How do you go about developing a story idea?

[swirlingdoubt]

Hey there,

I’m curious how other writers develop their ideas into a full story. What is your process?

When I was a teenager, I was daydreaming all the time and stories ran though my mind like films non-stop. I could only write via computer or typewriter because handwriting was too “slow”. One of my favorite instruments was a handheld word processor that I got from a library (does anyone remember those?). I didn’t have access to a computer unless I went to a public library, so often times a story would be stewing in my head for weeks and when I finally had a keyboard in front of me it would spill out in one go – then the editing process could begin with a wealth of material. When I have access to a computer to write whenever I wanted, I barely wrote at all. I realized a story must sit in my head for a long time before I can write it. I can’t write character sheets or outlines or summaries, otherwise the story dies.

It seems like everyone is going to have a different method to get their ideas out. It’d be interesting to hear how your methods developed over time or how you discovered them!

[JayDee]

I remember those word processers. My parents hHad a similar one in the house until we got our 486 PC in about ‘94/95, and then it probably went into a cupboard or classified ad.

With my shorter flashfics up to 1000 words I often just have a rough idea, or a bit of word play, or a shit joke, and start typing to see what happens. Sometimes something pretty good happens. Other times it’s a load of horse cock.

With my longer stories I’ve tended to come up with as many ideas and concepts to use, type ‘em in a text file, and then try and get them into a rough chapter plan order to work out how I’m going to do it, the plan will often include turns of phrase I’ve thought up to use. The plan will also sometimes get mixed around a bit with things being moved to other chapters or deleted. My current story plan is messed up a bit because I’ve found I can’t fit everything I wanted in part 3, so I’m rejigging part 4 and so on. Even with all that I sometimes have a really hard time getting things down as they are in my head. I sometimes sit here for minutes trying to find the right frigging word that’s on the tip of my tongue – sometimes I try and google for it. I don’t have any character sheets either, which probably means I’ll contradict the shit out of myself one of these days.

Another thing with me was I did a lot of request stories for other people, and for some of those they had a paragraph or two about what they wanted to see so that part of the work was already done, in a way. To take an example from the forum – If I did one of T_B’s requests, say. These usually have a plot outline, a few details of characters to be included, and indicate the main fetish or fetishes involved. All I’d be doing there would be hanging the descriptions and whatever perversity occurs to me off that skeleton, and crediting T_B for it. I guess with requests like that, it’s like someone’s dug down three feet by six and you the author just have to dig another three by six. Sometimes it could be difficult because I’d say to the requester, “What about if X does Y?” and they’d say that they would never know arousal again, you monster, Harry would never felch Amelia, but otherwise it’s basically easier developing someone else’s story idea with those.

 

[Desiderius Price]

2 hours ago, swirlingdoubt said:

I can’t write character sheets or outlines or summaries, otherwise the story dies.

When I started my potter fic many years ago, I did make some notes, etc, including “behind the scenes” shorts to the other side.  Now that I’ve decided to restart that story, fifteen years later, I’ve been finding those notes useful, invaluable actually, in restarting it with some consistency.  Overall, if it’s important to the story, or good backstory, I do write it down, either on paper, or in the computer.  I even have a database for my original works.  Another invaluable file I have, from years ago, is a spreadsheet for the potter story.  Given its size, I had columns for each of the major/significant charactors, a row per day of the story, and for those interesting days, a thing or two about what was happening – useful, very useful, to refer to.  (And, now that I’m revising, I’ve got some of the older drafts too.)

As to writing the story itself, words definitely flow more easily at a keyboard, especially if I’ve got “inspirational pictures” up onthe rest of the computer monitor.  Now, I don’t start with a comprehensive story outline….NO!  I will write any key scenes, have a rough idea, and refine it as I write.  So, this next section to the current chapter I’m working on, yesterday, I came up with a few points to write to, so I give one sentence snippets, and I’ll likely write to those goals as I work tonight/tomorrow at it.  Any “later” ideas that I don’t have a spot yet, will loiter as one-liners in the rough order I intend, until I reach them.

[BronxWench]

I am something of a pantser when I write by myself. When I co-author with someone else, I keep copious notes, but left to my own devices, I let my characters tell the story. It’s not even remotely efficient, but it’s how my brain works best when I don’t have someone else to bounce ideas off. The only thing I might make notes for are certain elements of the backstory, like pantheons, place names, and a very, VERY rough timeline. Otherwise, I wing it madly.

I also do collect pictures as mental prompts, which I save to private boards on my Pinterest, just to fuel the imagination a bit, or aid me in describing something. I’m very visual in many respects, even if I prefer not to describe my characters in such minute detail as to rob readers of a chance to imagine the characters themselves.

[Sinfulwolf]

I am very much a pantser. I’ll come up with an idea, a setting, and characters, and start going from there. I’ve had character arcs shift from original ideas and outlines entirely because it was what was working as I wrote. Current story I’m still not entirely sure what’s going to happen with one of my major characters and if she’ll be hero or villain. To me I find if I go too close to any kind of outline, things get a bit too wooden.

[Anesor]

Very much a pantser. I do have a general idea of the ending I’m aiming for, but if I start analyzing the desires and antagonists and obstacles too much it stifles instead of making sparkles. Only in the last week did a revisit of old character friends made the story really flow.  I work so much  better as a pantser, but that leads to bigger  issues for longer pieces.  Short ones are usually light on those qualities like theme, development, and world building so I think I’m okay.

I’m trying to figure out why my fanfic has gotten so much less spontaneous… and why my originals I’ve made so hard.  I suspect it’s because the results of two novel length pantsing ended up messes and wasted of all the time spent on them.  I desperately need an editor, but budget-wise that won’t happen anytime soon unless I win a lotto. So I muddle through as best I can with the occasional opinions. I love a good review that points out things… at least once I calm down. :p 

I get ideas from anything, and keeping them long enough to get them recorded is an issue. I break ideas into fandom/series and a bucket for original ideas.  When I finish a story i may take a day or two to relax, and then check my idea files. That is best case, sometimes a plot bunny will not let go, hence a Neverwinter sequel has displaced my NaNo projects for the moment.

Usually I have at least two active stories and one or two a semi active. (right now, active original, three active Star Wars, and a Neverwinter… NaNo has kicked my muse into high gear but not the direction I planned on) On a good week I post for two stories, on a bad one, nothing. (that is one thing about NaNo that leaves me antsy, I may not post anything that month)

Once I have the basic idea down I usually have the starting point and a major plot arc. That can usually be sumarized in a single sentence or so, no matter the final intended length.

Names, quirks, background, etc I make up as I need it. I use highlighting to mark areas to fill in and clean up later, staying a bit generic. ‘Search and replace’ is my friend. character studies killed my muse dead in 2010. There are random generators too for lots of details.

I concentrate on the story flow and love cliffhangers, and hiding the answer in plain sight where I hope it was overlooked.  Pushing and concealing answers in the story, means I prefer 1^st person for the same reason its favored by mystery writers: a fair mystery!  I don’t want characters to look incompetent in any genre by making the events too obvious.  I also don’t want the readers to get frustrated because the reader didn’t know some obscure fact like one car doesn’t come in stick shift that year, so the clues should be given to the character and reader. That is a tricky balance and sometimes I lean toward underexplaining.

One of my bigger problems is that I have too much going on in the last chapter so it ends up huge. But finishing a story is important so every one is a victory. The next big problem is editing and selling, but that’s more a publishing challenge than a writing one as I see the 1^st draft as foundation and blueprint. All the revision in the world can’t help if it wasn’t written down.

[InvidiaRed]

Kinda like when you RPG

you have to get a feel for the character or characters.

Keep a general idea. events usually happen that will get you from point a to point b.

The last time I tried to be meticulous about it I rage quit and deleted the entire thing.  The only notable exception is Oceania in general. Haha.

 

[swirlingdoubt]

What the heck is a pantser?

Desiderius Price and BronxWench, I never thought of using images to help with inspiration and description. That seems very effective. I will try that.

Participating in RP helped a lot with character development as sort of a sandbox for the way a character might behave and act. Being able to bounce them off others can make them more fleshed out and creative since you can put them in situations that you wouldn’t have anticipated. I came up with a lot of characters RPing with friends when I was younger, although we stopped doing that after high school (a favorite was a Christmas horror theme where a sugar plum “fairy” terrorizes... – hm, might be a good one for a Christmas submittal here ).

I’m glad I’m not the only one that suffers with too much planning. Thanks for detailing your processes.

The only thing I write beforehand is dreams that can be used for plots. If I don’t write those down 10 minutes after I wake up, I forget them. Some of my best ideas, including a story I’m working on now, have actually been my subconscious talking. For some reason, my dreams tend towards comedy, puns, and satire that is far more clever than what I can come up with when awake...

Edited November 15, 2018 by swirlingdoubt

[Sinfulwolf]

A pantser is basically someone who writes by the seat of their pants. They don’t put too much effort into the outline, preferring things to evolve more organically. There are pros and cons to this, just as with anything. I believe with pantsing, you get much better characterization. Whereas a strong outliner would get much better plot with a greater ability to do twists and turns.

@InvidiaRed Have you really outlined the whole story, or just been very meticulous with the setting? Cause that in itself is a bit different as well.

[InvidiaRed]

44 minutes ago, Sinfulwolf said:

A pantser is basically someone who writes by the seat of their pants. They don’t put too much effort into the outline, preferring things to evolve more organically. There are pros and cons to this, just as with anything. I believe with pantsing, you get much better characterization. Whereas a strong outliner would get much better plot with a greater ability to do twists and turns.

@InvidiaRed Have you really outlined the whole story, or just been very meticulous with the setting? Cause that in itself is a bit different as well.

Just the setting. Once you build a world and continuity as long as you don't violate the rules of the world and the guidelines everything else is easier to let it happen more organically.

Only outlined a whole story once. Hated everything about it and deleted it wholesale.  

[Anesor]

Yeah, most writers are pantsers or outliners at base.  If you have trouble with outlines you are probably a pantser. It is a continuum so there’s no hard edge. 

I think I have the most problem if I try to plan character behavior or feeling stuff ahead of time. I’ve done detailed grids and flow charts for action sections or to keep track of cast locations when multiplots are at a climax. Background and culture I don’t  plan enough, but I do record bits in a separate file/location for later reference.

My notes file makes for interesting reading in its own right. My notes mentioned someone wanting to shave someone’s beard as payback in chapter two, it finally happened in chapter 28. That wasn’t planning from before I started writing, but more like weaving in loose threads and plot hooks I left behind me. Often my Maguffins like the beard threat aren’t planned consciously, but my muse makes very good use while my ego is pleasantly surprised. One character got threatened in what I thought was a throwaway chapter ending, but is making an interesting subplot now… It’s not always ME doing the planning, but my muse. Recording the mass means I can weave the story back into itself and look much cleverer by not being totally episodic that ignores earlier changes. Continuity errors make ya look bad.

[Desiderius Price]

2 hours ago, swirlingdoubt said:

Desiderius Price and BronxWench, I never thought of using images to help with inspiration and description. That seems very effective. I will try that.

Normally it’s inspirational, unclogs my neurons (so usually explicit pictures … use your imagination )  However, I have done some 3D-modeling, drawing, etc, when it comes to figuring out layouts to places, or even a family tree.

2 hours ago, Sinfulwolf said:

A pantser is basically someone who writes by the seat of their pants. They don’t put too much effort into the outline, preferring things to evolve more organically. There are pros and cons to this, just as with anything. I believe with pantsing, you get much better characterization. Whereas a strong outliner would get much better plot with a greater ability to do twists and turns.

I’m a bit more toward a pantser when I write, but I do tend to have some rough idea already.  However, I will let the characters surprise me … heck, had a “surprise” blow job in the story the other day, I wasn’t planning on, but it just spontaneously happened.   My balance of pantsing vs outline depends on the complexity of what’s happening – a chapter that’s essentially smut is nearly always pants, while more intricate plot or action, would have an outline, or even blow-by-blow (depends on the timing required).

My general outline is “stuff happened”, and I’ll refine the stuff in between beginning and end as I write.  One thing I will try to do is to write the key scenes, just a draft, so I know what I’m headed for.

 

[Desiderius Price]

6 hours ago, Anon said:

Lot of daydreaming yeah, daydreaming about characters and scenes and ideas, putting words together, then writing it all down.  Eventually concepts can take shape and just keep imagining stories and interesting things.  Sometimes a whole story will pop into the old brain, sometimes just the idea.  But for giant things I’ll create a lore bible first to collect everything to work from.

Although for my AFF stories my process is more just imagining all the most depraved things possible then figuring out how to structure a story around them to deliver them to my small audience of wackos.

Creating stories can be a perplexing/confusing topic since everybody seems to have a slightly different way of going about it.   For trivial details, I’ll use random generators/pickers, to get a list and see “what fits”.  I’ve got a database which is close to the “lore bible” for my originals.  I’ve written small programs to help my writing (date generator, that random picker from a file, database management, map aids, etc).  I’ve drawn crude maps, both on paper and in drawing programs.  I’ve experimented with 3D programs, mainly for layout of major locations, just to give an idea.  I’ve got a bunch of spiral notebooks for my potter universe – which has turned out to be highly useful when returning from a decade “on-hiatus”.  I’ve got a myriad of small text files for my potter universe, with backstory (also useful after that long on-hiatus).  A three-ring binder with loose paper for the original universe.

As to actual writing, I don’t write a super-fine outline, just a crude one.  Write a few key scenes, if needed – just so I’ve got an idea of where I’m heading.  Bring up the “inspirational” pictures, and start writing.  I’ll write notes which I’m about to end for the day, so I can pick up where I left off.  I’ll jot down a bit of an outline for a chapter, when it’s important.  And I’m not afraid to cut/cull material or alter the outline if the characters aren’t agreeing with it.

I also try to keep a spiral notebook handy for that occasion when I hear something, or come up with something, or even after a talk with a coworker – I’ll jot those ideas down, which gives things a better chance of being remembered.  And I’ll typically find my brain the *most* creative, coming up with the *best* ideas as I’m trying to get ready for work after a long weekend….

[CloverReef]

I am definitely a pantser as well. As long as I have a spark of inspiration and some vague idea of what the main conflict might be, I'm usually good to go. Though I've done stories with less. 

I reverse outline. Once I have a couple chapters written, I go back and outline what happened in them and note down important details to keep things consistent. Then, if it's feeling aimless or something doesn't flow right, I'll jot down more specific things that could happen if the characters are kind enough to oblige. 

[BronxWench]

On 11/15/2018 at 3:33 PM, Desiderius Price said:

Normally it’s inspirational, unclogs my neurons (so usually explicit pictures … use your imagination )  However, I have done some 3D-modeling, drawing, etc, when it comes to figuring out layouts to places, or even a family tree.

I will say my visual aids are largely not explicit. I find I like to collect images that feed a mood, or a facet of the world I’m building. For the Tales of the Seaborn Crown ‘verse, I collect steampunk images, mostly objects, Carnivale masks, costumes, and other things that flesh out the little details. I might save various bits of armor, or weapons that amuse. The explicit stuff doesn’t need visual aids, other than perhaps a pretty toy here and there. I like chastity cages lately...

[CloverReef]

1 minute ago, BronxWench said:

I will say my visual aids are largely not explicit. I find I like to collect images that feed a mood, or a facet of the world I’m building. For the Tales of the Seaborn Crown ‘verse, I collect steampunk images, mostly objects, Carnivale masks, costumes, and other things that flesh out the little details. I might save various bits of armor, or weapons that amuse. The explicit stuff doesn’t need visual aids, other than perhaps a pretty toy here and there. I like chastity cages lately...

I do this too. Pictures for mood. Usually something setting related, I use focuswriter, which lets me put a picture as a background to write on. If I write a scene that takes place in winter, I’ll put in a wintery cityscape as the background. Or an angsty scene will get an angsty picture. 

[Desiderius Price]

37 minutes ago, BronxWench said:

I will say my visual aids are largely not explicit. I find I like to collect images that feed a mood, or a facet of the world I’m building. For the Tales of the Seaborn Crown ‘verse, I collect steampunk images, mostly objects, Carnivale masks, costumes, and other things that flesh out the little details. I might save various bits of armor, or weapons that amuse. The explicit stuff doesn’t need visual aids, other than perhaps a pretty toy here and there. I like chastity cages lately...

I’ll certainly use other pictures where needed.  It’s just weird that my mind can only freely write when I’ve got an explicit picture up … it doesn’t have to be related, more like it just unlocks the mind.  Maybe I’m just weird….

[CloverReef]

12 minutes ago, Desiderius Price said:

I’ll certainly use other pictures where needed.  It’s just weird that my mind can only freely write when I’ve got an explicit picture up … it doesn’t have to be related, more like it just unlocks the mind.  Maybe I’m just weird….

You’re definitely weird AF. That’s what’s so great about you.

[Anesor]

 I don’t often use photos to help my stories. The images I have in my mind’s eye are usually not close enough to a real image to help the story, they frustrate. A  photo can be both too close and too far and this cognitive dissonance is like chalk on a backboard. Most canon characters and events in fanfiction have plenty of images.

 

There are two exceptions that come up in maybe 1 in 12 stories. A fan art can and has triggered a story or a scene. Or when I was trying to build up a cover art illustration for a story, I dug out a bunch of photo references. I went so far as to scrounge enough to pay for an illustration from an artist  who paired representational and impression in that fandom whose style I like and had open commissions. They requested refs and then backed out. The money went to another bill then.   My art skills are more photoshop than Michael Whelan. That image is very clear in my head. But only in my head.

I see enough of my scenes that I forget to include important details. So looking for photos that match that is mostly a way to use the time I could be writing.

[Desiderius Price]

10 hours ago, Anesor said:

 I don’t often use photos to help my stories. The images I have in my mind’s eye are usually not close enough to a real image to help the story, they frustrate. A  photo can be both too close and too far and this cognitive dissonance is like chalk on a backboard. Most canon characters and events in fanfiction have plenty of images.

 

There are two exceptions that come up in maybe 1 in 12 stories. A fan art can and has triggered a story or a scene. Or when I was trying to build up a cover art illustration for a story, I dug out a bunch of photo references. I went so far as to scrounge enough to pay for an illustration from an artist  who paired representational and impression in that fandom whose style I like and had open commissions. They requested refs and then backed out. The money went to another bill then.   My art skills are more photoshop than Michael Whelan. That image is very clear in my head. But only in my head.

I see enough of my scenes that I forget to include important details. So looking for photos that match that is mostly a way to use the time I could be writing.

In my case, it’s less about the relevance to the story, just unlocks the neurons, that’s all.  I can’t have it too stimulating either, or it’s a distraction.  Of course, I’ve got big enough monitors that’s it’s easy to have multiple pictures up along with my text editor (I generally don’t use an office-software to write).  Occasionally, if a picture might be relevant for the story, then that’ll be up as well.   Maybe these pictures are why my characters tend to like to be nudists…. maybe not, because these traits existed in my characters prior to this picture habit.

 

[swirlingdoubt]

22 hours ago, CloverReef said:

I do this too. Pictures for mood. Usually something setting related, I use focuswriter, which lets me put a picture as a background to write on. If I write a scene that takes place in winter, I’ll put in a wintery cityscape as the background. Or an angsty scene will get an angsty picture. 

Thanks for pointing out Focuswriter! I’m downloading it. I burn my retinas writing in Word since I tend to write in compulsive, 8 hour long fits fueled by caffeine and mental imbalance.

Music is also great fodder for setting a mood. That can really spark more creative illustration of events.

[Desiderius Price]

46 minutes ago, swirlingdoubt said:

Thanks for pointing out Focuswriter! I’m downloading it. I burn my retinas writing in Word since I tend to write in compulsive, 8 hour long fits fueled by caffeine and mental imbalance.

Music is also great fodder for setting a mood. That can really spark more creative illustration of events.

Music works good too, though sometimes it’s more of a distraction. Like the pictures, pros and cons.