# Tips For Drafting a Story



## Punk_M0nitor (Jan 7, 2022)

Just as the title says.

Since I don't have much patience for a comic, I figured writing my sona's story might work better. Problem is, I don't really have much experience with solo writing. I have a lot of experience with literate RP and a very good idea of the story, but almost none with just... _writing_ things. What helps you draft stories? Do you have a specific method or format? What helps you when you get stuck on a chapter and don't know how to continue? Any writing tips are welcome!

Edit: Sorry if this is in the wrong thread. I'll move it if need be


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## tentiv (Jan 7, 2022)

In general, I go from the big strokes to the small details, just like how I draw. Keep in mind that my method is pretty rigid in the big scheme of things.

Start with the message of the story, the core that everything else must serve. A clear voice unifies everything and keeps it from becoming a noisy mess. At any point in the process, if a plot thread doesn't serve the message, it should be cut or modified.
I'm going to get on a soapbox here. My message emerged from how shocked/fascinated I am with how social media can fracture, radicalize and militarize a population. I've seen online communities of all ideological stripes spiral downward, right to the very bottom. They define an enemy, continually dehumanize them, police their own ranks to hound out dissenting voices and increase solidarity, allow the most extreme voices to gain traction and attract zealots, and, when one of their own commits physical violence against that enemy, simultaneously claim that the individual doesn't represent the community while openly praising his actions (claiming that it's supposed to be a joke). The worst have been outright destroyed by outside forces, because they become nothing but a breeding ground for violent extremism. It's an atavistic instinct, a holdover from when we lived in stone age tribes, when you had your own little group of friends against other little groups of enemies. It's the only reason people watch sports (and why fans sometimes get violent when their side loses). It's why Christ says to love your enemy and Buddha says to forego both victory and defeat. They were warning us to reject these impulses. Embracing them will send us back to the stone age in the best-case scenario. The worst case is that no one survives. I really want to say this, enough to write about it.

Construct characters whose goals and internal conflicts relate to the message.
Since the message is "be wary of your tribal instincts, lest they inspire you to destructive, endless conflict over things that don't actually matter as much as the blood you've spilt," I'll need some tribes. They must have diametrically opposed values, hate each other and love themselves, but be equally sympathetic in their own ways. How about a devoutly Christian rural town and a Satanist punk rock band?
Then I can go into these factions and develop the individuals within them as variations on the tribalism theme. People like to be in tribes because they feel like they have a home. Perhaps one character can be someone who joined the Satanist punk band just to feel like he has a home. But, he ultimately feels empty because the band's hedonistic promiscuity precludes any real feelings of intimacy. Inversely, a Christian police officer could feel shaken in his faith because his fellow Christians can't seem to forgive him of his "past" homosexuality, no matter how much he repents.

Let the characters crash into each other and change from those interactions. Keep the best for major plot beats, build off of them, and assemble those beats into an outline.
Satanist band member holds the cynical view that everyone is ultimately self-interested, what happens when he meets someone outside his tribe who is so altruistic and pacifist that he lets himself get taken advantage of? Does it change him? Does he try to change the other guy?
The Christian police officer witnesses his colleagues performing brutality, what does he do?

Write from the outline. Don't be afraid to change the outline if what you're actually writing diverges in a good way (serves the message better).

You seem to put a lot of thought into your work, which is great! I'd be happy to look over any writing you do, or you could post to the writing critique forum. I also wrote a related post about writer's block here.


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## Punk_M0nitor (Jan 7, 2022)

tentiv said:


> You seem to put a lot of thought into your work, which is great! I'd be happy to look over any writing you do, or you could post to the writing critique forum.


I'll keep you in mind if I ever need a critic or editor! And thank you! I've spent a very long time developing the story, world, and the characters in it, so I know my own material very well. I just feel like I run into a wall whenever it comes time to write it down. Hopefully that advice helps me out some


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## tentiv (Jan 10, 2022)

Punk_M0nitor said:


> I'll keep you in mind if I ever need a critic or editor! And thank you! I've spent a very long time developing the story, world, and the characters in it, so I know my own material very well. I just feel like I run into a wall whenever it comes time to write it down. Hopefully that advice helps me out some


If the problem is getting that first sentence down, this is a nice rant on the subject. It's 15 years old, but has some great guidelines. 

You should also look at some of your favorite books, see how they start. One book I read, _The Unredeemed Captive_, is a true story about a single family in a New England town getting taken captive in a Native American raid. The prelude asks the question, "Where does this story begin?" and it's a good way for the author to lay down some background historical information by jumping all over the northern hemisphere: the Puritans establishing a colony, how war and disease  thinned the Iroquois population and so adopting war captives into the tribe becomes a regular practice, the establishment of Deerfield, Massachusetts, the death of King Charles II of Spain touching off a war for his throne between France and England. It catches the reader up while also giving a sense of how tiny stories involving less than a dozen people are part of the global story of history.

Then the author starts chapter one with this, to set the tone:


> DEERFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS. October 1703. Harvest over. First frost. The valley ablaze with autumn color: reds and yellows at the sides (along the forested ridges of East Mountain and the lower hills to the west), green of the meadows in between. The river low and languorous, a glassy rope snaked through the center. The most beautiful month, sunset of the year.
> Do the townspeople notice? No, they are fixed on the night ahead. Danger grows in darkening corners. _Night of winter, night of want, night of war._


Spooky, right? It draws the reader in with anticipation of impending catastrophe.

Another good example that's been on my mind is the opening monologue from _No Country for Old Men_:




This introduces us to the main character (kind of main, I guess?) and also to the main theme, growing older in a changing world. Beginnings don't always have to be action-packed, they just have to promise to say something important to us.


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