Tagged Questions
3
votes
5answers
89 views
How specific should I be when outlining the plot?
One problem I often run into when trying to make a general outline of the plot for a story is how specific I am in the descriptions of events. Generally, this happens when I have written a portion of ...
3
votes
1answer
82 views
Flashback or dream as a means of hinting at more going on than meets the eye
I plan to use a dream or flashback as a way to show the reader the story has more going on behind the scenes. As well to sprinkle in a little of my main characters back-story.
I haven't written it ...
5
votes
3answers
129 views
Tracing dependencies and emergent plotholes during edits
The fiction I write currently hit a major snag and needs a big overhaul of a major part of the story. A whole, large thread is being injected, a second conflict running in parallel with the main one ...
4
votes
3answers
212 views
It is a sign of bad writing to have many scenes that are disconnected with the main plot?
So my novel look like this (I took this diagram idea from this site, but I'm not sure exactly from whom):
The beginning and end focuses on the mystery that the heroine is trying to solve (main ...
1
vote
1answer
86 views
Faith, Hope and Love as the keys to victory in an action-adventure novel?
I'm at the outline stage of my novel writing.
It is pretty straightforward to think of an action-adventure novel's victory as attained by physical attributes and/or courage.
I'm looking for ...
4
votes
2answers
149 views
Writing a novel which has the same structure and a particular theme in each chapter
I'm writing a novel that will have 9 chapters. Most of the chapters have the same structure:
The main character goes down a hole she found in her room.
She finds herself in a strange part of the ...
10
votes
6answers
747 views
How does one avoid bland, generic fantasy while they write?
I have been mulling over the plot and characters for an elaborate fantasy work for a number of years now. The longer I mull things over, the more possessed I am that this story is worth telling. The ...
11
votes
7answers
1k views
How to start a book off?
I have been working on my book (on and off...) for about 6 months. I have a good bit planned out with the plot, story line, and characters. I even have a small idea on how to start the story but ...
4
votes
4answers
391 views
I suck at plots. Is there a way to sort of train oneself to think of creative plots, specifically in scifi?
I'm pretty good in the writing department as far as prose, it's just that I'll sit down and have no idea what to write. Perhaps it's a creative problem, I just don't know. I cannot figure out any ...
5
votes
6answers
834 views
How do I re-interest myself in a plot I am working on?
I've been working on my plot for almost a year now and every time I open my Excel sheet (yes,I know its odd to plot a novel in an Excel sheet but I find it's kind of a clean and clutter free ...
14
votes
9answers
2k views
Can a book be written without an antagonist?
I have had this thought running through my head and wondered what your thoughts were on it. Can a book, a story I should say, be written without an antagonist or antagonistic theme? I have an idea ...
7
votes
4answers
217 views
What to do if I end up confused by my own plot because of 'trying to be original' or 'trying to make the story more deep'?
Sometimes, I find myself in the dilemma that I come out with a plot that tells exactly what I want to say. But then, I try to modify it in order to make it more original (at least, less similar than ...
13
votes
6answers
895 views
Keeping track of multiple plot lines
How do you track several plot lines woven together?
I usually run 2 or 3 plot-lines in parallel, so I detail those plots each in a separate document. But as the book goes on, it is sometimes ...
7
votes
9answers
1k views
What are some examples of modern original plots?
In a comment on this answer, a valuable community contributor suggested that it is possible to be totally original in writing, despite the fact that other valuable community members have stated that ...
12
votes
8answers
352 views
Is it so bad to end up with a “done before” plot?
I'm not delusional about the nature of the science fiction novel I'm (very) slowly working on. A brief run down might be as follows:
Set 10's of millennia in Human's future but in a neighbouring ...
12
votes
2answers
906 views
What techniques are used to plot long (multi-novel) story arcs?
As a very visual person, I have always considered plotting a story to be somewhat like knitting or macrame. How do series authors handle multi novel story arcs? Do they just keep throwing out lines ...
