept at many different things. Writers need to be scholars, salesmen, perfectionists, and artists all at once, and those are a lot of pretty heft hats to wear!

I like that you mentioned the planning phase. I'm a firm believer that a writer can never plan too much. Of course, you can feel as though you've planned a lot, but if you've done enough planning to give yourself characters who are believable enough, and who get faced with conflicts which are believable enough, you'll find that no matter how much you plan, they do things without your consent on paper that you never imagined they would.

Blarg's right, folks -- always plan. If you sit down and toss down a thought on paper, guess what? It'll look like you just sat down and tossed a thought onto paper, and it'll usually suck. When you understand the direction of your overall plot progression, the themes you want to introduce through it, and how it will be completed, you have more power to weave in and out of that skeleton at will. You can control better what you know inside and out; you can't control what you don't, however.

Also, it's important to research as you write. The old adage goes, "Write what you know," and when it really comes down to it ... you realize that you don't know very much to write about. To many writers, their creations are based off of places and images in their world (look at Stephen King, who writes about Maine (and now Florida) because that's where he lives, so I can trust him as a storyteller and a reliable source). If one of your characters works a certain job or has a certain hobby that is explained to the reader, don't be wrong. If you are, you're fucked, because it makes you look like a shitty author and makes your story look much less credible.

Remember, a writer who screws up and makes a reader say, "Dude, this author has no clue what _________ is like," immediately sacrifices his or her story, and threatens entirely losing readers. You can never research too much, and if you think you have, you'd better double-check your source material and how you're using it. Have a character who is a cobbler? Research cobbling so you know how they do it and how to make that part of them ring true.

Great pointers, Blarg, as usual!

~blarg

Merry christmas

[Dawes]

Blarg,

I think you touch upon some really good points, and it's good to have a resident writing "instructor" like you around!

I think a lot of people don't put enough thought, time, or sympathy into how much work it takes to develop even the smallest of stories. Writing is one of those jobs that requires one to be quite adept at many different things. Writers need to be scholars, salesmen, perfectionists, and artists all at once, and those are a lot of pretty heft hats to wear!

I like that you mentioned the planning phase. I'm a firm believer that a writer can never plan too much. Of course, you can feel as though you've planned a lot, but if you've done enough planning to give yourself characters who are believable enough, and who get faced with conflicts which are believable enough, you'll find that no matter how much you plan, they do things without your consent on paper that you never imagined they would.

Blarg's right, folks -- always plan. If you sit down and toss down a thought on paper, guess what? It'll look like you just sat down and tossed a thought onto paper, and it'll usually suck. When you understand the direction of your overall plot progression, the themes you want to introduce through it, and how it will be completed, you have more power to weave in and out of that skeleton at will. You can control better what you know inside and out; you can't control what you don't, however.

Also, it's important to research as you write. The old adage goes, "Write what you know," and when it really comes down to it ... you realize that you don't know very much to write about. To many writers, their creations are based off of places and images in their world (look at Stephen King, who writes about Maine (and now Florida) because that's where he lives, so I can trust him as a storyteller and a reliable source). If one of your characters works a certain job or has a certain hobby that is explained to the reader, don't be wrong. If you are, you're fucked, because it makes you look like a shitty author and makes your story look much less credible.

Remember, a writer who screws up and makes a reader say, "Dude, this author has no clue what _________ is like," immediately sacrifices his or her story, and threatens entirely losing readers. You can never research too much, and if you think you have, you'd better double-check your source material and how you're using it. Have a character who is a cobbler? Research cobbling so you know how they do it and how to make that part of them ring true.

Great pointers, Blarg, as usual!

[blarg]

Thank your for the addition xD
Hopefully some mod notices this soon enough and links it to stickies.

[Chillhouse]

This actually helped me quite a bit. I've had this idea for a novella running around in my head, but I did not know how to start it. Then I created an outline using this format, mapping all the characters and the entire plot out in front of me. I had the first chapter finished a half hour after that.

It sounds obvious, that writing an outline and mapping out the entire plot should help a writer focus on their story, but I've never done that for a story untill now. Thanks, man. Appreciated.
Might post that first chapter here just as an example of how much it helped me if I get the time.

One thing you might like to add, though, is how to begin a story. It's best if a story begins in the middle of some action. It doesn't have to be physical action, but something needs to be going on in order to immediately hook the attention of the reader. One of the worst things a writer can do (in my opinion) is begin a story with the background of the story. That's borring. How can a reader care about the background to your story if they don't even know what the story is about yet?