Hiya! I'm a new writer, aside from an odd bit of fanfiction here and there. I'd like to finally begin an original story. What are your initial actions when beginning a new work? Aside from that, do you have any more tips for me to adhere to? I'm not looking to publish or anything, this is purely for fun.
Guide: Starting a New (Long Fiction) Story
Whether youâre writing for practice, publication, or fun, the process for writing a new original story is different for everyone and often depends on the project itself. Here are some things to consider as you start to prepare and get started on your new story.
1. To plot or not to plot?
The first thing youâll want to do is decide how much you want to plot out the story before you start writing. Some writers are avid plotters, planning out every detail of their story before they begin. Other writers prefer to take an idea and wing it, and some people plot as they go. At the very least, itâs a good idea to make sure you know the following before you start writing:
Who is your protagonist? What do they want, why do they want it, and how are they going to get it?
When and where is the story set? What parts of this setting will play the biggest role in the story and how?
Who or what is the antagonistic force? Every protagonist needs an antagonist to work against them, creating obstacles they must overcome as they try to reach their goal. An antagonistic force is anyone or anything that creates those obstacles, whether a super villain, overbearing but well-meaning parents, a disease, a natural disaster, or a plague of zombies.
Know your beginning, middle, and end. Before you start writing, itâs a good idea to have a mental picture of how the story starts (your characterâs normal life before everything turns upside down), whatâs happening at the midpoint (what happens to raise the stakes and give the protagonist a big push toward the âfinal showdownâ with the antagonist), and how the story ends (does your character defeat/survive the antagonistic force? Do they reach their goal? How does your character or their world change as a result?)Â
2. Research and InspirationâŠ
Whether or not you decide to plot, you will probably want to spend a little time doing some research and looking for information. If you are choosing to plot, you may want to do this afterward or during your plotting phase. Ultimately, youâll want to consider whether there are any elements in your story that you need to know more about before writing them. This might include things like learning what itâs like to be deaf, how castles are laid out, or what kinds of plants and flowers typically grow in forests. If youâre setting your story in a real place, or are using a real place as inspiration, you may want to learn more about that place. If your story takes place in a particular era or involves a particular event or type of event, you will want to research those. For inspiration, you may want to look for pictures of everything from characters and clothing to buildings and places. Some writers enjoy putting together pinterest or tumblr galleries to house inspiring pictures. You may also want to put together character, setting, and story aesthetics (collages), put together a writing playlist that has the right feel for your story, or even travel to places or do activities that are related to your story.
3. Planning, preparation, and organization.
If youâre going to wing it, youâre pretty much ready to get started with writing now. However, if youâre going to plot your story, this is the point where you might want to do a little more planning and preparation before you start writing, and depending on how much stuff you accumulate through these early stages, youâll probably want to do a little organization, too.
When I start a new story, I always do three things:
â purchase a three-ring binder and dividers for keeping track of my story plansâ set up a story specific folder on my desktop with necessary subfoldersâ set up a story specific folder in my browser with necessary subfolders
I like to decorate my binder with a printed out aesthetic picture and a pretty title on the side. The divider tabs for my binders usually contain sections like: characters, setting, outline/scene list, notes, rough draft, etc. If there is more than one major setting, sometimes Iâll give each setting their own divider. It really just depends on the needs of my story, and sometimes I re-organize my dividers as the story progresses and my needs evolve.
My desktop folder usually contains the following subfolders: drafts, storage, notes-ideas, character stuff, setting stuff, inspiration, and then sometimes I do additional subfolders⊠like my âcharacter stuffâ subfolder might have subfolders for each character or characters in each specific setting.
My browser folder is usually kind of a mess. I will sometimes do subject-specfic subfolders, but usually I just bookmark whatever I need to and make sure the bookmarks I access the most are at the top of the list.
Again, you will probably add to all of this as you actually get into the plotting phase. I consider this phase and the plotting phase to go hand-in-hand. This is really just about getting everything set up and ready to go.
This is also a good time to figure out things like a writing schedule (if you need to set one), daily or weekly word count goals, and get your writing space organized if you have one.
There are many different ways you can plot your story, all depending on what works best for you and the needs of your story. Some writers simply like to come up with an exhaustive summary of events from beginning to end. Others like to do some sort of outline. You may want to do a timeline and a scene list as well. My post how to outline a plot will walk you through some of the different options, and my plot and structure master list has lots of other posts that may be useful to you during this time.
Once youâve gotten your story plotted out (or not, if youâre choosing not to plot), itâs time to sit down and start writing. Here are some things to keep in mind:
â This is the very first draft of your story and itâs going to be ROUGH, which is why itâs often referred to as the ârough draftâ or âzero draft.â This draft isnât going to be perfect. Itâs going to be messy, ugly, meandering, and kind of awful, and THATâS FINE!!! This is just the rough sketch or mockup. Youâre going to improve upon it later.
â Because this is the first draft, now is not the time to worry about word choice, sentence structure, word play, grammar and punctuation, flawless story structure, etc. Just get the story down to the best of your ability. Youâre going to make it pretty in the later drafts.
â Also, because this is the first draft, donât be afraid to go a little hog wild. You donât have to worry about word count and having a tight story now. Feel free to go off on tangents, delve into fluffy scenes, and follow weird threads. Dive in and explore your world and its characters. This exploratory process allows you to kind of throw everything at the wall and see what sticks. A lot of the time youâll end up discovering gems you hadnât considered initially. Again, you can figure out what to cut out later on.
â AGAIN⊠DO NOT EDIT AS YOU GO. I mean, look⊠sometimes, more experienced writers develop a process where they do edit as they go, and thatâs fine. But until youâve written enough stories from beginning to end to know what works for you, donât trouble yourself with editing as you go. The most important thing right now is to write this story from beginning to end. Once you get to the end, you can go back and make it pretty.
â Itâs okay to feel frustrated and have days where you need to take a break. You may have days where you just want to delete the story and move on, but donât do that. If you need to, walk away from it for a few days or a week and come back to it later. If the story still isnât working for you, save everything and start on a new project, but never delete what you have no matter how much you feel like you hate it now. You never know when inspiration will strike and youâll decide to go back to an old project.
Good luck with your story!
