Thread: How does it work?

I get ideas but can't ever seem to develop a decent plot. I enjoy writing but suffer writer's block a lot.

Do you sit down and plan a novel from start to finish including any twists and turns etc before you start or do you just start writing? I'd do courses if I could find the time and funds LOL.

Can anyone advise me on the best way to actually get in and finish something? Or at least do more than a page or two before my idea and my steam runs out?

Nano is very good "therapy" for loosening up writer's block. You have a limited time to write 50.000 words, and you really can't stop for very long if you intend to make it in time. I'm suffering from writer's block frequently, too, and I think that last year's Nano was the only time during the year that I could get anything substantial written.

I succeeded in Nano last year by just starting to write. I scrapped my plot outline just before Nano started and just wrote. The writing was poor at many places, but I concentrated into just getting my daily word goal done. I found out that even without a plot outline, I was able to formulate something that resembled a story with a plot. I had to resort to writing the silliest things, anything that came to my mind, many times during the month but in the end it was a very liberating experience and gave a good punch to my writer's block and inner critic.

As for plotting vs. not plotting beforehand, some writing guides say that there are "outline people" and "no-outline people". Some people like to do very detailed plot outlines before starting to write, some outline just a little, and yet others don't plan at all and just write spontaneously. I seem to belong to the last group. I suggest you try each method in turn and see whether one works better than the others. You could try to do an outline for a story and write based on that. If that doesn't work, just try to write anything that comes to your mind, maybe steering it in the direction you would like to take the story into.

it took J.k Rowling 5 years to plot Harry Potter, and now she's one of the well-known authors

it took J.k Rowling 5 years to plot Harry Potter, and now she's one of the well-known authors

it took J.k Rowling 5 years to plot Harry Potter, and now she's one of the well-known authors

it took J.k Rowling 5 years to plot Harry Potter, and now she's one of the well-known authors