suspensewriter 5,708 Posted March 30 Share Posted March 30 Recently this question was asked on a Story Embers post: "Are you confident that you know exactly what each plot point is designed to accomplish from an emotional and story perspective?" So are you confident? Are you far enough along in a novel to even tell? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Shamrock 1,881 Posted March 30 Share Posted March 30 Woha! No - I tend to do the action stuff first and then go back and ask the question - So, what does the mean to my character emotionally? Obviously there are some obvious situations - death of love one, romance, threat of life - that you can work out at the time but I often find I go back to a scene and put in the emotional tweaks in after the first draft. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
suspensewriter 5,708 Posted March 30 Author Share Posted March 30 (edited) 22 hours ago, Shamrock said: I tend to do the action stuff first and then go back and ask the question - So, what does the mean to my character emotionally? Really, now that is very interesting, @Shamrock. I never thought of doing it that way. (then again, I'm brain dead from just being on hold for Google for one hour and fifteen minutes!!) Edited March 31 by suspensewriter Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Zee 2,317 Posted March 30 Share Posted March 30 I don’t find myself consciously choosing/using every single plot point for every single story. Once I learned about them, I thought I would, but I find myself often just “writing what feels right.” It’s actually easier for me to go back and identify them after the fact. 3 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
HK1 2,135 Posted March 30 Share Posted March 30 2 hours ago, suspensewriter said: So are you confident? Nope! I just write the story 1 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Grey_Skies 344 Posted March 30 Share Posted March 30 In a word? No. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
suspensewriter 5,708 Posted March 30 Author Share Posted March 30 How do you write, then, @Grey_Skies? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Grey_Skies 344 Posted March 30 Share Posted March 30 @suspensewriter It usually starts with just a good story idea, or an idea for a character I'd like to write about. And then I get started and see where the story takes me. Sometimes I get stuck and give up on it, but other times I will go back to it later when I feel like I know what should happen next. I know my answer was pretty hopelessly vague, but I guess I don't really have a sure-fire system in place. Not at this point anyway. 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
suspensewriter 5,708 Posted March 30 Author Share Posted March 30 No, not at all! I was just curious, that's all. By the way, that's the way I write, too. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ky_GirlatHeart 1,979 Posted March 31 Share Posted March 31 (edited) I honestly don't know. Hah! I just get an idea for a story or a character based on something I thought about or saw somewhere and start typing away; then I'll go back to it ever so often and add to it. Hence, I have plenty of documents on my laptop...*nervous chuckle* Edited March 31 by Ky_GirlatHeart 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
EBraten 1,532 Posted March 31 Share Posted March 31 23 hours ago, suspensewriter said: "Are you confident that you know exactly what each plot point is designed to accomplish from an emotional and story perspective?" Yes. I outline extensively. Before I begin my first draft, I work out what emotional and story beats I want to hit, then craft the plot points to achieve those results. Once I start writing, I might sometimes tweak a plot point so that it will more effectively do what it's supposed to do. But I always know beforehand. 5 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Accord64 2,280 Posted March 31 Share Posted March 31 29 minutes ago, EBraten said: Yes. I outline extensively. Before I begin my first draft, I work out what emotional and story beats I want to hit, then craft the plot points to achieve those results. Once I start writing, I might sometimes tweak a plot point so that it will more effectively do what it's supposed to do. But I always know beforehand. Ditto. I couldn't have put it better. But I have to admit that on a couple of occasions I ended up adding in a scene (or two) to enhance the result(s), mainly because not all good ideas hit me at the same time. 3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
suspensewriter 5,708 Posted March 31 Author Share Posted March 31 (edited) We seem to be so far evenly split between plotters and pantsers! Edited March 31 by suspensewriter 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Zee 2,317 Posted March 31 Share Posted March 31 The funny thing is, I used to think I was a serious planner (maybe I just liked to think I was?) but the more I write, and talk to others who write, the more I realize I’m really not...I’m a dot-to-dot writer. 5 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
suspensewriter 5,708 Posted March 31 Author Share Posted March 31 Huh, you know, I always thought I was, too. That is, til I got to writing! 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
carolinamtne 4,860 Posted March 31 Share Posted March 31 99.9% pantser here! 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
suspensewriter 5,708 Posted March 31 Author Share Posted March 31 All right!! We're one up! 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Johne 2,134 Posted April 2 Share Posted April 2 On 3/30/2021 at 11:15 AM, suspensewriter said: "Are you confident that you know exactly what each plot point is designed to accomplish from an emotional and story perspective?" I get what they're going after here, and I am a growing fan of story structure, but I think it's possible to over analyze a story. At a certain point, I'm just making sure that the prose flows well enough to keep myself and my readers engaged. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jeff Potts 642 Posted April 2 Share Posted April 2 On 3/30/2021 at 12:15 PM, suspensewriter said: Recently this question was asked on a Story Embers post: "Are you confident that you know exactly what each plot point is designed to accomplish from an emotional and story perspective?" So are you confident? Are you far enough along in a novel to even tell? No. But then again, I don't care. When a sculptor goes at a piece of marble, he doesn't put his or her ideas into the stone, the stone will tell the sculptor what to make. In the end, the story tells you where it is going, and how it gets there. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
suspensewriter 5,708 Posted April 2 Author Share Posted April 2 48 minutes ago, Johne said: At a certain point, I'm just making sure that the prose flows well enough to keep myself and my readers engaged. Well said, Johne! 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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