Another story writing question...

[mjr]

In reference to this thread:

http://www.customerssuck.com/board/s...d.php?t=112751

I know where I want to take the story, and I think I have a beginning and/or foundation for the story, but I want to try my best to avoid the classic "Deus Ex Machina", and as much happenstance and/or "coincidence" as possible. There's one part of my story where it almost seems unavoidable to use some kind of DEM or coincidence, and I'm trying to find a way around it.

Also, I'm not good at writing stories longer than 3 or 4 pages. I'd like this one to be longer than that.

So, when you write, do you do an outline, or just "sketch out" where you want the story to go, or just write, or what?

[Crai]

I start with a premise (Man goes to the store) the ending (Man becomes the king) then rough hash out things I want in it to take place then fill in the details.

Man one day went to the store for some bacon. On his way home the king saw him walking and caring the Bacon. The king said if you give me your bacon I will give you my crown. The Man agreed. The King walked off to cook and eat the bacon. Along came a Knight and sees the Crown on the mans head. The Knight declares long live the New King. The Man is escorted to the Castle where he promptly asks for some Bacon.


Its how i do it anyways.

[NecessaryCatharsis]

I can't remember where I read this, but I know I stole this from someone:

I put one idea per page (to use crai's lines from above that would be seven pages, one per idea) and tack them side by side on the bottom of the wall. As I fill them out and add the story - man walked to store and bought bacon might become three paragraphs or three pages, depending on what I'm writing or why) that idea gets tacked higher up the wall in the same vertical line. By the time it hits the chair rail it should be fully fleshed out, and by the time it hits eye level it should be acceptable as a finished product. If I can get every page to the top of my head it means I'm happy with it, and anything I've had to stand on a chair to put up is something I'll keep (like a scrap book) to read and cheer myself up when I'm down. Sometimes I have two ideas that don't connect yet, I'll put a blank page between them to make sure I remember where I'm going

NB I'm completely unpublished, and have never tried to be, so take that for what it's worth

[AnaKhouri]

I do not outline myself (I follow the EL Doctorow 'car at night' system), but I have heard this works for people: write out each major plot point, then space out what order you want them to happen in the story line. Then start dividing the story line into chapters and write out what you want to happen/be revealed in each chapter.

And coincidence should not be overused for sure, but there are coincidences in life after all. I mean Dickens wrote a novel where the plot hinges on two unrelated strangers looking exactly alike, and it's a classic!

[MoonCat]

You can avoid something looking like a too-convenient coincidence by setting it up beforehand, hinting at it. For example, if it's a special item that's used to defeat the bad guy, there needs to be another reason for it to be there. Mentioned casually earlier in the story, it won't seem like a coincidence when it finally proves useful later on.

Personally, I start with an idea or a character, and try to let the ideas flow without forcing them, just letting my imagination go wherever it wants to. When I have a conversation in my head, and/or a couple of scenes that seem to flow naturally, I start writing and see where it goes. It's amazing how characters can surprise you when you do that!

[Seshat]

A longer story needs greater complexity.

Why not look at the place where the coincidence/DEM is, and ask yourself 'how can we logically get from <before> to <after>?'

To use the king who loved bacon enough to give up his crown for it:

What would make that happen?
Perhaps the kingdom in question has no access to salt.
So how do we set that up?
It would have to be inland, otherwise one can at least obtain sea salt. It has to be on land that's never been sea, otherwise rock salt is obtainable. So inland vulcanism, or ancient - extremely ancient - land. That lets you develop the geography of the kingdom.

Now how does our bacon-toting hero appear there with the bacon? Perhaps he's a merchant, and has heard rumours of this place.
How did he hear rumours?
How come other merchants haven't made a trading route to this place, bringing a relatively cheap commodity to the place? (Salt has to be somewhat inexpensive if it's being used to make bacon.)

... and so on, and so forth. And thus you have a lot of background and potential plot points and events to add to your story. THe event of our hero hearing of this place, discovering verification, finding out the difficulties of getting there, arriving there....

[mjr]

A longer story needs greater complexity.

Why not look at the place where the coincidence/DEM is, and ask yourself 'how can we logically get from <before> to <after>?'

This is the difficult part. See, the main character(s) in my story don't know this event is going to happen. It's not necessarily something they can force, either. So when it does, it's actually coincidence. There's no "out" for them otherwise.