Nice to know that I am not alone in this.
I’m thinking of starting chapter 3 with my main character’s father finding the note that his son had left. I’m not sure if it’ll take up the full chapter though.
The thing with the spreadsheet is that you need to do it with purpose. Do it if you’re looking to find specific data that would help you spot issues that you may later edit.
Otherwise, it’s just busy work, beaurocracy.
I can get into the details of how I use spreadsheets if you’re interested.
But it’s okay to postpone the spreadsheet project if it isn’t useful to you right now.
3 Likes
I fell asleep for five hours, and now that I’ve woken up, my brain is clear again. Hopefully, I will go back to sleep again and finish it in a few hours.
I’m actually thinking about how much time I will have to commit to a project, and make it make sense in the next month. I’ll obviously have to write 2k a day, but how do I keep planning and writing if the plan is going to change?
Does it matter much what happens in the middle as long as it brings us to our end goal?
2 Likes
It might be different for you, but I always have midpoint in mind. So, the first chapter usually changes the most for me, but the big midpoint and the final outcome are fairly set. In between, things can change from the outline.
2 Likes
I always have my beginning, and my end in mind, but the middle is always the hardest part for me. I have my basic sandwich (outline) but I find the middle (filling) hard to find. I know I want a sandwich (basic plot) but the filling is never gonna be how I want.
1 Like
I don’t mean everything in the middle. I mean the false defeat or false victory that is the midpoint. The rising actions and fun and games are flexible for me, but the midpoint itself is usually a big juicy scene I am really looking forward to.
4 Likes
I sometimes struggle to fit those plot points (depending on the idea) at times, because of how I write and the nature of the ideas. I do have a beat sheet of some sort, and I do try to use it.
2 Likes
The main reason I wanted it was to gather all the feedback I have so far, whether they’re notes I wrote to myself per chapter or from someone else. And then I wanted to see the story as a whole because I know there are opportunities to close loop holes, enrich the lore earlier, catch inconsistencies etc. But yeah, it was becoming a tedious process. 
3 Likes
I have to figure out how my smart girl Shree fits into the plot…
She arrives in Iptaj unaware of the supernatural horrific things that are happening. She actually has a pendant that all the cultish gangs want in order to complete the broken object to revive the god of death and get their wishes granted. But they don’t know her or about her arrival. The only one that finds out is the boy that picks her and her aunt up at the docks.
He’s actually afraid of one of the big cults in Iptaj that are after the broken pieces of the object. Maybe he recognizes the object and asks her about it? Would it make sense if he tries to take it from her to protect her? Or is that weird for him to do at first meeting? He steals it, maybe?
I don’t know how much I want her to know what is going on. In the draft, she goes full into the plot, saving people with her fighting skills. But now I’m not sure. I think it just complicates the plot?
Hmm.
Her knowing adds to the plot, or not?
The connection she has with the other characters is that there’s a good guy detective there looking for his kidnapped son, and his family was destroyed by Shree’s father’s greed. Shree’s father killed them all without lifting a finger. Shree doesn’t know about this.
So, maybe, she should never know? At least, not in this book? (I don’t plan on writing another book in this world, but who knows?)
Maybe she’s blissfully unaware?
Idk what to do. Should she be the escape the readers need from all the chaos? Should she be so blissfully unaware that all we see with her is the beauty of Iptaj with hints of magic?
2 Likes
hello.
1 Like
Hi there
1 Like
This is why a 2 or 3 part structure helps some people. You don’t actually think of it as midpoint, but more small endings.
Like for a romance:
Boy meets girl to happily ever after is beginning and end, but if you break it into smaller endings:
Boy meets girl:
Meeting
Dislike for reasons: a, b, c
Plot to get on each other’s nerves
Total destruction of relationship
(Thus endeth the mini-story.)
Fishslapping:
A hard truth about the dislike of at least one point being unfair to the other person.
Questioning all that you know, doing research.
An apology that doesn’t work.
Teaming up to figure out who set you both up for the bad relationship.
Shenanigans that melts brains.
Finally catch the obvious culprit.
(Thus endeth the reluctant relationship, 2nd short story over.)
If we hadn’t started this way, would we be together? I’m still mad at you.
Lick wounds due to “falling in love” with someone you’ve both ruined and saved.
Bombshell of bigger baddie. Off to save the Queen.
Bawling eyes out of “why did it have to be you?!” at most awkward time.
Get the ultimate baddie.
Realize that you’re not going to live this relationship without looking like an idiot on a daily basis. Why are we still letting others dictate our life?
Walk into a happily ever after while eyeballing everyone around you because you’re not doing round 4 of this story.
Yeah, nothing concrete in this, just showing how one seamless story can be 3 seperate stories smushed together without ruining the whole thing. The problem comes in with when your story you have in mind is better for ACT 1, instead of being the whole honking story. That takes some work to figure out.
3 Likes
Must . . . write . . . words . . . [stares at blank page for 5 hours]
3 Likes
I don’t even have the attention span for that. It’s just a total chore for me and demotivates me to no end. You have a traditional storytelling arc, and then you have arcs you made up and plot beats. I never even thought of splitting it up into three smaller stories, but even that seems like a lot.
My stories always seem more like this song:
It starts off steady enough, and then it turns random towards the end. My mind doesn’t really care about how many plot beats it’s hitting sometimes, as long as it all makes sense in my head, in terms of the story. I have stories that I wrote a while back, and they don’t even fit the 3 act structure, but still kinda make sense.
Like your 3-mini-story concept, it makes sense but it’s not traditional. It annoys me when people are like ‘this isn’t gonna work because it doesn’t fit with X structure’ without reading it first. Read it, and then worry about the structure and corrections and tighten the logic as it goes along, without boring anyone.
Don’t call me out. That’s pretty much nearly all of my story ideas. It’s hard to figure it all out sometimes because of how the characters are as well, and the unfolding events/logic and how it all pans together.
1 Like
I may have to snowflake this story
It’s why I hate planning, myself.
It jabs at myself, too. It’s why some stories are just sitting there with maybe a chapter because it’s going to take WORK to write it.
2 Likes
That can be a good thing…but it’s usually not. What’s the beef?
1 Like
Any idea what the hangup might be?
2 Likes
I like having a rough idea, and that’s about it. I still have drafts from 8-9 years ago, lol.
I know, I meant that in a joking sense. Yeah, same. I am good at ideas but not finishing it.
2 Likes