How Can You Keep Track of All Your Ideas for a Story?
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- čas přidán 23. 05. 2023
- helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com
www.kmweiland.com
Historical and speculative novelist K.M. Weiland offers tips and essays about the writing life to help other writers understand the ins and outs of the craft and the psychology behind the inspiration.
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This week's question is from @AnotherPanther:
"What if your plot at times feels too challenging to write? There's many ideas, characters, events, but it's a lot of information to keep track off. How do I know when I've hit my limit?"
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For more on outlining, check out my book Outlining Your Novel: www.helpingwritersbecomeautho...
For more on story structure, check out my book Structuring Your Novel: www.helpingwritersbecomeautho...
Articles mentioned in the post:
Is Your Story Too Complicated? Here Are 9 Signs: www.helpingwritersbecomeautho...
How I Use Scrivener to Outline My Novels: www.helpingwritersbecomeautho...
What Is a 50-Page Edit… and Why Will It Rock Your Story?: www.helpingwritersbecomeautho...
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Want me to answer your question in a future video? Ask it in the comments below!
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I hope this message finds you well. I wanted to take a moment to express my heartfelt appreciation for all the invaluable advice and guidance you have provided as a writing coach. Your expertise and dedication to the craft of writing have had a profound impact on my growth as a writer. Your insightful feedback has been instrumental in honing my skills and improving my writing style. Your ability to identify areas for improvement and provide clear and concise guidance has been immensely helpful. Thanks to your teachings I have been able to refine my voice and develop a stronger command of storytelling techniques. Your guidance has made an incredible difference in my writing. I am truly grateful for your videos and blogs.
Scrivener changed my creative life. I love that it auto saves as I work, unlike so many other programs I use.
Excellent information!
Really great question.
Your book “Creating Character Arcs” is in my stable of books I’m utilizing to tackle my ambitions of creating a graphic novel. It is concise (I read a book and repeatedly distill the concepts into memorable outline form) and beautifully informs and (Deut. 30:19-30a) is a key inspiration from the very start.
Late in life I realized mine is a family of storytellers in various mediums and I am taking this journey at 50 to mentor/inspire my teens, who aspire to write.
Storytelling helps in all facets of life.
Thank you so much. I’ll be looking into more of your teachings!
Trying to get back to writing & your videos popped up today.
Outlining within an inch of your life.
Reviewing your notes regularly--and then adding the most recent additions to the outline.
Yes, I'm not a pantser.
Knowing approximately how the story will end helps immensely to keep track of your story. Any idea that does not contribute directly or indirectly to the denouement of your story distracts the reader or listener from what you have to say to the readers or listeners during the denouement. That's how I approach it in writing and verbally. I give historical tours in Utrecht, the city I live in. I also write a novel and the elaboration of a written story is not substantially different from how you would verbally convey the story to someone.
How wonderful is this. I'm at your site now reading the link on outlining. Thank you.
I have been stuck for months on this problem and then CZcams comes along and recommends this, perfect timing thank you.
So glad you're back. :)
I love your videos and advice, thank you!!!❤
Thanks for the guidance!
Great advice as always.
Very helpful. Thank you.
Excellent guidence. Thanks!
I really do love your channel. You are so helpful and your advice is always practical.
I really appreciate your writing advice! It's great to start up on instagram and see your snippets there too :) Thanks so much!!
I've been writing/publishing for nearly 30 years, and I ALWAYS struggle with organization and focus. My ADD brain goes off on tangents, and I often end up writing hundreds of pages that end up in the cyber-wastebasket. My readers are patient, but I'm . . . not so much! 🙄However . . . your writing books, podcasts, and videos are refreshing my inspiration, and I'm reoutlining and paring the current chaos down to ideas that still excite me, and also reimagining those ideas to make the story brighter and more fun. On to draft 3! 😏(To be honest, my writing journey mirrors my personal spiritual journey--God has been doing a lot of pruning in recent years. Which is painful but soooo necessary.)
All this to say THANK YOU! Much of your wise advice is actually sinking in, and I'm excited about my current WIP again (the last in a six-book fairy-tale series). Blessings!
I appreciate your encouragement that writing a book requires mastering multiple skill sets! I love your book, "Outlining Your Novel: Map Your Way to Success," and have learned so much. 😍
So glad to have found this channel! My biggest problem is the marathon of the middle. I know where to start and what are the events that need to occur and the ending but i just cant seem to connect them altogether without boring the reader (and myself).
Good advice as always. I don't have so much trouble keeping track of the threads of my plots as details like hair color. I also have a terrible time remembering the spelling of my characters' names!
After I had finished first novel, I found your book "How to Outline Your Novel" at a thrift store. That has led me to purchase several other of your writing guides which has proven informative. I was pleased that my first effort in writing actually followed your theme and structuring to a great extent.
Now my second book is more complex; a male protagonist in the 1870's and a female protagonist one hundred years later.
I plan to "jump" back and forth often enough to give the readers a hint of a parallel; leaving them interested in anticipating the dramatic "tie in" that will occur somewhat before the end of the middle fifty percent.
I'm finding difficulty with this structure using "Word". Would you suggest Scriveners? Is it difficult to learn?
Thank you. I'm working on creating a tool in Obsidian. It's great if you understand the fundamentals of structured knowledge and can become as complex as needed. Horizontal timelines on an infinite canvas showing scenes and the connections between all the different types of arcs, diagrams, drawings, and all kinds of information sheets, with links to related data. The long-form plugin is great for writing and editing. Multiple AI plugins. In fact, you could spend forever tinkering with the software and never write a single word. 😄 Isn't that always the problem?
I have this same problem sometimes. I get all these themes or story ideas, but they're disassociated from each other. So I try to combine them, but I end up with way too many characters and themes that I get lost, or it becomes impossible to explore each theme without getting too "on the nose" because it's rushed.
Liked it
I have a related question:
How to find back all the gathered information for the writing process so it can be poored in a list to follow of how to write? This is something I've been looking for the answer but haven't found it anywhere.
Sometimes I take something out, put it back, and repeat. So how to keep track if it’s in or out?
How do you know when to make another chapter, and when a chapter gets too long that I should break it.
Does it contribute to the structure? Does it contribute to the theme? These are two separate questions in my mind. First, the structure is there to support the flow and pace. Otherwise, the structure only serves the author, not the reader. Second, the theme is mighty important. The theme is the purpose in writing and the effect of reading. If a paragraph is there only to support the structure, cut it out. If a paragraph does not support the theme, it is extra, useless, distracting. Cut it out. Mostly, we are in Show-Don't-Tell mode, where the point is tossed not taught, and caught (monkey see monkey do) no explained. Essay is for making an argument. Story is for illustration. Many book-length essayists use illustrations to teach by another mode. Fiction is either extended illustration without explanation or escape from reality. A professor once told me, one way to analyze a novel is to ask three questions. How did the main character change as a result of these events? If faced with similar events, would you change in a similar way? Why? In graduate school, I discovered a second way to value reading. How hard is it for me to get into the writer's head (or the book's world)? When I close the book's back cover, and return to the world I must live in, is my life any better (richer) because I took this mental journey? Sometimes better is escape, rest or recreation (entertainment), sometimes not. Perhaps a synthesis would be this. How did some of these characters love one another? How did some of these characters harm one another? How does this story help me care for the people I try to love, and not harm them? So, how do I keep track of idea? Hmm. Writing back stories, drawing maps, listing strength and weaknesses of characters help me create strong villains who might defeat strong characters or identify plot points to help characters overcome weaknesses or build strengths. Characters, I feel, must be at least somewhat human (realistic) for reader to identify with, part of which includes the need for a series of events to shape them into better persons (characters). Saying, "I need to be more generous," or "I need to be more self-reliant" does not make a person behave or be more generous or self-reliant. Readers need to read the struggle of self-improvement. Otherwise, the struggle and its rewards are too contrived to be effective. Keeping track, in your title, implies continuity within the complex (where continuity and consistency are in danger). I draw plans of complex buildings or maps of lands to maintain continuity, as well as timelines of backstories, which the reader will never see, but still maintain (sometimes frustrating) continuity. I maintain lists (again readers will not see but notice) of character abilities and inabilities (weaknesses) to maintain continuity and give villains a fighting chance. On another note, I try not to ramble through the third quarter of a story. There is much for a character to do, be, and say in that phase of the journey, or, well, it becomes a waste of time to write and to read. Thanks for the video, honestly, thank you.
KM love ❤
What is your opinion about using chatGPT , as an aid , for writing
Don't
I'm interacting!