Comments on Idea overflow in plotting?
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Idea overflow in plotting?
I've been working on a paranormal/romance/mystery kind of novel for over 4 years now and still haven't finished it. It all started out as a fanfiction but I decided that it had too much potential (at least in my opinion) to stay a simple fanfiction.
As I kept on working on my story I eventually started plotting. I know now every major detail/plot point of my story that has to happen in order for my characters to end up where they are supposed to end up.
My biggest problem isn't the plotting itself but rather the setting (and sometimes worldbuilding) of my story in the context of the plot which derives from me constantly suffering from creative overflow and therefore not knowing what suits my story best. Although my ideas wouldn't influence the plot itself that much it would definitely influence the tone and atmosphere of the story.
A big part of my story now is my character having supernatural powers she doesn't understand, visions of a spirit and not knowing what it is. Also she works in a newspaper office trying to make a name as she tries to investigate mysterious murders in her college town. And bit by bit she uncovers what she is, what those visions are and who is responsible for the murders.
...but between that there's so much to put into. It pains me so much.
Do any of you understand where I'm coming from? How do you deal with that overflow?
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This post was sourced from https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/48494. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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One key thing that I learned in my classes is that when you outline a story plot of any kind, you don't want to write the whole thing out on a planning document. My advice is to write half the plot down and have faith in your characters and setting to carry the rest of the plot forward.
I know now every major detail/plot point of my story that has to happen in order for my characters to end up where they are supposed to end up.
This, to me, is a dangerous way of writing a story -- because it's backwards to how it should be. Characters need to push the plot forward, rather than the plot pushing the characters to a point they need to be at. This is tricky, I know, as some of the best stories give the illusion that the plot is tugging the characters forward, but good active+dynamic characters are the kinds of people that readers want to see in their stories: the ones who take their world by the wheel and drive with it. People like that in real life are interesting -- and are often the kinds of people you hear about in biographies, documentaries, and news articles.
I do think the basic plot points you have here are very interesting and could blossom into something great; I just need to stress that the focus should be on characters first, then plot. Setting, I believe, is also affected by characters -- because like I said: active people are the ones who help shape their world.
A lot of people get caught up in worldbuilding -- and that's understandable. To me, though, it's something you need to be loose with and then hammer out harder when you get into actual plotting and revisions. I am certain that if you do this, your story will be great!
This post was sourced from https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/48500. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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