Writing fiction is a creative undertaking. A way for aspiring authors to explore potential plots and share their imaginations with the world. Of course, this leads to individuals often finding themselves confused on how to go about writing down their stories.
Below are listed some ways any eager, enthusiastic storyteller can keep in mind when trying to write their own fictional story.
I won’t even claim that you should jump straight into researching for your story, that comes in later. First you need to have an idea what you want your story to be. For that, I think it’s helpful to make notes.
Whatever pops up in your head that you want included in your story? Write it down. When you’ve gotten all those ideas and thoughts that were crammed in your head without making any sense on paper, you can begin to organize it. You can filter through what you immediately want to write about, what you want to save for the future, and so on.
None of the notes you will make will ever be useless (they might not even make sense initially, to be honest). I speak from personal experience when I say that one day, years later, that single sentence you wrote about a character’s personality, perhaps, will help you write down a whole story, even a character name, or a single dialogue you really like can help you build an entire fictional world.
So, please. Don’t be afraid to write your ideas down, no matter how ridiculous it may seem. I assure you, it’s not. You can always refine them later on, but you need the raw idea to work on it more.
Now that you have some idea what you want to write about (which can always be further refined later, don’t worry), you can begin the research process.
Personally, I find this part of the writing procedure both extremely interesting but also tediously fun (contradicting term, I know). Yet, it is still essential to writing any good fictional story.
Now, you have to know that this is and will remain to be an ongoing procedure, you might be in the middle of your story when you suddenly feel the need to research about one thing or another, so the researching bit never ends.
Before you formally begin your story you will find your initial research to be very important and critical. This initial stage is where you decide the premise of the story. The characters; their ages, their appearances, their names, their immediate family, and some people even flesh out an entire background story (I say this, because some authors work along with their characters as they write on, and that’s certainly not bad! Everyone has their own writing style).
And then you research about the setting, the little details, the time and era your story takes place in, and if you’re writing fantasy then the world building requires extensive research too.
Your initial research includes many other factors, ultimately it depends on you, what you find is prudent to research upon before you formally begin writing, and what you can search for along the writing way.
Now, you finally move onto formally writing down the story, take your ideas, with the added research and begin your writing journey.
Again, it doesn’t matter if what you’re writing doesn’t make sense, or if it has some mistakes. That’s the point of your first draft. In fact, make as many mistakes as you can! I assure you, you will find your first draft to be filled with your most confident and wildest plotlines.
This first draft is the beginning of it all, so don’t feel any fear when writing. Let it out! It can all be further refined and edited later on. Who knows? If you ever feel confused down the lane, you can always come back to read the first draft to recall what your story was all about.
It’s important that you keep yourself motivated throughout the entire procedure. I know writer’s block is something that can easily hit you at any time without warning, but it's best to stay productive by following little tidbits.
Make sure to write within a set word limit each day, and whenever inspiration strikes, immediately put the pen to paper. In fact, find things to inspire yourself. Write in an environment and atmosphere that you feel is conducive to your writing. Enjoy aesthetically pleasing online posts, listen to music, read some more, whatever you feel makes you comfortable and productive.
Now, as it is, the above mentioned tips are some that I personally have found very useful for myself and my own writing hobby. If it helps you, then nothing would make me more glad however I would like to say that you may find other tips that would suit you and your temperament in writing better - whatever you feel comfortable with. In any case, don’t let anything stop you from sharing your creations with your audience. The journey itself is worth it!
👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
ReplyDelete