Post by account_disabled on Dec 29, 2023 19:28:44 GMT -8
As I have said in other articles, I like to write the plots of my stories and structure a story with the classic 5 acts : the dramatic arc that includes Context, Conflict, Climax, Closure and Conclusion. In this way I have created the pillars of the story and can identify its weak points, understand if the story stands up or if it is too simplistic. I'm happy with this method now. But there's another one I follow: writing the plot of each chapter . It's a method I started following many years ago, in my first failed attempts to write a fantasy novel. A few lines to find out what those chapters contained. Why not write a novel without knowing the chapters In one of his novels Stephen King said that he didn't plan stories: it was enough for him to have found the right situation to start the story.
Even Bernard Cornwell said he had absolutely no idea what would happen in the next chapter. Perhaps for authors like them, who have dozens of novels under their belt, writing a story has now become a habit and they manage to make ends meet by writing almost in one go. For me it would be impossible: I wouldn't have control of the entire story and I would risk Special Data carrying it on for too long without being able to finish it. Pages and pages that would only lengthen the broth. The benefits of writing chapter outlines The "trick" of making a reader passionate about a story is to push him to continue reading, paragraph after paragraph and chapter after chapter. That's what a good novel should do: not take the reader away from its pages. By writing the plot of each chapter I can understand if a chapter is weak, if it is functional and useful to the story, if I need to add or remove a part.
Then reading each plot one after the other is as if I were reading the summary of the novel: I can see if the story is flowing, if there is a crescendo of tension and if I have respected the dramatic arc. What to write in chapter plots If the synopsis, that is, a sort of summary of the entire novel that highlights part of the plot and its strong points, must be a maximum of a couple of pages (folders?) long, the plot of a chapter, for me, is not must exceed 300 words. But what to write? I don't write too detailed plots: I think it goes beyond the concept of "creative writing". I also think it depends on the literary genre: a mystery, a thriller, a spy story need details, because in the end "all the knots must come to a head" and you can't write in one go hoping that everything will then fall into place.
Even Bernard Cornwell said he had absolutely no idea what would happen in the next chapter. Perhaps for authors like them, who have dozens of novels under their belt, writing a story has now become a habit and they manage to make ends meet by writing almost in one go. For me it would be impossible: I wouldn't have control of the entire story and I would risk Special Data carrying it on for too long without being able to finish it. Pages and pages that would only lengthen the broth. The benefits of writing chapter outlines The "trick" of making a reader passionate about a story is to push him to continue reading, paragraph after paragraph and chapter after chapter. That's what a good novel should do: not take the reader away from its pages. By writing the plot of each chapter I can understand if a chapter is weak, if it is functional and useful to the story, if I need to add or remove a part.
Then reading each plot one after the other is as if I were reading the summary of the novel: I can see if the story is flowing, if there is a crescendo of tension and if I have respected the dramatic arc. What to write in chapter plots If the synopsis, that is, a sort of summary of the entire novel that highlights part of the plot and its strong points, must be a maximum of a couple of pages (folders?) long, the plot of a chapter, for me, is not must exceed 300 words. But what to write? I don't write too detailed plots: I think it goes beyond the concept of "creative writing". I also think it depends on the literary genre: a mystery, a thriller, a spy story need details, because in the end "all the knots must come to a head" and you can't write in one go hoping that everything will then fall into place.