For those who write longer fics...

[flybystardancer]

Do you make an outline first? And how do you keep the action from stalling out in the middle of the story?

I want to try to work on a fic for NaNo, though I'm not going to fuss about word counts. I'm working on an outline for it right now, but I've stalled out with what to do. I have the beginning, I know where I want to end it... I just can't figure out how to get from a to b. It's a huge blank. This seems to happen every time I try to plan out a longer fic. I get the beginning, I get the end, but then I have no clue how to bridge the two.

Comments

[beckyh2112.livejournal.com]

I tend to wind up outlining somewhere in the middle, actually. I wind up thinking about the story a lot while I'm at work (to keep myself from losing my gorammed mind), so if I get stuck on something I just let it go for a bit and come back to it later.

And sometimes I just go "Puuuuuuuck, tell me to write this thing."

[antepathy.livejournal.com]

I start a story by throwing balls in the air, basically. I pick some characters and say OKAY what's going on here with you? What happens if I throw YOU in with THIS OTHER GUY? Connections start happening.

But I write character based stories. Often the end I think I want when I start the story...goes somewhere entirely different. I actually like when that happens, because something organic is taking over instead. About halfway through the story, everything snaps into place and I know everything that needs to happen to get to the end.

I find plotting out rigidly to be really restrictive and believe it or not, an inspiration-killer. Because if I know what happens...I don't want to write it--I already know how it ends! I like the surprise and discovery of writing a story.

But plot driven writers would find my way ridiculous and terrifying. SO, YMMV.

(ETA Sorry, becky, not sure why this showed up as a reply to yours. Yay LJ screwup?)

[flybystardancer.livejournal.com]

I tend to be character-driven for shorter fics, but if I want something longer, I need to outline it. Otherwise things end up short and rushed.

And that happens to me every once in a while. SO ANNOYING. Why must you screw up, LJ?

[flybystardancer.livejournal.com]

I try to avoid doing writing-stuffs at work. I'm easily distracted enough as it is!

[mmouse15.livejournal.com]

I write like antepathy does. Outlines kind of kill my muses. I'll have a sentence or two that describes a key point for every chapter, but nothing more than that.

I'm not very helpful, am I?

[flybystardancer.livejournal.com]

Even a sentence would be more than I have at this point! lol And I'm not entirely strict about the outlines. It's just a way to get an overall shape for the story in place so I can make it longer. (It's also giving me something to do so that I don't actually start writing until November!)

[dragoness-e.livejournal.com]

Okay, short stories I generally have a notion of the plot in my head and write from there. Sometimes I just have the start of a story and as I'm typing the characters wander off in weird directions with it (and I have to edit them back into line).

Every novel I've completed (so far, all fanfiction) required an outline, or I didn't know enough of where I was going to type that many pages.

HOWEVER... and this is a big one: Your Mileage May Vary. I have read enough writers talking about the process of writing to observe that some writers must write from an outline or they get nothing done, and that others absolutely cannot do anything with an outline and create it all as they go. It's not an absolute one way or the other, but differs for each writer.

If YOU are the type of writer that needs to work from an outline, then work from an outline. If you are the type that completely ignores outlines and plots as you go, then don't use an outline. Whatever works for you.

Now, with that said, judging from your comments about stalling out in the middle--try at least writing down the steps to get from A to B, no matter how boring and stupid they look. Then sleep on it. Think about it now and then, and you'll probably come up with ideas that liven up that middle section. ("And then three guys in black crashed through the wall, guns blazing!") Alternatively, just keep writing according to your outline and you should find your mind suggesting things as you go.

Finally, one of my thumb rules about writing: if I find that I am bored to be writing a certain section of a story, that's a clue that the reader will probably be bored reading it, and I need to change something.

[flybystardancer.livejournal.com]

My thing isn't so much trying to copy what other people are doing, as it is curiosity at how others work.

The steps between the parts are so basic and stretch over a long time... And I need something to fill in that long time! And no idea what to do with it! lol

[dragoness-e.livejournal.com]

A short story is about one incident. Novels are more complicated. One way to fill things out is with subplots. Perhaps there are additional conflicts besides the big main plot? Minor characters have issues with each other, or their pasts? A romance (or more than one) develops among the heroes (or the villains)? Someone with a totally different agenda crosses the path of the heroes and gets tangled up in the plot?

[flybystardancer.livejournal.com]

This particular piece isn't necessarily going to be a full-on novel (maybe more like a novella), but I do have another on the backburner that needs something and looks like it could be a novel.

I think with the NaNo piece I already have romance and commentary on the evolution of social/gender/sex issues in an alien society going on (the two are intermixed in this case). XD Trying to find a subplot that would work with that without being a "whoo, just throwing this in there for timefiller! :D" vibe is difficult.

[sakon76.livejournal.com]

I tend to just go with the flow (which is why I have so many unfinished longfics) but one of my novel writing classmates has recently told me about a 15-point outline method that sounds brilliant and that I want to try.

Essentially, you write out what happens at the beginning and the end of the story, then start filling in the gap (what happens after the beginning? what happens before the end?) until the two tailing narratives meet in the middle. Might be worth giving a try.

[flybystardancer.livejournal.com]

That sounds interesting...