How do you guys plan out your stories?

[Cyena]

I'm new to tapas and currently planning out my first story, before I start writing the actual chapters.

But I'm curious, to what extend do you plan out your story?

Do you prefer having your plot, world building, characters etc. completely written out beforehand,
or do you just go with a general direction, start writing and make changes along the way?

For me, I like having my story planned out first, because I know I'll get stuck at some point otherwise.
But at the same time, I can't wait to start writing!

Do you guys have any tips/advice? And what way do you prefer?

[MissEljebel]

When I write stories, I plan it out first. My outlines are very basic. They just include what the main point of what's happening, so it's not too rigid and I have room to add things. My outlines look something like this:

1. x character meets y character, y character hates x character
2. y character starts up a fight, x character fights back
3. x character wins

So on and so forth.

So my outlines are very basic so it leaves some wiggle room, but I still have a general idea of what's going to happen. And I agree with you- I need to plan out my story, but I also reeeeaaally wanna start writing and share my story with the world!

[cherrystark]

I am a pantser, I tend to start writing with a general idea and see what happens. I also like to draw out floor plans and family trees to help visually orient myself.

My biggest advice: trust your gut. You'll figure out the way that best works for you. Above all, have fun. I experimented with a few different ways before I settled on my current style. Other ways left me drained with no desire to write. Now, I feel energized to keep working on my series and 2020 was a very productive year for me as a writer.

[faisalhussein394]

Believe it or not, I never keep my story planning in any files or hard drives.

They are all stuck in my mind and as time goes on, new ideas are added every time I finish a page and well, here is the result:

Mukhtar | Tapas

When you can't stop thinking about the story you're making, it is easy to remember all the plot, world-building, and characters in your head.

[Black_Conscious]

Ah man, I am more of doing a general direction start writing and make changes along the way, I know I should write beforehand but thats just me

[cherrystark]

If that way works best for you, then it works!

[Puck]

I tried many different ways and read books about, made udemy classes, but I don´t have the feeling that I´m getting
better at writing. My main characters either have no personality or they loose their original personality which was
exciting when I invented the character. It just happened to me after I finished a 48 pages comic, I had the whole
story down and then realized that the character turned from being exciting into the most boring character ever
and I wasn´t even interested in drawing him anymore or writing stories about the character.

[Cyena]

Oh no, that sounds rough!

I don't know if it helps, but in this case, maybe you can try to figure out your character's personality and development first.
Set some rules for them, and during writing always keep them in mind! That way they stay consistent throughout the story.
What are your character's motives? How would they react to certain events? How do their actions move the story forward?
Also, how about creating characters that have at least one unusual or negative personality trait? You can write how this trait interferes with their goals/the story, and how they may even learn to how deal with it.

But then again, I'm just a beginner when it comes to writing, so what do I know
And maybe you have already tried these.

[Cyena]

Yeah, I know right!
I think my problem is that I'm too detailed in the planning proces, maybe I should try following a more general direction
My approach is taking a very long time haha

[TedGravesArt]

I have a personal guideline for when I paint: Big, medium small. I start with wide messy strokes, then when I'm satisfied with that I go to medium sized strokes add more definition to what needs it, and then down to detailing the focal points. If I don't do this, usually I'll end up over detailing the wrong things, and the focus of the piece will be askew.
I handle writing the same way. In addition to various other more detailed docs for places and characters that often have main goals, needs, fears, and worksheet prompts, I have three main documents for my story. 1. Wide beats - I loosely lay out the entire story arc here. Each act is labeled, and I can quickly find events and plot elements I need in this. I also throw any random ideas or resources I've got in at the end of the document, and often find good places for them as I continue to write. 2. Medium beats - I usually have a medium beats doc for each act, and this doc roughly goes over what happens in each issue. I keep it pretty sketchy here too, since I want to establish events, character, and tone, without worrying about the specifics of the script. Keeping it loose here allows me to come up with new ideas and string events together easily. 3. Script - This is where I actually write each issue, including individual actions, shots, dialog, nailing in tone, etc.
There are probably better ways of doing this, but it works fairly well for me. It comes with a caveat that if I wildly rewrite an idea in one doc, I need to update it in all three docs. Currently there are many places where they're out of sync and I need to do some lengthy maintenance. BUT the process gives me a top down view of everything that I'm writing, and keeps me focused on what's important in the story. When looking at the wide beats it's very easy to tell when a piece of the story is unnecessary.

[Tromroan]

I generally like to broadly know the main events of the entire story from beginning to end before beginning a comic!

I usually have a bunch of really clear, big dramatic "moments", which I have planned out in detail, since they're really important to forward the plot. Then I tend to plan out the minor moments that fill in between as I go. Usually before each chapter I'll have a good idea of which events are going to take place, and I'll try to imagine the flow of the chapter before finally thumbnailing it/writing scripts.

I find the hardest thing is to plan out kind of... emotional journeys for the characters? Or moments of foreshadowing/exposition. I want things to be clear, but I don't want to infodump on the reader! Hard to develop moments of exposition so they seem natural.

[domisotto]

I usually start with an idea, then turn it into a pitch/blurb and let it sit. It accumulates notes and ideas and references, and plot points, then when it reaches the critical mass, I start moving them around, creating my plot beats (I love Save the Cat, Writes the Novel method)

For character work, I often write sample chapter 1 or thereabouts to test out character and their voice, decide if it is first or third person, etc. Decide who is the main character.

After I finish a manuscript, I pull the idea file out, figure out which story I would write next and finish the outline of the 15 plot beats with more details, fleshing out what type of the story it is, determining the conflict and what the main character wants vs needs, and seeing if I can take out or merge secondary characters.

Once I am happy with my outline, I start writing and don’t brake for anyone!

[therosesword]

As a total pantser I don't feel that I have tips for you. Advice? I could probably come up with some. Mainly, be true to yourself and what you want to say and ultimately, how you want to say it.

As to planning? I get an idea sometimes for a story or a character or even just a title and I let it grow from there.

I operate of the principle of "knowing." I know who my characters are, basically. I learn more about them as I write, but I know who they are at their core. I know what kind of story it is in many ways such as will it be long, will it be a mystery, will it be a little scary, etc. As the majority of stories contain some sort of mystery element to it (a lot of Harry Potter does) there's always a touch of that.

I'll get an idea for a line or a scene and I usually will write it down so that I don't forget it... notoriously bad for forgetting the brilliant ideas in the showers.

I'm kind of like a Nike's ad (or is that addidas?). I just do it.

I never get stuck or have writer's block. Correction, I haven't experienced it yet, that doesn't mean it won't happen later. If I do have some doubts I usually have enough stories started and are in different stages that I simply shift gears and step into one of them. Having multiple stories started and in various degrees of completion is because I'm a bit of a "ooh, that's shiney" type person who can get distracted.

I think visually so if I have a character walking down a street I know which door he's going to knock on and I know who the character is that will open it, I know what season it is, if the buildings are brick or wood, if birds are about, if there's a factory nearby, what color the character is wearing. I don't know how I know those things, I just do. Maybe it's because I've done some acting and some improve and you have to be able to do that quickly sometimes.

As far as the story... I'm only along for the ride to see what happens next. Sometimes I think I know how I want it to end but... maybe the characters or the location has a different opinion on that.

Write hard, write true

[Kaydreamer]

I'm making a comic so a good deal of planning is necessary - I can't go back and change things very easily. That would be the case even if it weren't a webcomic. Releasing parts of it while other parts are still being made only makes that worse! So yes, I'd recommend some degree of planning.

That said, you don't need to write the WHOLE thing. I have the script written for most of the opening act. There are still some gaps, but I have a good idea what I'm going to fill them with. There's enough content here for the whole first year of Blue Star Rebellion, at my current rate, so I don't have to worry much about running out of script.

Beyond the first act, I know the overall plot beats of the first major mission. I have little scenarios and bits of script written down. They're still puzzle pieces, not yet a unified whole, but I know what the picture looks like.

After that mission, there's another two which are way more hazy, beyond a general 'x happens, and they have to go do y'. Those stories are ages away, though, and all I need to know is the general shape of them in order to start building themes and foreshadowing toward them.

So, plot-wise, I've got some planning, but not everything. As for the characters and worldbuilding though, they're absolutely planned out. I've been working on them in some way, shape or form for a decade. I wouldn't start writing a character without having any idea what they were like unless it was a first draft and I knew my decisions weren't set in stone. If you're writing a story and releasing it to the public as you go, know your characters well before you start to share. They will still surprise you as you write - they always do - but if you know them well, hopefully you won't have to go back and re-write major chunks of the story in order to keep their behaviour and values consistent! Same with the worldbuilding.

[Wocalich]

Hey! I found this site which I think might help:

Home Page

It has a free membership option and I find it enough to help me figure out where I want to go with my story. I hope it helps you too

[Cyena]

Thanks! I'll check it out!

[Wocalich]

No problem! I hope it helps

[surenlicious]

I love to wing it with a general idea. What I usually do is write down additional ideas to my existing lore and put it down in a notebook specifically made for my novel.

My webcomic series of tiny comics is actually how I keep track of the'visual' parts of my plot, because I am hella lazy to make a good ref sheet or...anything that may help me remember just what I just plan on doing for which character.

So far it works though!

[Puck]

I´m a beginner in writing too
I don´t have a clue what I´m doing and I´m thankful for every advice.
I always develope the character first, but then his character had to change to fit to the story because
the story was pretty good and I also filled 48 pages of a comic plan with it but when I wanted to start
drawing it I realized that I disliked his new character and it felt like this is the most boring main character
ever and so I didn´t draw it. But that´s something I don´t like about other stories/comics too, the main
character of most stories is not very appealing to me and many stories need the boring good protagonist

[domisotto]

many stories need the boring good protagonist

I think it's a lack of planning, because a 'good' character imo is only boring when they are presented with an easy way out of each challenge they encounter or the challenges are too familiar. A rando evil guy is just as boring. A gray character who is 'just so, so gray' is also boring... Imo, it's the challenges measured to the character and their personality, their successes and failures and moral conflict that is tailored to make the character grip the soul that make them not boring.