How I Put A Story Together

Like most of the respondants here, I tend to trip over ideas wherever I am. They just seem to pop up and then float around my head for a bit. The good ones seem to take on a life of their own, and develop plots and characters.

When writing I do not use an outline as this seems to stifle me. This is true even in school work where it would seem that I should be able to make an outline in advance. I recently took a college level course where I was supposed to turn in three different5 outlines for a research paper I was working on. This assignment was literally impossible for me to complete, the only way I can do an outline is to write the paper first, and I did not have enough time to write three seperate papaers, so I simply told the instuctor that I would not do the assignmet. As you can imagine this did not go over well, it seems I was the first poerson ever to say that to her.

Writng, to me, is about the free flow of words onto paper, not trying to force them into a preconceived notion. Every course I have ever taken has stressed the importance of outling, but my mind does not work that way. I have driven coworkers and study group members crazy as they tried to keep up with me. I put things off and do not folow a schedule, yet I always meet the deadline.

How do I put together a story?

I rarely draft outlines before I begin writing. What usually happens is I pick an idea (I always have a storm of them in my thoughts) for characters, setting, and something Stephen King calls the 'what if?'

My characters are an amalgam of various people I know or have met. As people I've known for many years, both in reality and through use of them in my stories, they become characterized with the idiosyncracies I know them to have. I find this very useful to invent characters that have a solid and believable identity. It also makes it very easy to write interactions of characters because, at one level I'm 'inventing' this but on another, I simple ask myself, 'What would (real person A) say in this situation?' or 'How would (real person B) react?' In other words, I find it a good way to animate my characters.

Settings are often also based on real life locations, or amalgams of various places. As with character animation, settings can be made more vivid when I add in memories of little details I might have noticed in the real world source. Often, as in real life, it isn't the big things that catch our attention but rather, small and seemingly insignificant details will pop out of the landscape. In other cases it might be something that is slightly incongruous to the setting -- an old-fashioned hat stand in an otherwise ultra-modern office, for example. It opens the gates to questions like 'Why is that here?' and 'What type of person wears a hat to work these days?' (refers back to characterization).

And lastly, the 'What if...?' factor. (Paraphrasing from memory) Stephen King describes it this way:

You take something you see every day that is so familiar to you that you never notice it. For example, one of those mechanical space ship rides you see in shopping malls everywhere. What if a five year old got into one of those and it really took him into space?

This approach isn't really any different to that used by researchers, except they refer to it as their problem statement or hypothesis.

So anyway, I wasn't sure whether this is Assignment 1 here, but there you have it -- how do I put together a story.

anonymouse

Rhabbi and anonymouse,

Thank you for those wonderful posts.

It's clear you are both ready for this level.

Rhabbi, I chuckled through your comments about research paper. I once asked an programmer to estimate how long it would take him to write a new feature for a customer. He told me he didn't work that way and instead coded the feature, then informed me how long it took him. I'll spare you and won't ask you to do any outlines. :-)

I'm looking forward to reading your next assignment.

Anonymouse,

I nodded my head as I read your methodology for characters and places. I also find the "what if" a wonderful tool.

Please check your PMs in a few minutes and we can define your next assignment together.

Ruby

Thank you, Ruby. It's great to be here :)

anonymouse

I have so far used the 'shoot from the hip' method, because I have not completed anything other than short stories. However, most of the short stories I've written really aren't, or could not be: they could very well be the first chapter or two of something much bigger. My beginnings are easy: the characters (central characters), the place, the environment, the mood, the words, all flow out. Much the same as writing a poem: it is the moment of inspiration.

However, where I stick is with plot. I have several things that I have written, where this image, this world, these people have plonked themselves into me (and I have had to plonk all that onto paper quickly, because it is an over-riding demand on me). They appear unasked, unlooked for.

And then - what? some of these are years old. But I still think about them, still know them, and in fact am still working on them. The stories are emerging, gradually, gradually... and I know damn well that to make them come to fruition, I actually will have to sit down, concentrate and make myself write that plot down. I don't believe any outline I do will ever be chapter by chapter - that is part of the flow of the writing. And I certainly reserve the right to allow my plot to change as I go! but I know that I will need the tool to help me cristalise and clarify my ideas, and to understand whether I actually have a story that works.

Additionally, I have never written down my characters; but, I know this is because I always start with my principle characters, and they live in me, or I am them, when I write. There are some exceptions - generally, stories I have written as a specific exercise in writing, rather than ones that have arrived from the muse. In fact, only one story I started from inspiration has characters in that I really don't understand and need to study and consider in order to create them. I do recognise, however, that if I ever get my act together to work on one of the novels, then I will have to introduce various other characters, who I will have to create specifically. These people, I will actually need to make up a description and personality for, I know.

I read, re-read, re-type, read on screen and on paper (the printed word very often has a life of its own that just does not come out on screen. I make a lot of changes when I have the physical paper in my hands). I agonise. I put it away in a drawer...

I find writing from photographs an immense challenge. That is mainly because the photographs - at least, the ones given here - all seem to be the end of the story. How to get from the end back to the beginning, well! I would find it extremely difficult, but probably also very salutory, to have to do that. After all, it would make me actually create a complete story, rather than just having an idea and some words and throwing them at people.

Rhabbi, Anonymouse, very pleased to join you here.

Welcome to Level 3, moptop :-)

Your comments about writing stories to photos are interesting. Like you, I find it challanging but never really understood why it should be as difficult as it can be. You've clearly answered that for me and in fact, your explanation about having to write a reverse narrative makes the task much easier.

anonymouse

Hi moptop,

Welcome again to Level 3!

About plotting:
If you think it's important, what is keeping you from doing it?

I often have a story idea in mind, with a few things that will happen, but other than that, I let my characters lead. Sometimes, in order to be true to them, the ending must be changed. Many times, I start in the middle of a story and write from the front and the back at the same time.

It's about whatever works for you.
Finding the right tools can be a huge timesaver.

Your comment about photographs is very interesting. I can see how many of them here appear to be the end of the story. Let's see if we can find some for you that are waiting for the "what happens next?" question to be answered.

Write on!

Ruby

I just typed out my whole "How I put a story together" post and it got eaten by the evil server monster! And since all I have right now are bad words, I'll have to come back and redo later.

2nd damn time today. :mad:

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Originally Posted by tessa

I just typed out my whole "How I put a story together" post and it got eaten by the evil server monster! And since all I have right now are bad words, I'll have to come back and redo later.

2nd damn time today. :mad:

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And the lord spake unto the multitude... "Thou shalt back up, though the time is short and thy skirt be raised "Back up" without fail and you shall be rewarded in the ether life."

Mad

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Originally Posted by tessa

I just typed out my whole "How I put a story together" post and it got eaten by the evil server monster! And since all I have right now are bad words, I'll have to come back and redo later.

2nd damn time today. :mad:

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Try typing it in a word file and then pasting it. It is how I do all my work around here, especially when Rabbit is busy catching up on his work.

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Originally Posted by Mad Lews

And the lord spake unto the multitude... "Thou shalt back up, though the time is short and thy skirt be raised "Back up" without fail and you shall be rewarded in the ether life."

Mad

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You are a helpful lil' cuss, aren't you?

:madfire:

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Originally Posted by tessa

You are a helpful lil' cuss, aren't you?

:madfire:

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always happy to be at your cervix Ma'am :)
Mad

Mad, you crack me up.

Rhabbi, great suggestion.

Hang in there, Tessa.

Ok, here I am again, pasting it from Word this time. ~a look towards Mad~ Thank you, Rhabbi.

How do I put a story together? Actually, it kind of puts itself together. I have an idea, a flash of a scene, a character that emerges in my mind and won't shut-up, and from there, the story just starts itself. From there, ideas come together and flow from me. Getting the story out of my mind and in type is a rush of doing. None of my stories, to date, have had an ending in mind at the start. It's as if the story "grows up" as I write, with the present being known but the future yet to be set.

After it's in it's rough form, I like to let the story just be for a while. During the "let it be" time, other ideas and ways of getting what I want from the story come to me. When I go back and read it after letting it alone for a few days, I am able to better see what works, what needs to go, who needs to have sex with who- that sort of thing. :)

Outlining is not an easy tool for me to utilize either. It tends to make things less organized for me. I like to make notes about characters, plot or settings, but that's about it. It's important to me to keep the details straight, not start off with a "Mark" and end up with a "Drake" (which I did once). It just helps the flow of writing if details are managed in some way, for me anyway. Because if I don't manage the story, it manages me. While the latter may be all right for certain things, it's not so great in my writing.

This Writer's Block has been a wonderful way to take risks in my writing, ones I might never have attempted otherwise. The use of dialogue or plot to weave my story for me have not only been encouraged, but supported, so I'm trying more of that as I develop ideas. Don't know if every idea will be worth its thought, but that's what we are here for, to find out, right?

~giggles a little cause I'm here~ Woohoo!

tessa :wave:

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Originally Posted by tessa

I just typed out my whole "How I put a story together" post and it got eaten by the evil server monster! And since all I have right now are bad words, I'll have to come back and redo later.

2nd damn time today. :mad:

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Sometimes, my 'quick replies' turn into much lengthier essays. When this happens I usually copy the post to the clipboard just before posting to avoid possible problems.

If it's a really long post, I'll copy/past into word at some stage during writing it. Something to remember about MS Word is it doesn't always paste neatly back into message windows. In order to avoid word-wrap issues, save the MS Word document as plain text, open in Notepad, turn off 'word wrap', then copy/past back into the message window. It seems a terribly convoluted way of doing things but, it's Microsoft and 'life wasn't meant to be easy'. hehe

anonymouse

PS: If just copying to the clipboard BE VERY CAREFUL if you're using the shortcut keys that you click 'C' for copy and not 'V' for paste! There's nothing more annoying than accidentally erasing a post at this stage!

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Originally Posted by Mad Lews

always happy to be at your cervix, Ma'am :)
Mad

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Oh, Mr. Ma-ad? I told my cervix all about you. She can't wait to meet up with you, have some intense inter...

~realizes my notebook is missing...looks around for it, doesn't see it, sees my pen but not my notebook...a bit frantic as it has all my notes and ideas...finally spots it under the table, bends low to reach it, then sits back up, adjusting my tiny lil' tank top, so I don't flash anyone :o ~

Anyway, what was I saying? Oh yeah, my cervix and you, meeting up for some...

~pulls my skirt down as it inched up a bit too high on my thighs~

intense...

~thinks of uncrossing my legs, but remembers that I still don't know what panties are~

interdenominational discussions regarding your use of verse earlier.

Hey, what can I say? She's into such things. The perv...

:)

Why thank you, anonymouse! That is an incredibly thoughtful, not to mention extremely helpful, thing to do for me.

~gives a hug~

tessa :wave:

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Originally Posted by tessa

Why thank you, anonymouse! That is an incredibly thoughtful, not to mention extremely helpful, thing to do for me.

~gives a hug~

tessa :wave:

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You're very welcome, Tessa. I've had the same thing happen to me and I know how maddening it can be :)

anonymouse

drools

Tries to recover from all the flashing that just occored.

Tessa, gald to see you finaly got to post. lol

Thanks, Rhabbi. It might take me awhile, but I try to do it right when I finally do get at it.

:)

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Originally Posted by tessa

Oh, Mr. Ma-ad? I told my cervix all about you. She can't wait to meet up with you, have some intense inter...

~realizes my notebook is missing...looks around for my it, doesn't see it, sees my pen but not my notebook...a bit frantic as it has all my notes and ideas...finally spots it under the table, bends low to reach it, then sits back up, adjusting my tiny lil' tank top, so I don't flash anyone :o ~

Anyway, what was I saying? Oh yeah, my cervix and you, meeting up for some...

~pulls my skirt down as it inched up a bit too high on my thighs~

intense...

~thinks of uncrossing my legs, but remembers that I still don't know what panties are~

interdenominational discussions regarding your use of verse earlier.

Hey, what can I say? She's into such things. The perv...

:)

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:hubbahubb
Tease if you must tessa,

I was only trying to be helpful. HONEST!

Go a-head tease me again, I can take it.:)

Mad Lews

Flash away, Tessa!

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Don't know if every idea will be worth its thought, but that's what we are here for, to find out, right?

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Yes, indeed. We are here to take risks and have fun while helping you flash or flourish.

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Originally Posted by Ruby

Yes, indeed. We are here to take risks and have fun while helping you flash or flourish.

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Ruby, you are the *Rock Star* of writing instructors!! Very cool! :)

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Originally Posted by Mad

Go a-head tease me again, I can take it.

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Mr. Mad, I wanna find out if that is, indeed, true. ;)

Woohoo! Lovin' Level Three!!

:wave:

Tessa! Do not feed the Mad Lews. We have a strict policy here. You are allowed to pet the Mad Lews. You are allowed to look at the Mad Lews. But you are not to feed the Mad Lews. By "feed" I mean tease. It is strictly forbidden. Did you not see what happened to the last person who fed the Mad Lews? (shudder)

Ah well...another day at the zoo.

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Originally Posted by H Dean

Tessa! Do not feed the Mad Lews. We have a strict policy here. You are allowed to pet the Mad Lews. You are allowed to look at the Mad Lews. But you are not to feed the Mad Lews. By "feed" I mean tease. It is strictly forbidden. Did you not see what happened to the last person who fed the Mad Lews? (shudder)

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Well, Mr. Dean, if it made even you shudder, I might have cause for concern. But I've fed Mad Lews quite a bit, and on numerous occasions, and have never felt the need to be concerned for myself, so there is that.

And if there is a policy to violate...

~smiles~

Do you have pics of the happenings to the last person to feed Mad Lews? Might be something I want...um, need to see?

In a stunning display of cliché self-taught bear expert, Timothy Treadwell, proved that, indeed, some days you eat the bear, some days the bear eats you.

On monday his body and the body of his girlfriend were found in Alaska's Katmai National Park and Preserve. Apparently, they were mauled to death by the same brown bears that he had declared as "harmless".

Following a drug overdose, and after several encounters with bears in Alaska, he decided to devote himself to the study of the large omnivorous animals and even established a non-profit bear-appreciating group called "Grizzly People".

He had spent several summers living alone with and videotaping Katmai bears. Such was his confidence around the bears that he had touched them and given them names. On one occassion he was even filmed crawling along the ground singing as he approached a sow and two cubs.

Apparently, the Bears had formed their own people-appreciating club. Their first meeting included live music followed by dinner.

Following the meeting, the bears reportedly said that Treadwell tasted sort of like chicken.

http://bastardpowered.com/more_darwin.htm

I repeat...do not feed the Mad Lews.

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Originally Posted by H Dean

I repeat...do not feed the Mad Lews.

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Sure let him go hungry, Then see what happens.

tessa Love,

You have nothing to fear. I'd never even dream of eating you.
Well maybe in my dreams, but I won't bite (much) or swallow.
Yours
Mad & the lustful Lews

Hey, Mad? You dream of me? Oh, how lovely to know! Makes me smile all over. And I swallow, so don't worry about your issues with it. :blurp_ani

Mr. Dean, I've heard of that pitiful idiot, Treadwell, bless his heart. His biggest mistake was to have the audacity to believe that wild can co-exist peacefully with tame. I would never ever make that mistake. Mad, nor lustful Lews, is anywhere near tame. Being the wild sort like myself, he makes for a delightful feed. :)

And it is for that very same reason (wild-on-wild), that I dare to venture by your cage from time to time. While it might not be the sanest thing to do, it sure makes for quite the adventure.

Besides, who does sanity anymore. It is soooo last week. :rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by tessa

Hey, Mad? You dream of me? Oh, how lovely to know! Makes me smile all over. And I swallow, so don't worry about your issues with it. :blurp_ani

Besides, who does sanity anymore. It is soooo last week. :rolleyes:

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Fear not sweet tessa,

While Mad & Lews may both have their dark dreams about bending you over the kitchen table, flipping your skirt up for panty inspection, (which you never seem to remember,) and then brightening your bottom to a warm glowing red (for failing to wear your panties) before bathing your sweet ass in kisses and licks.

Believe me, I’m too much the gentleman to mention such fantasies on a semipublic forum. Nor would I mention the inevitable kissing licking and nibbling of your inner thighs until such time as you begged (convincingly) for Lews to stop. (Usually some 30 to 45 minutes later?) I promise I’ll never reveal such thoughts to others, for I’d hate to make such a shy young lass blush.

Yours

Mad

~blushes from the top of my head all the way down my body to the tippy-tips of my toes~ Mercy me! Who turned on the heat! ~fans self~ ~looks over at the smiling Mad and the panting Lews~ Oh, I think I know who.

Well, Mr. Mad and Lews, it's a good thing you don't discuss such things in this semi-public place. 'Cause if'n you did, I might just have to find a corner around here to, umm...discuss it further?

My, my, my, my and my!!!

:wave:

* fans self *

Mad, Lews and Tessa you are very distracting.

Do continue. ;)

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Originally Posted by Ruby

* fans self *

Mad, Lews and Tessa you are very distracting.

Do continue. ;)

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I agree Ruby, how can we write with all this going on.

*contemplates helping tessa to coll off by taking off her dress.*

This is ertainly not something that was on the syllabus. Lews, Mad and Tessa, kindly turn your attention to where it belongs. You are making a mockery of the class and I won't stand for it!

Do not make me get the ruler!

Oh, yes. Get the ruler!

This instructor is having a delightful time.

Ruler, did someone say ruler?

~leans completely over Ms. Ruby's desk to see (again) what my next assignment is...bounces and wiggles my ass just a bit 'cause Ms. Ruby has the best music playing in her office...turns to look back at Mr. Dean and his...ruler...then smiles~

Whatcha gonna be a doin' with that? Hmm??

Oh, yeah, I wanted to say to Mr. Mad (and Lews, if he's settled down enough to listen). You mentioned these things called "panties" again. I've heard that term thrown around in here. I've tried to google it, but all I come up with is "Page Not Found-Server Error". Seriously. What are these mysterious things?? Inquiring bottoms want to know.

~resumes the ass-wiggle, making it sway just a bit more sensuously as I now know exactly what I'm listening to~

I searched "panties" at Alta-Vista and the page redirected to "ankles"

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Originally Posted by anonymouse

I searched "panties" at Alta-Vista and the page redirected to "ankles"

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~laughs so hard I cause Ms. Ruby's cup-holder to fall off the desk~

Oops!! ~looks down at the poor thing on the floor~ I'm sorry!! ~looks again~ Hey, he's really cute! Where'd you get him, Ms Ruby? Never seen anything like him at OfficeMax.

anonymouse, that was brilliant!

Hehehe

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Originally Posted by tessa

~leans completely over Ms. Ruby's desk to see (again) what my next assignment is...bounces and wiggles my ass just a bit 'cause Ms. Ruby has the best music playing in her office...turns to look back at Mr. Dean and his...ruler...then smiles~

Whatcha gonna be a doin' with that? Hmm??

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Why is it that I always get that look from you when I get the ruler out? That's the same look you give me when I get out chocolate.

I just don't understand.