Turning a concept into a story…

[Heliotrope]

Does anyone have suggestions for this? Or a good recommendation for a resource?

I have come to this forum because I'm finally starting on my novel. I have a good hold on my 'concept' and have been taking notes, composting ideas, establishing themes and symbols, doing some research for a good part of a year. I've started the damn thing 3 times and then scrapped it because it wasn't going anywhere.

What I'm struggling with is turning it into a story.

I write historical non-fiction. I write Thesis statements, body's and conclusion. I evaluate data and research.

I have started with writing some short stories to get the feel of how the whole process works, and I've just ordered a bunch of craft books
- Outlining your novel, Mapping your way to success, Wailand
- Writing the Breakout novel workbook, Maas.
- Writing short stories, Cox
- The Fire in Fiction, Maas
- Structuring your novel workbook, Wailand

Hopefully those will give me some hands on advice to get my concept into an actual story… has anyone used any of these resources? Is there another one you suggest?

What do you guys do once the lightbulb goes off? How do you turn it into an actual beginning, middle and end?

 

[Russ]

I both know and like Mr. Maas and his work. I think James' Story trumps structure is my favourite book on writing.

There are others, but I think these will keep you busy for a while!

What I do with a "concept" is allow it to guide my building of the protagonist. Once the protagonist is well built I find the rest falls into place much more easily.

 

[FifthView]

I'm a huge fan of Dwight V. Swain's Techniques of the Selling Writer.

Orson Scott Card's How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy may be thin and limited help; but his overview of the MICE quotient and POV/MC/antagonist/protagonist characters might be helpful in deciding how to approach writing your story.

 

[Nimue]

Uh, I daydream about the characters and the story, basically. Hot showers, long walks, lots of music, lots of "what if?" thinking. Write down all the ideas you have--I do this in sort of stream-of consciousness paragraphs to myself, without any real structure. Often I've got the bare bones of the plot after that first burst or two of creativity, but sometimes it takes longer and all I have for a while is a character or image. Things get mentally rewritten and reworked, and eventually resolve into scenes. I run through dialogue and snippets of narration in my head, and write it down if I like it well enough. 90% of the time these bits turn into other things when I write the scene, but they're important as seeds of ideas. I do write down a fairly thorough outline, to make sure I'm not forgetting anything, but when the story has taken on its shape it's difficult to forget.

Not recommending this approach or anything, it's obviously not a professional perspective, but that's how I do it.

 

[Heliotrope]

Nimue, that is actually very helpful because thats what I feel like I've been doing… but now I'm trying to turn all that information and seeds into a well constructed garden and boy am I struggling! I feel like I have so many ideas now that narrowing it down is proving incredibly challenging.

Have you ever had multiple plot lines that you liked, and then had to narrow it down into just one main one? Or do you just do multiple POV's and have them all come together in the end?

 

[Nimue]

Well, it is an approach that takes a lot of time, and isn't very efficient. And the thing is that my stories aren't very complex or epic, and I greatly prefer stories with only one or two POVs--ideally one. I think that if you're going the epic, multiple POV route you are going to need a more organized plan of attack or, like, five years of daydreaming and notes, haha.

I have rewritten plots, though nothing incredibly drastic, and it's just a matter of feeling around. I think that when I'm on the right track, I get a lot of ideas about how this will work for this character or that subplot, and things click rapidly into place. Other times, it's possible that you've ingrained a bad idea, and it takes a lot of time to erase it and get on a better track.

This is based on absolutely nothing, but I might suggest brainstorming for each of your POVs as though they're separate stories, and running with both plots. Maybe you'll be able to combine them--or you'll have that moment of realization of why one plot won't work. I've definitely got no quick answers--better to look to professional advice for that.

 

[Mythopoet]

I highly recommend two books by author James Scott Bell:

Super Structure

and

Write Your Novel from the Middle

 

[BWFoster78]

What I'm struggling with is turning it into a story.

When I started out, I found that it was easier to try to master writing a scene than it was to try to master writing a story. Once I got that concept down and figured out that a story is just a sequence of scenes (I count sequels as a type of scene), it made the whole process a lot easier.

I highly recommend Jordan Rosenfeld's Make a Scene. Part of his advice:

A Scene Must do ALL the following:
o Introduce new information
o Relate to the significant situation
o Build upon last scene
o Involve, inform, or affect the protagonist
o Make the reader feel more clued in
o Move forward in time

My additional advice for creating a scene:

Figure out what you need your reader to know about the plot.
Figure out an interesting situation involving the POV character where that information can be revealed.
Give your POV character a scene goal.
Create opposition to that scene goal.
Create consequences to that scene goal being met.
Put your character in that situation with his goal and the opposition and see what happens.

If you can meet both my criteria and Mr. Rosenfeld's (they overlap a lot), you'll have a kick butt scene. If you can string enough kick butt scenes together, chances are that you'll be well on your way to creating a good story.

 

[Chessie]

I have K.M. Weiland's books and they're pretty thorough. She also has a youtube channel that's worth checking out. Another couple of resources for you:

-Anatomy of Story: 22 Steps To Becoming A Master Storyteller (highly recommend this one)
-Take Off Your Pants: Outline Your Books For Faster, Better Writing
-2k to 10k: Writing Faster, Writing Better, And More Of What You Love
-Brandon Sanderson's Write About Dragons youtube lecture series
-S. James Nelson How To Write A Story That Rocks youtube lectures with John Brown (fantasy author)

 

[Queshire]

Sorry, but could you explain what you mean by concept?

 

[Heliotrope]

Sure

So, when I'm about to write a thesis I first know exactly what my thesis is. Then I research it. Then I write it out in topics and subtopics. Easy. I think very lineally when I write.

Fiction?! OMG!

I have this idea in my mind. A 'premise' maybe. A symbol. A swath of scenes, characters, motives, events… a very large cloud that in my head makes up an image.

When I try to write it out. Forget it. It's literally like trying to grab bits of cloud and stick them on the page. Nothing. Evaporation. I'm struggling with the whole process of plotting. Setting everything up in a linear way that builds up towards my premise… does that make sense? Turning my concept into an actual story.

 

[Penpilot]

Oh man, I could write pages and pages on this. Let's see how concise I can get.

First, for me, you have to find your antagonist and protagonist. Then you have to decide what each of their goals are. Obviously this will be dictated by your world and the type of story you want to tell.

There are two types of goals that each character should have--some say there are three, but for simplicity sake, I'll stick to two--physical and emotional. Each goal must have clear definable steps in order to achieve them.

Physical goals for example are like defeat the empire. They do this by rescuing the princess, getting the plans to the rebels so they can destroy the Death Star.

Emotional goals for example are Luke wanting to become a Jedi like his father. He does this by going with Ben and training.

The physical and emotional goals can be in conflict with one another, and often it's good that they are. For example the Empire Strikes back. Luke must choose between the two, go rescue his friends or remain with Yoda to finish his training.

The goals of the antagonist must be in conflict with those of the protagonist. (Eg. Bob wants to date Molly. Roy wants to date Molly. OR Bob wants to date Molly, but Roy wants Revenge on Bob for stepping on his foot last week, so he will prevent Bob and Molly from getting together. )

Once you have two people/entities in conflict, there's your basic story.

Have you ever had multiple plot lines that you liked, and then had to narrow it down into just one main one? Or do you just do multiple POV's and have them all come together in the end?

You're trying to tell an overall story. Each plot and subplot aids in telling that story. Most of the time, the major plot(s) IS/ARE the overall story, but it doesn't have to be. In Game of Thrones all the POV characters and their plots tell the story of Westeros and its struggle to find stability before winter and the white walkers come.

There is no singular main character or plot.

When dealing with multiple plots, remember each plot is a story in itself, with a beginning, middle, and end. Obviously minor plots are a lot shorter, and so can be abbreviated or move through these parts very quickly.

As for resources, my favorite writing books are as follows.

The series Elements of Fiction.
Save the Cat by Blake Snyder, a book on screenwriting but it was very helpful.
My Story Can Beat Up Your Story by Jeffrey Schechter
How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy by Orson Scott Card

Also here's a post I made on story structure. It deals with a high level view of a story. It speaks in terms of a story with one main plot, but can apply to the overall structure of the novel with multiple POVs.

http://mythicscribes.com/forums/writing-questions/4222-story-frustration.html#post52308

As for how to deal with multiple plots. Here's a link to the first of five videos done by author Dan Wells describing how he handles multiple plot lines. I'm sure you can follow the bread crumbs to the other four videos. These videos were tremendously helpful to me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcmiqQ9NpPE

 

[Heliotrope]

Yes! Thank you everyone. This is all the type of stuff I'm looking for! And some of my books came in today, so I'm going to be busy cutting and slashing and rethinking some scenes.

 

[Heliotrope]

I both know and like Mr. Maas and his work. .

Yeah, I read 21st Century fiction when I was just starting out a year ago and his outlook on writing really resonated with me. Really it is about writing with purpose. Writing a message you love. That inspired me to go forth… so I bought more of his stuff because I really like his philosophies.

 

[MineOwnKing]

I have the whole story visualized before I begin writing.

Small changes occur as I'm writing.

The biggest problem is trying to write fast enough to beat my short term memory loss.

I've tried using an outline but it just distracts me.

I've tried writing small notes on paper but when I read them later on, I either forget what my idea was or cannot make sense of them.

I do best when the outside world is nonexistent. No social contact, no exercise, no sunlight, nothing but me, darkness, the keyboard and occasionally some mood music.

I always start my chapters with a clever title. This sets the mood and the goal of the chapter. I always end each chapter with one small reference to the beginning as if wrapping up a thesis.

I always write best in the morning after a long uninterrupted sleep.

At my age I need extra energy, so diet is important.

Brain food: coconut, almonds, tuna, sardines or herring, water with lemon.

No porn, no pets.

 

[Heliotrope]

No porn

Crap.

lol

 

[Heliotrope]

Hemingway said when you aren't writing you should be reading or having sex.

yeah, I'm running into that short term memory loss problem. Plus 400 pages of notes that aren't categorized into any particular way is proving to be challenging….

 

[Penpilot]

No porn, no pets.

I've heard of no shoes, no service, but didn't know p@rn was a prerequisite to owning a pet.

yeah, I'm running into that short term memory loss problem. Plus 400 pages of notes that aren't categorized into any particular way is proving to be challenging….

One of the ways I handle detailed world building notes is I read them over once and start writing. Don't look back on them until the end. If it's really important to the story, I'll remember it. If it isn't, I won't and will probably come up with something on the fly that's equal or better to what I have written down.

 

[MineOwnKing]

A developing body of work, thrives when it is treated like a jealous mistress.

An author that is married to life cannot devote constant attention to a work in progress.

The moments spent with the manuscript must be filled with enthusiasm; one must woo, be masterly and excellent, make love with words, be briefly theatrical and succumb with passion to the stolen moment of literary ecstasy.

Real world anchors take away from the affair and dispel the magic.

 

[Heliotrope]

The moments spent with the manuscript must be filled with enthusiasm; one must woo, be masterly and excellent, make love with words, be briefly theatrical and succumb with passion to the stolen moment of literary ecstasy.

.

shivers. literally just got shivers (good ones). That was perfect.