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Q&A How to move from writing scenes to a short plot?

I've been working professionally as a part-time freelancer journalist for the past couple of years. Over that time I feel I've got a good grasp of how, technically, to construct an engaging piece o...

2 answers  ·  posted 9y ago by Bob Tway‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Question plot short-story
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T04:39:55Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/19153
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by user avatar Bob Tway‭ · 2019-12-08T04:39:55Z (almost 5 years ago)
I've been working professionally as a part-time freelancer journalist for the past couple of years. Over that time I feel I've got a good grasp of how, technically, to construct an engaging piece of writing and how to shape a story. I'd now like to try my hand at some short-form fiction.

When I sit down and try to plan something out, however, I hit a snag. I find myself able to see vignettes - characters, scenes, briefs bursts of plot - but I cannot seem to string them together into anything resembling an overarching plot.

When I write journalism I am lucky enough to be able to start with an idea and, once I have an opening paragraph, I find myself able to flesh out the piece as its written. Then I just go back and re-edit it until I'm happy. I suspect this happy knack has left me clueless in how best to go about pre-planning things in detail.

Are there any techniques I can try to flesh out my vignettes into something with enough body to pass as a short story?

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2015-09-28T14:43:30Z (about 9 years ago)
Original score: 3