 Short Stories: September 20, 2023 Issue [#12189] |
This week: Things to Prepare for Writing Edited by: Dawn Embers  
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Short Stories Newsletter by Dawn
Some thoughts on things to prepare with story writing, whether far wide or keeping it tight. Novel writing is coming up soon. Time to get ready to prepare. |
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There is a time and place for writing at random. Other times, it helps to prepare.
I don't prepare often but when it comes to novel writing, having some form of preparation can definitely help. I've also been listening to a few different sets of stories from the same author. While they involve similar aspects of the genre, there are big differences with the locations and characters. However, they intertwine around each other. Some characters are from the town another series is set within while others mention characters from a different set. There is an intense interweaving involved, which makes me certain that the author had to do a lot of work outside the writing in order to keep everything under control.
One Story
It is easier to prepare a single novel, I assume. Never have had just one story but it does seem like something would be easier if there is just one compared to five or fifty. Considering National Novel Writing Month is coming up, so some of us are going to be trying to focus on a single story (at least for a month). When planning to write a novel in a crazy time frame, taking time to prepare can be helpful. The prep for one story can be as simple or complicated as necessary, whatever works best for you as the writer. Outlines help at times. They can either state almost everything wanted from the story, or it can be very minimal. It all varies. I've done both but most of the time, once I start writing, sometimes those get forgotten. Having a focus, even if that gets lost, can be helpful when getting ready to write. If you have never tried doing an outline for a story or character sheets, give it a try at least once. Whether it's helpful or not, doing the attempt will help to figure out what method words best for the writer and the story.
Connecting Stories
Things may get a little complicated when it involves more than one section of a story or multitude of stories. This can be a series, or separate ones that have small connections. While, we often think about a series as something that follows the same set of main characters, that doesn't always have to be the case. There can be a connection of characters, with different ones being found in the variety of stories while the main, point of view, ones differ to show their individual stories. However, it is probably very important to plan things out. Wouldn't want to use the wrong character name or mix up important details between the various stories. It would be easy to make a mistake and hard to catch over time if things expanded outward. Notes help, many many notes and methods of preparation will need attempted, no matter which method works best.
Worldbuilding
For speculative fiction, the world building is a big part of the prep side when it comes to any story. When creating a different world, it helps to find a way to take notes in order to keep facts together once getting to the story process. Hasn't stopped me before from writing without preparing for a fantasy story but it's not something I recommend. Though, even if you write a first draft before preparation, there is always a chance later to make the notes. But it does help to do things first. Would be very helpful. So, making notes on politics, community, characters and landscape can be a good start. Whether minimal or down to finite details. Even long stories that aren't novels need some work. Can benefit from the process in whatever way comes to the process.
Ready to Write
Then you have to decide when it is time to write. There isn't a single way to prepare for this, whether writing 1,000 words or 180,000 words (yeah that was a long one). You have to decide when to put the notes down and start writing. There is a risk in getting stuck within the preparation process, making notes for years. After getting ready... take the next step. Write.
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How do you prepare to write a story?
"Getting ready to write a novel can involve any number of things: brainstorming scenes, outlining plot, dressing up like your main character and taking a bus trip around town, drawing a map, blocking off time on your calendar, engaging your community to support you, stashing snacks in strange places, and more."
https://nanowrimo.org/nano-prep-101
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