Storyline

[Bruce McKnight]

I actually did have a full story pop into my head once. For no apparent reason, an idea for a character popped in my head when I got in my car and I thought about it on a 30 minute car ride and pretty much mentally mapped the whole thing. In a burst of inspiration, the likes of which I have never experienced before or since, I puked out a 60k rough draft in about 3 weeks. It was awesome.

Typically, my plot ideas come from huge stretches of time spent mind-wandering (often right before I fall asleep or during meetings). I'll have like 20 or 30 fragments floating around at any time: characters, actions, points in the history of my world, things that happen. All that crap floats around, bumping into each other, some parts falling off and some new things falling in. Then, randomly 5 to 10 of those things will somehow funnel into a story idea.

From there, the plot takes on a little more meat with original idea taking off, sometimes down unexpected paths, and just kind of grows from there. I usually have 3 to 5 fuller ideas like this, and never enough time to write them, so I jot down synopses and maybe tweak them as I write other stories in the world and then, maybe some day, I get to them.

It's typically a really slow percolation for me, but I find it to be the most enjoyable part of writing.

 

[A. E. Lowan]

We (I write with a partner) begin with the characters. Since we rp all development, we let the story grow from their interactions. Sometimes it's strong enough to carry a book, and at that point we move into full developmental phase. It's a very organic method of storyline creation. So, what we end up with is this massive world populated by very interesting people who will never see the light of day because their stories simply do not fit within the limited confines of the series. Will that stop us from making more?

No.

 

[wordwalker]

No matter how many ideas you start with, a story always needs you to work out more. Here's a great example of the process, from Nat Russo: A Writer's Journey: How Do You Come Up With Story Ideas?

 

[Addison]

When I start a story it's more of a feeling and a concept with a character. I start by the seat of my pants and the chipping print of my keyboard. After a while the story slowly develops on its own. It reveals the conflicts, the goals, the internal struggles and everything else. After I get so far I look back at what I've written and note where it should be tightened or where other things can be brought to light or foreshadowed. For me, outlining comes after the idea and after you've written a few pages, or even chapters. Writing is a balance between writer and story, like rider and horse. With horse riding the horse has to trust you just as much as you have to trust the horse. With writing it's more like you're guiding the story and the story is guiding you at the same time. I follow that rule.