Story Crafting - What's your technique?

[Amymone]

When a get a great idea I keep it in a large book of ideas and every once in a while, when I have free time, I pair up like ideas and keep growing them into a full blown plot. When it's big and thorough enough, I make a folder for it and start filling it up with characters.

The initial cast is always small. I give each character an inspiration folder filled with photos of people and objects for later when I work on their character designs. Usually their personalities and storylines start to bud as I draw them, but only when I have found the direct connection between every character and the conflict that's when I start discovery-outlining through the whole storyline. If any last minute characters come up, I make folders for them for later.

• When the story is journey driven, I keep a list of locations, goals, and achievements that need to be reached along the way. Most importantly I keep a list of enemies for each event, how they are defeated, and what's gained from their defeat.
• When the story is month/holiday driven, I make a list of the days the comic will be posting that month and try to fit the story conflict of that month into the given amount of days.

I try not to exceed 30 chapters of outlines, but when I do, I know it's best to just let the story sit for a LONG TIME before going back, rereading it, and fixing weird things. Once it's comic ready, then I start breaking the outlines up into scripts, story boarding, and drawing every page out. Occasionally, twists and turns in the scripts causes the story to derail from the outlines, but it's nothing that a little reorganizing on my part can't fix. (The project I have right now, was original 32 outlines, but it's turning out to be over 40 comic chapters long.)

The only time I resort to questionnaires is when I have a specific theme I need to bounce off all of the characters and get their opinions about it. The first story I tackled was about employment and employers and employees, so I had columns of brief notes about what each character thought about their jobs, their bosses, and their coworkers. Only a small handful of characters eventually got to state their opinions about it in the final version of the story.

[jessicasurline]

I'm enjoying hearing all of your story crafting processes!

I myself let it be based on gut reactions at first. That way I can pick apart what I'm trying to say or how I want to get the audience to feel. The core of the story builds itself off this initial energy and from there I jump around to different stages of the story to give them a stronger foundation. You know, so the story arch makes sense and is satisfying. About this point, I share the idea with someone else so I make sure its heading in a good direction before I get too invested. From that point on there is a lot of filling in the blanks and connecting the dots going on. I then ask myself a variety of relevant questions to better identify the environment and how the people react to it.

I wait a long time to name my characters until I have a solid understanding of who they are. I don't know of anyone else who does this but I reference this book I own called The Secret Language of Relationships to find a matching birthday and how they may interact with different personalities. It's really fun to find out the sociology of people, especially when you guess correctly about how you would expect them to behave with specific characters. I spend a good amount of time trying to determine names. For example, Taylor Pruitt means “to cut” or “Cloth cutter”, her last name means “Brave little one”. In the story she seeks serious change in her life and when she goes out to find it, her hair accidentally gets cut, which symbolizes her emotional and mental transformation.

Anyway, this is about where sketching character fashion is derived from their personality and environment. In Visceral, Zeke's look is a collection of found items from the area he has been stuck for 7 years by himself. His pants show signs of ripping at the heels because he had to grow into them so now they are not as long and baggy on him. His shoes he had to craft because he grew out of his last pair. The list goes on but you get the point.

After all that prep pre production, I finally get to the part where I thumbnail up a bunch of pages and pick them apart till I find the layout and flow I'm looking for. Again, I show it around and get constructive feedback before going into production.

In the end I wind up with documents to keep track of the story outline, specific chapter writing, notes, references, and inspirations. Its a lot of fun!

[Raven_C]

Usually I start with a character. An idea starts in my head for a design of a specific character, imagining and sketching them multiple times, drawing fragmented scenarios even when there isn't a concrete story yet. I do this until a story emerges, or a basic idea comes up. In a sense, I usually just wait for my characters to tell me their story. I do bullet points of events in my head, then go from there.

[joannekwan]

Sometimes I start with a story idea, but most often I will design a character, develop them a little, and form a story around them. Microsoft Word is my best friend and I'll write down every little piece of info I think of for the story and characters (except appearance because I usually have a very strong vision of that already in my head). For names I'll often go to a baby name website or Google Translate and find names with specific meanings behind them, otherwise I go with what sounds good in my head. Then I might actually start sketching the characters to pin down their appearance.

[Aeonhue]

I think I might try desiging a character first, just to see what I come up with!

[UzukiCheverie]

I like to think of crafting a story as a journey of discovery :3 I've been polishing and refining Time Gate for years, and even these days I'm still thinking of ways to tie up the loose ends I never got around to fixing, cleaning up potential plot holes, etc. Yet through all of it I feel like the characters have been the ones guiding me through the story, telling me what needs to happen in a way that works for them and is fit for them. Some will live, others will die, but I don't like putting my characters through things that don't make sense to or for them. It's just like a big adventure of discovery :3

It sounds silly, but it's how I've come up with a lot of my ideas, including some of my best ones.

[lazorchef]

There isn't any specific way, but for me it has to be compartmentalized just a bit.

The plot is like a bubble in a glass of chocolate milk (bear with me), and the more air you add, the bigger it gets. The space it takes up on the surface determines how many smaller bubbles can fit inside.

The smaller bubbles are plot points that the characters sort of slide around on according to their scripted personalities.

Protagonists bump into each other (and villains) based on what side of the glass you start them on, but gravity dictates that they must move one way or the other.

Why did I explain it like that....

[Cielle]

my story crafting process is kind of a mess. I don't have much of a method, though I've tried many in order to be better organized. But it never works for me >.< usually I'll get an idea for a character and a situation--most often it's the inciting incident, but not always. From there, I work backwards. How did this event come to pass? why are these characters involved? How does it benefit them? How does it hinder them? Usually I end up writing hundreds (yes, hundreds) of pages of notes fleshing out the story and the characters. The hard part is going back later and sifting out the good from the bad and forming the story. For my current story, I ended up changing the antagonist a couple of times. The problem was that as I started developing the back-story and personality of my "antagonist", I realized he wasn't really an antagonist. So I had to rethink a lot of details. But I guess the moral of the story is that usually when I write, I feel more accurately that I am discovering the story the characters want to tell, so even if I outline and do the whole snowflake shebang, the story will change of its own accord.

[allenthomas]

I pretty much as the same questions before I start actually BUILDING the story. In the character development phase, I asked all kinds of goofy things like favorite foods, favorite colors, least favorite color, pet peeves, etc. It may seem mundane but sometimes you never know what little thing may help you at different times when planning the story. I actually envy people who can just create a story on the fly. When I do it, it always seems to unravel.

I also like to plot out the major moments of my story along with its beginning, middle, and end before I ever start actually writing down the story.

[AnnaLandin]

@jessicasurline re: naming characters - it depends on the character, really. Some of them seem to name themselves, while others I have to dig a little deeper (and when I do, behindthename.com is my very best friend). Sometimes, I try to pick names with specific meanings (and in the case of my character Akane, she is named during the course of the story, and her name means "red" for a very good reason), other times I pick ones that sound nice and fit into the larger context of the story.

I try not to go too obvious with the name-meanings - if I create a heroic character, I try not to name them something that means "brave" or "heroic" or "victorious" or something, because that's a bit like showing the readers a big old spoiler right from the start. XD

[StevenDacasin]

you can craft a story anyway you want. Personally i think about if the story is mostly character driven or plot driven.

[crabman21]

Mines kind of happen by stuff I experience in my life.

[purrlpankras]

I normally just blast metal and stare at the wall, then things normally come naturally.

But sometimes they come out a little weird as in Likho. /even i dont know whats going on/ but people
seem to like it? hue hue

[Not in anyway do I recommend staring at walls, they might get offended and steal your soul for hours]

[patrickj]

This sounds a lot like what I'm currently doing, including changing the antagonist. Coming up with a plausible reasoning and rewriting parts of a character and it's actions and decisions throughout the story so that everything falls into place can be really hard, especially if the changes cascade into other changes, those into even more changes.

In a way, my storywriting is like a cycle where the characters slowly change the story as they develop, and the story further develops the characters, as it advances. And everything I add will need to be cycled through a lot of times to fit in perfectly and may result in changing things that seemed totally unrelated at first. It's like throwing together bricks of story and character and constantly asking "why?" and "how?" to slowly refine them and work out how things are going to fit together in an authentic way.

[eagle1]

I had an enjoyable experience over the last two days. We got a new writer on the site, and He and I spent about 20 e-mails batting an idea back and forth that started as a single sentence. The plot we had when that was finished was only partially the elevator pitch we had started with.
But what amused me the most, was when he said that he wanted to start writing, and I was looking back over the e-mail string. We had not named the character, hadn't discussed anything other than the tropes that he would be fulfilling, and he's nothing but a framework.
The plot had come first, and had been hammered out like a piece of iron on an anvil. It's a great plot, but wanna know the funny thing? Now a character has to be constructed (since that hasn't been done yet) that can fit comfortably within that plot, and then take it over. Why? Because this story is going to wind up being character driven. That's the only way that the plot can be sold to the reader, is if they really get into the character. The only thing we know right now is his base personality has to be the result of personal honour and self-isolation.
Just thought I would give an example of a different way of getting to the end (which is trying to write a great story)

Eagle
(In the end, the story is the most important thing)

[pjamasvonpatten]

It usually starts with a few cups of coffee. I base my comics off of old journal entries. As far as drawing goes, I just go for it. I free hand everything in ink with out any underlying sketches. I tried digital but found myself undoing to much stuff and missed the energy of just going for it that I have in my journals.

[punkarsenic]

for each character, I answer a list of questions and develop a charahub, and i construct a playlist of 30-45 minutes in length. if I'm really stuck, the playlist comes first.

From there, I just let the character grow with the story, and I dwell on the characters a lot as I go about my day, comparing them to characters I read and watch, and I develop ghost plots in my head, usually based off songs.

Developing the story itself is usually just a case of manipulating the factors around the plot points I know I want to happen, and then filling in the gaps with stuff I think is interesting or will be useful later.

[crabman21]

It just comes to me as I'm watching the people around me or as I'm watching cartoons, then I think to myself, "How would such in such character respond to this situation?"

[mg78]

i start always with an idea, whatever it is.
then i try to evolve it, for a lot of time... cut what look stupid, trying to put something new.

generally, btw, i ask to myself:
1) what's the point of the story? what im going to talk about?
2) is this story "serius" or funny?
3) what is the real deal? what is going to live the main character?
4) how much space is in there to talk about other thing?
5) what must be in there? what i have to put in?
6) can i put some eastern egg? lol...
7) how is it the world? clothes? buildings? tech?
8) what to remeber to do and what to not do.

the last thing i put in:
y) names.
z) title.

[KrugosNavarro]

This is only for long stories, my short stories are more or less improvised or experimental (though some use 3 acts structure).

After having a basic concept I create the characters and start developing the plot and characters together. I start taking notes, I write everything that comes to mind, ideas, dialogues, scenes, visual actions or elements, etc., most of which will not make it into the story. When I know more or less what the whole thing will be, what's the major themes, how it begins, what's the middle, how it ends, how it affect or transform the characters, and such, I chose a structure that fits, divide the story into acts and begin writing a full outline. I revise the outline and change what I feel is not working or could be improved. Then I divide the outline into pages, so I know what's happening in each page of the comic (sometimes this change while writing the script if it turns out the material needs more space than I assigned). And, finally, I begin writing the script.

As for characters I have a questionnaire I fill. There are some lists of never ending questions floating around the web, I find them completely unnecessary (though it never hurts to know your characters better) and missing very important points, so here's a list that works great for me. I compiled some of these points from articles in ScriptShadow.net, and added a few things here and there with time (it's still a work in progress), hope you find it useful:

Name:
Date and place of birth:

1. Entry: This reminds me I have to introduce the character in a way that is interesting, it's easy to forget even though it should be ovious, so I have it first on my list.
2. Description: I only use this for prose, not comics, to remind me to describe the character in an interesting way. For comics I don't use interesting description, but very plain and simple to understand so the artists I work with know exactly what it is I would like them to do.
3. Action that defines the character: Early in the story (later too, of course) it's important to use actions to show what your character is about, what's his/her essence.
4. Fatal flaw: Your protagonists and antagonists benefit from having one.
5. Plot objective: What does your character need to do in this story?
6. Life's objective: What's your character's life goals and dreams? (this may not be told in the story, but it will shape your character's behavior and help you write him/her better, especially if the plot gets in the way of your character achieving what they want in life).
7. Plot motivation: Why is your character doing what he/she's doing in this story? You better have a good reason.
8. Personality: What's your character like?
9. Speech notes: How does this character talks like that makes him/her different from your other characters? Your characters better have a voice of their own.
10. Details, clothing, compulsions, odd behavior, unique traits, etc.: You don't need to fill them all, or any at all, just if there's something unique about your character that doesn't belong anywhere in the list, you write it here.
11. Secrets: If your character hides something from other characters (but not the reader) you have dramatic irony, if your character hides something from the reader you create suspense. Both irony and suspense are strong tools in storytelling, use them!
12. Notes: Anything else not covered by this list? Write it here.
13. Backstory: Bio of your character, very important to know him/her better, and thus, make a better job writing. This will rarely make it into the story, but it's fundamental if you want a well crafted character.
14. Backstory in relation to other characters: If there's been story (and especially conflict) in the past between two characters, it will make their interactions so much fun to write and read. This is perfect to fill your story with dramatic irony.

You may find the order is a little odd, it could be improved moving a few things around, I'm sorry about this, I didn't write this list with the purpose of making it public, so I never cared to make it more presentable.