How I Go From Story Idea to First Draft
by
R.F. Gammon
- August 31, 2020
No one has asked me about my writing process, but that's okay because I'm about to tell you about it anyway.
Not much of an introduction on this: Let's just jump right into it and deal with my initial process, from seed to a finished first draft.
Not much of an introduction on this: Let's just jump right into it and deal with my initial process, from seed to a finished first draft.
STEP ONE: I HAVE A BRILLIANT IDEA.
I don't have any one process to get to the Concept of a story. Sometimes it'll spring into my head as a What-if. That's where a lot of my recent ideas have come from:
-What if there was a world where the last weapon against a dying sky was music?
-What if two kids in fast food fell in love--but their dads were the leaders of rival gangs?
--What if the Chosen One had a daughter--but she was only the sidekick to a different Chosen One's adventure?
Another option is: I find a character.
-A girl decides to become a teacher--but her students are being murdered, one by one, by something supernatural.
-Twin heirs to the throne, lost for decades, know both that they're twins and that they're the heirs to the throne.
-In a world where it's been stigmatized for millenia to be born with wings, a prince hides his wings from the enemy armies.
--What if the Chosen One had a daughter--but she was only the sidekick to a different Chosen One's adventure?
Another option is: I find a character.
-A girl decides to become a teacher--but her students are being murdered, one by one, by something supernatural.
-Twin heirs to the throne, lost for decades, know both that they're twins and that they're the heirs to the throne.
-In a world where it's been stigmatized for millenia to be born with wings, a prince hides his wings from the enemy armies.
STEP TWO: I START FINDING CHARACTERS.
The way this works most recently is that I start writing a list of potential characters and a brief little bit about each of them. When I was brainstorming Holding Up the Sky, that process looked like this:
-Daverby. Dad friend even though he’d never show it. Tough exterior. Doesn’t really have a heart of gold but would rather not cause the end of the world. My girlfriend is the most important person on the planet and in the universe actually. I might be a killer but we’ve all killed mosquitos so does it really matter. Skewed moral compass.
-Dulci, the desperate one: has played the piano since the age of 2. Better at it than you but would never say so. If this is Alice in Wonderland she’s the dormouse. Sleeps and plays piano and that’s literally it. Blonde hair, green eyes, not terribly pretty but that’s okay because she can play the piano. Doesn’t know what it means to “fall in love”.
Sometimes, this works out with a very rough concept which then turns into a MUCH different form within the story, as in the case of Drex in this same outline:
-Drex. The rich kid who got bored. Doesn’t really have a plan but that’s okay, we’re all having fun. Will probably rob his dad if it buys dinner. Not into Emery or Lissa, which is fine because they both hate him. Possibly has a decent heart but probably not. Still wishes he could go home for Yule.
Things that have changed since writing this:
-He didn't just "get bored"
-Would NEVER rob his dad
-Lissa is his best friend (although he still isn't into her)
-Has the most decent heart of any man alive
-Also he didn't used to be a blond--he had shaggy brown hair, much like Daverby, and was very muscular in a corded, skinny kind of way. Now he's blond with a silver streak in his hair and is just skinny.
Once my cast is set up, I start trying to figure out where they fit into the plot.
STEP THREE: I REALIZE THE MAIN PLOT IS BORING AND START ADDING SUBPLOTS.
After all, if there's a character who doesn't do something, they shouldn't be there! They get backstories, front stories, their own love interests, a goal, a role. That starts to give the book layers, which makes it longer, which means I'm going to be writing it forever.
STEP FOUR: I START WRITING.
It's very rare that I start off with an entirely finished outline. I have an idea for where I'm going, a blurb, a cast, and some idea of what will happen with the climax.
Normally, that's it.
I get going after a while. I usually fly through the first 10k and then get stuck. Then I'll stumble around through random stuff and hope that the random things will turn out to be foreshadowing of things I'm still not expecting.
STEP FIVE: I SCREAM. A LOT.
I get stuck, I write some random stuff, and I bemoan how much I'm going to have to change in edits. It's always a good time and usually some of the best ideas I have in the whole book appear during this part.
STEP SIX: I TYPE THE END.
And then I cry because of HOW MUCH I HAVE TO EDIT. It's fine. It's all good. It's the characters' fault.
What's your writing process? Any of this at all familiar or am I weird? Chat with me in the comments!
