Thread: I want to know how you all plan a story!

Hi, I am a student at University currently doing my final year computing project. I plan to design and code a piece of software that provides writers of fictional pieces with a set of tools to aid in planning a story.

I want to know how writers plan a story and the tools or techniques which you use.
I have a survey here: Authors Companion Software Survey

I would be very greatful if you could fill it out!

As a discussion point: Does creative writing software have a role in the way you plan or write a piece, or do you find it introduces unwanted creative constraints and barriers?

Thanks
aboyer

PS: I have checked with the forum owner that this is fine!

If you've got the time, there are many threads on this site (some recent, some not so) that cover this. Some of the best posters may not wish to repeat themselves. Why should they if you can't look up the threads? Nothing wrong with starting this thread. Sure, you'll get new answers from new people. But some of these new people may already be looking at the older threads. It just seems a bit lazy to me to arrive here with your first post when I was reading a thread about this so very recently.

If it helps, I don't ever remember seeing a post in them referring to creative software.

Thanks for the feedback spider8, apologies if it seems rather rude of me, I had no intention of coming across that way!

I am just very interested in how fiction is written and the role that computers can play, particularly in fleshing out ideas.

I'll have a look for this thread, although I did do a quick search and could not find it.

Can you elaborate on what you mean by "creative writing software"? Are you talking about Word, or something completely different?

Your survey is somewhat flawed because you've assumed that every writer plans before they sit down to write. Some, myself included, don't. I'll fill in your survey the best I can, but since it isn't entirely applicable to me, it'll probably be a false reflection.

Thanks for the feedback Sam. Indeed not all writers plan before they write, I am merely looking for the methods writers really use, be it to plan or not!

As for creative writing software, there are quite a few products out there which help in the planning of stories.

Originally Posted by aboyer

Thanks for the feedback spider8, apologies if it seems rather rude of me, I had no intention of coming across that way!

I'll have a look for this thread, although I did do a quick search and could not find it.

I didn't say rude. I just said it seems a bit lazy, no offence.
I just spent all of sixty seconds for you looking up Writing Discussions. There's a thread entitled something like 'Where do you start your story?' Many good replies, go take a look.

That's what I mean, it took me all of sixty seconds, but then I know the site. (or your search was too quick! The thread's just a few lines below this one)

Ha ha. I should have read your OP more carefully. I need to drink more coffee before I log in. Never mind.

Originally Posted by spider8

I didn't say rude. I just said it seems a bit lazy, no offence.
I just spent all of sixty seconds for you looking up Writing Discussions. There's a thread entitled something like 'Where do you start your story?' Many good replies, go take a look.

That's what I mean, it took me all of sixty seconds, but then I know the site. (or your search was too quick! The thread's just a few lines below this one)

No offense taken! I am just looking for peoples help on the matter of planning a story and the part that software might play and hopefully start a discussion into the matter.

I believe that if designed correctly, a piece of software could provide a supportive environment from which to gain inspiration from.

I think a piece of software like that would probably be extraordinarily popular, as it would provide all those individuals who go around saying, "Everybody has always told me I should write a book," or "Yeah, my life is way more interesting than the average person's, I should write a book," or "If all those nerdling egghead crackpot weirdo types can write a book, then I can too," something on which to spend their money. On.

Well there are a few products out there, however some, I believe, are too heavy on formula, too many constraints.

First of all, such software would be a sophistication of what's already out there. Articles like "8 elements of a successful romance" and forms like "create your character (where you fill in the blanks.)" That's okay if you want to writer formulaic fiction, like Harlequin romances, and if you're a beginner looking for "HOW" to write.

A writer friend once suggested I write a story about Monkey Bottom, a local swamp where people used to keep exotic animals and which was shrouded in mystery. (Turns out it was mysterious because bootleggers wanted to keep people away, so they made up stories.) So how do I get a story out of that.

First of all, it's got to be a horror story, so it has to be have a monster, either human, supernatural, bestial or imaginary. Since it was a swamp, I decided a swamp monster would have tentacles, slime, pincers and whatever. So I decided to go Lovecraftian, which I'd never done before.

Research gave me the name of the animal-keeping families, turns out they were Eastern European. Excellent. Slavic people often worked in circuses, kept animals, etc. All I have to do is make up a legend, because I simply must have a damsel in distress. So my heroine becomes a gorgeous Slavic woman who studies witchcraft.

Now I need a knight in shining armor. Okay, way overdone. Let's make him a knight errant in smudged armour. Enter the protagonist, a slightly sleazy womanizer who writes local color pieces (easy to get him interested in Monkey Bottom.)

Now set the tale. Starts out, the protag hears there's a legend about the bottom from a girl he picks up in a bar. Seems some strange slavic woman had told her about it a few weeks ago. So he stops by the place, which actually has a sign about the howling monkeys and is adjacent to the local visitors center (all true locations). He talks with the women in the center and learns a woman worked there for a while who claims to be a witch. He is intrigued enough to research the place's history more thoroughly and locates the slavic woman. She agrees to meet, in the same bar protag first heard about her. She tells how her grandfather and his sisters had encountered the creature when children and weaves a tale of danger, passion and incest. Turns out the creature only eats virgins, so the original monkeys were raised in an attempt to feed young monkeys to the monster instead of the zoo-keepers' children. And guess what? The slavic witch is a virgin, who has been protected by her grandfather all her life. Now Grandad is dead and she can't resist the monster's call. All she needs is a helper (guess who) to read the magic words while she fights the creature. She offers her virginity (even though she's lesbian) if he'll help-but not until the monster is dead.
Now all I need is an ending. Does she win? Does she lose? Does she lose but the protag wins. Do they both win? Do they both lose? Or is it all some sort of trick on the witch's part. Any of these can be used.

That's how I write a story. With bits and pieces. Sure, you can program a computer to play chess. Simple. 64 squares and 16 pieces. A large number of options, but finite. Your computer can play chess.

Now take a world with billions of people, filled with wonders and animals, surrounded by a universe with uncounted stars and planets and program a computer with that. Might as well go back to those million monkeys at a million keyboards.

But, I agree with Scarlett. There's a market for it among beginning writers, even though there are dozens of writing forums and other sources that will tell them those 8 elements for a romance. I know of several "writers", even on this site, who post dozens of story ideas, intricately designed, but never actually start writing any of these stories.

I relied on my brain to go out and learn how to write. I went to writer's group for years, posted my work on line for crit, read hundreds of articles about the craft of writing. I don't much believe in short cuts.

Take care,

JohnB

when it comes to software I personally don't use more then Word for a normal novel or short story. If I write for film/tv it's a different situation because it saves you the constant formatting. For this there are the big ones(I myself used final draft for a while) but honestly the one I grew most comfortable with is Celtx, a free software for writing screenplays, theater, audio plays, comic books(the story format that you present to the illustrators, not the finished one with panels and artwork)

It's got the format for plain text as well, but I think Word is better in that case. As for the idea for a story-planning software, it does sound interesting and could prove to be a good substitute for the old notepad. The survey looks well done so I think I'll have a go at it.

Good luck!

Originally Posted by WriterJohnB

Sure, you can program a computer to play chess. Simple. 64 squares and 16 pieces. A large number of options, but finite. Your computer can play chess.

JohnB

btw You can actually get chess programmes that will play a game with you '...in the style of Capablanca.' This seems as charmless to me, as a fiction-creating software programme.

How do I plan a story? I don't, I just write and sometimes the story happens.

Originally Posted by spider8

... fiction-creating software programme.

Well in this case I doubt the program will be doing any of the writing for you, it'll probably be the digital substitute of keeping notes, sketching up important things for the story, or sticking postits all over a desk. Of course the idea of a "fill in the blanks" system is pretty worthless but as far as I understand it's not necessarily about that. Personally I welcome it if it has functions I can use, it would eliminate some of the stacks of papers from my desk and make more room for caffeinated beverages