Story Planning

So, how do you guys go around planning your story? Do you plan every little detail, or just the main events? I've heard that some people just wing it and that the writer is just as clueless about the future of the story as the reader. Are you one of those people, or a mix of the two? Would you say that one technique produces a better story? Discuss!

I tend to plan the most important events in my stories, up to the finale, before starting to write any of it. And once I'm done writing any of it I'm back to revising plans, since I'm a revisionist much to my chagrin.

But overall yes, I usually plan a general timeline of major causes and consequences. I think I could fall under "plan mostly the major things" (in detail).

I'm slightly a bit more freeform when it comes down to one-shots, where I plan the beginning minutely and for the most part let it flow freely from there, so long as I know in advance where am I supposed to end.

I come up with the basic story idea first, which is the main plot I want to cover. The next thing I plan out is the ending, so I know about where I want the characters to end up. At that point, I just start writing, to see where the characters start and how they get to where they end up. Pretty much anything along the way is a surprise.

Sometimes it's frustrating writing that way because I get stuck on a scene or two. In those cases, I just think the story over in my mind (usually on a Saturday night into Sunday morning) and come up with ideas for what will happen in the story. That's really only the pre-planning that I do when writing. Everything else comes to mind only when I sit down to write.

Well, except for one idea that I have for a story. But that one is so closely tied to the canon material that I need to do a lot of cross-referencing, planning when what happens when according to the canon timeline.

I first come up with the idea. My main fic, the one that I focus the most on, was just a random idea I had. I had no idea that it would get to be one of the most popular in its fandom on ff.net. When I posted it to be honest I didn't think anyone would read it, and I really had no idea where it was going.

So I talk to my best friend. We sit and talk for hours about fanfiction ideas, what would happen, what would be cool things to happen, etc. We seriously bounce ideas off each other for hours on end. Once we did nothing but that for four hours straight.

One thing I'm known for/big into is character creation. All my characters need to have an intricate backstory, even those that are one time characters. I write a POV switch fic, and if a character has a POV that means that I probably spent time discussing it over with my friend.

When I need help, or lose my spot, I consult him, or remember the last time we talked. I help him with his Naruto fic too. With his help I was able to bounce off ideas, figure out what worked and what didn't and was able to get the main points set in stone.

This guy's been my best friend for ten years now, he's like a brother to me, and he's my beta. :P

I like to plan out all of the major events, and then take care of the finer details as I go along. Considering Alien Poverty is the only story of mine that's made it past chapter two, I still need a lot of practice with keeping on track. Alien Poverty is also the only story I've planned out, and I don't think it's a coincidence it's the only story I've stuck with.

Unlike others, I dont write it on a sheet of paper and start writing down the events, and the main idea of the story.
I ask myself, What is the plot and main idea of the entire story, do u want?
Haha, I love writing n.n! I would never live without it <3
Then, I start writing the rough draft of the story. I dont need plots or anything like dat, because the story slowly unreveals itself, plots after plots, and twists after twists.
And I enjoyed writing a story....a world of ur own desire...

Depends on the genre of the story, but usually, I decide on an idea to work around or some event I'd like to see, and think of a plot that makes characters suffer for some reason. Then, I vaguely plan the ending with the accomplished goals of my characters.

I tried the snowflake method (kind of) for my current fic and I've got to say, it's the best thing I've written in my whole life xD. Exhaustive detailing before the storytelling begins really pays out, it helps me to keep the plot solid, with less holes and more space for character development. Having at least 50% of the things already settled makes it easier for me to write and allows it to flow naturally without too much effort on my part. That, leaving some blanks for me to play with it; I want to have room for little tricks and even surprise myself with new ideas. The best part of doing it like that is that you can tell if your story is going somewhere before it starts.

I've dropped every story I started without planning, so, like Slayr, I don't think it's a coincidence. I do believe planning the major events, twists and character roles produce a better result.

I get a main idea of the story and some of the events but I never plan out my stories full out. I tried that once but I ended up switching around events and cutting so many out that it was pointless. xD

No wonder I can never end my stories.

Mostly I just have the main plot thought out, or a general skeleton of events. Which may or may not change as I go.

I like to write in point form what happens in the document so I have reference to what comes next/order of events as I write. And if I have a few scenes/moments already in my head on how they should happen, I'll briefly write them out as well in that plan.

In the case of my first fic, it was a parody of a game so in a way I did have a lot of the skeleton already there, but it wasn't so simple as that. I had to juggle various events in the game in a new order that'd work better for text, along with all the expansions and additional scenes I threw in to show more of what's happening beyond the protagonist/player character and so forth. I found that planning really helped me get the fic finished in the end, as I had the last 7 or so chapters planned out with a bunch of scenes in place.

That said... some scenes STILL changed as I wrote it out, sometimes on the spot. As for the details, some jokes I had in were from planning, and many were just from again thinking and writing them out on the spot.

I usually start with the basics. Beginning, multiple monumental middle events then the big booty finale with the main focus on main plot and skeletal structure.

And use those as pillars. As for everything else. I let it flow out itself or snowball it.

And when writing...well I'm lazy. Sooooo I usually do rock, paper, scissors with myself (sounds weird, and looks weird) on which characters, plot ideas, and scenes that I have previous written out (which is like 3 pages worth of ideas) to use in a chapter or few. Then start with dialogue. When I finish that then I put in the required details. Then add a bit more dialogue that I forgot to put in, improvisation,flesh out, attempt to add relevant/irrelevant sub plots or story arcs and end them sooner or later.

In my fic. With 20 main-focused characters (Not yet main-main protagonist) and dozens of minor/relevant/irrelevant characters to write from. There's a lot of opportunities of writing the main plot and character arcs. Hopefully I can hit it right without dragging it for so long. Might as well kill one or two beings, or an entire race at close-point of the story.

But have a pool of ideas to improve the plot. Beef it up if you can and take risk on it. Could be a horrible thing or a devastating thing (in a good way) to a reader. Mess with their emotions. Give them a reason to re-read the entire story. xD

I usually plan out the beginning, end, and several events before writing. The middle I tend to make up on the spot. Sometimes though I get more/better ideas or I would later take out a scene as I write. If I get stuck on something I usually talk to a friend/beta for some brainstorming

I get a basic structure. And then I plan and write a group of about a half dozen chapters in full and write them all. And then I sit back and plan the next half dozen and write them. I have found that balances between high level planning and a desire to have some wiggle room.

I have the HARDEST time with planning. I can't plan my stories well at all because I actually don't know how. I just jot down notes and stuff either in my writing journal or my plain text app. I wish I could learn to plot or plan my stories better. x_x

When writing a story, especially for planning, I just make small notes and stick them around my study, I usually make notes about big points in the story, them when I get a small idea that works for me (ex. Protag meets dog and Character...) I just make a note, then later when I am actually writing the story, I find a way to integrate all the notes (that I kept, I dispose of some, or keep it for future use) into the story. I try not to stress in the planning because I am a very spontaneous person.