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In writing these articles for my blog, I intentionally do not do any research on the Internet. I think about what I want to say for a week and then compose and edit it. These articles are my opinions, plus a little more. These articles are what I have done or thought that have produced good results in my writing. They are hardly sage advice, but merely chronicles of how my brain works. This week I am going to open the door, invite you in, and show you the process of what I have done to create the story I am writing, “Forbidden Descent.”
In my fiction writing class, many of the students seem to sit down and write sequentially. They come up with a premise and see where the story takes them. This can be good practice to develop ideas, but it seems to me this can only take you so far. I feel that planning, and organization is a key skill that can take your story to then next level.
My story for my fiction writing class started with an image of something trying to get out of a cellar. I spent a few weeks thinking about my story. I ran through different scenarios as to where the story could go. Each time I would make little changes to the story in my head and then I would logically think about what effect it might have on the rest of the story. I took some notes, but for the most part, when I sat down and described the sequence of events that take place in my story I had very little written down.
Next I wrote a rough draft of the story. I just pounded it out. I did not worry too much about grammar or colorful words. Then I realized that I had some issues with my character’s motivations and decided that I had to make even more changes. The third and fourth drafts I added details, better words, and increased the pacing to make the story more compelling. The fifth draft I worked on examining my character’s point of view.
I am now on the seventh draft, and the story is really starting to look nice. I am far from done though. I have more characterization to do. I need to streamline my point of view (that is I need to do more showing instead of telling). I plan to go through each line of my story and stylize each sentence to the best of my ability.
It’s a lot of work, but so far everyone I have shared the story with has really enjoyed it.