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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/47292
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

I have frequently made use of a systematic approach to story writing and structuring that can be scaled reasonably well against a few writing styles. I've found that applying the concept has made the process of starting a story far easier as it helps to reduce 'decision paralysis' during the initial writing stages.

It is important to keep in mind the core goal of the concept: Deciding "How much is actually needed: Does something add _to the story_ or merely add _to the word count_." so that you can adjust the idea to tailor the system specifically to how you write best. [And it is also useful to consider that how you 'write best' for one story may not actually be the same as for a different story.]

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Trying to design this as a set of hard and fast rules does not seem all that practical, so instead they will be presented as a bit vague. - Take things with a large grain of salt, use or expand on what's useful to you as an individual writer, and ignore things that seem to hinder you.

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Break your writing down as works best for you, and begin rating it in various ways while keeping in mind the goals: Establishing whether or not "Things are helpful to the story as a whole", and deciding "Are things lacking from the story."

[While you are at this you may also want to keep an eye out and make notes on things that are helpful _to writing/world-building_, but which might not be directly helpful _to the story itself_.]

Your 'specific' rating system may be simple, just +/- by things or simple 'notes to self', or be built out into some kind of complex spreadsheet system with detailed scoring entries, but the key point is that you capture enough information that makes sense to you such that you're able to begin making better decisions.

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How to apply all of this to _beginning_ a story?

This will really depend on how you find you write best.

"Framework/Skeleton/Planner" type writers may find such a system helpful to start rating simple notes or vague "ideas". Maybe brain storm things and sifting things into three piles: Story, backstory, trash/fluff. Keep rating ideas from the 'Story' pile and highlighting shortfalls until you find something that feels like a useful starting point.

More "Exploratory" type writers can use a rating structure to essentially 'begin anywhere', and then apply a review process to ask and answer the question of "Does more need to come before this?" to help zero in on a story's beginning.

And nothing says that your initial ratings have to be 100% correct: There is nothing wrong with changing your mind and doing major rewrites afterwards.

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The main takeaway is to find a way to focus yourself towards making _useful_ **decisions** , and to be able to begin getting words on paper/file.

Initial drafts won't be perfect, and usually aren't even all that good to be honest, but the process of thinking about a story eventually needs to transition into _actually writing the story_ if you're ever going to finish it.

Original score: 3