My apologies for not posting step four yesterday, but it was a rough and busy day. So to make up or my temporary absence, I will post both step four and five today.
Okay, so after you've gotten your initial idea, done your extensive research on on your idea, and created your characters, you're ready to move on to the next step.
Step Four
Outline your plot.
Okay, so this sounds simple enough, but again it's a daunting step, and a necessary evil.
Plot outlining takes me about three to six weeks to complete (taking into consideration that I am only a part time writer, and have a full time job as well)
What I do is, I write down every single scene that is important (aren't they all?) and what happens in that particular scene on an A4. I then arrange them accordingly. Many times, their order change many times, to make sure that the scenes flow nicely. Most are in chronological order, ie the events start at the beginning and end at the end. When you have flashbacks, those need to be relevant to the next scene, otherwise the reader may get confused.
While I was writing If You Only Knew #1 and If You Only Knew #2 which was written in dual POV, I still used the order of events in chronological order, but only changed the POV, switching between the two characters.
Highlight the key events that happen in the story, make sure everything that happens, is either the result of an previous occurrence, or will result in a future occurrence. Everything must tie together, no plotholes.
Usually, I outline on the floor of my living room, covering the the whole floor with pieces of papers, getting the perfect order.
You can always change it up, see what works for you.
After you get the whole plot worked out, you can move on to the next step.
Step Five
Okay, so step five is almost as fun as doing the character profiling.
This step is all about DIALOGUE.
In this step you get to put your mouth where your money is, or something like that.
Think of conversations that your characters would have with one another. Think of something original, make it conversational and easy to follow. Unlock the witty part of your brain. Use words that are relevant to the era/age group/race/location of your story. If a character is a housewife, she's not going to talk like a gangster, or if it's a older person, not a lot of slang will be used.
Okay, you get the point.
You don't have to write every single conversation, I don't, but just to get the feel of the characters, and the way they speak, it helps a lot.
Also, while you are writing the dialogue, read it out loud to yourself.
Yes, you read that correctly.
Read it out loud, to make sure it makes sense. If after reading a piece of dialogue, and you ask yourself, "Do people really talk like that?" the answer should always be yes. It should be natural, flowing, not forced.
I think (or rather I know) my neighbors think I am completely insane, having conversations with myself.
Happy writing!
xxx S
Okay, so after you've gotten your initial idea, done your extensive research on on your idea, and created your characters, you're ready to move on to the next step.
Step Four
Outline your plot.
Okay, so this sounds simple enough, but again it's a daunting step, and a necessary evil.
Plot outlining takes me about three to six weeks to complete (taking into consideration that I am only a part time writer, and have a full time job as well)
What I do is, I write down every single scene that is important (aren't they all?) and what happens in that particular scene on an A4. I then arrange them accordingly. Many times, their order change many times, to make sure that the scenes flow nicely. Most are in chronological order, ie the events start at the beginning and end at the end. When you have flashbacks, those need to be relevant to the next scene, otherwise the reader may get confused.
While I was writing If You Only Knew #1 and If You Only Knew #2 which was written in dual POV, I still used the order of events in chronological order, but only changed the POV, switching between the two characters.
Highlight the key events that happen in the story, make sure everything that happens, is either the result of an previous occurrence, or will result in a future occurrence. Everything must tie together, no plotholes.
Usually, I outline on the floor of my living room, covering the the whole floor with pieces of papers, getting the perfect order.
You can always change it up, see what works for you.
After you get the whole plot worked out, you can move on to the next step.
Step Five
Okay, so step five is almost as fun as doing the character profiling.
This step is all about DIALOGUE.
In this step you get to put your mouth where your money is, or something like that.
Think of conversations that your characters would have with one another. Think of something original, make it conversational and easy to follow. Unlock the witty part of your brain. Use words that are relevant to the era/age group/race/location of your story. If a character is a housewife, she's not going to talk like a gangster, or if it's a older person, not a lot of slang will be used.
Okay, you get the point.
You don't have to write every single conversation, I don't, but just to get the feel of the characters, and the way they speak, it helps a lot.
Also, while you are writing the dialogue, read it out loud to yourself.
Yes, you read that correctly.
Read it out loud, to make sure it makes sense. If after reading a piece of dialogue, and you ask yourself, "Do people really talk like that?" the answer should always be yes. It should be natural, flowing, not forced.
I think (or rather I know) my neighbors think I am completely insane, having conversations with myself.
Happy writing!
xxx S
RSS Feed
