Planning... you're the boss!

When it comes to trying to write your own story, whether its for the first time or the 100th time theres a question that I have had a few friends ask me before which would confuse them into not actually getting tound to writing anything! Should I plan my story?

Now this is obviously strictly a fiction-writing question; if you write a non-fiction without really planning then I think you may need a slap... and you wouldn't be here. Boom.

The answer to this question is very simple but also quite complicated, sorry to be oxymoronic. The simple bit is that you're the boss of your own story so you should do whatever feels natural for you. Try all your options and see which one makes you feel like your writing something you want to write, rather than writing an essay or doing an exam where you just want to get it all done and move on. I have already written one book which was planned and a sequel which has just been written as ideas pop into my head and both options have their merits and pitfalls.

Planning: If you're going to plan then you have an array of options for how you're going to do it. You could meticulously write every event and every character's life story as well as everything you want to be in your fictional 'universe' so that you feel like you can just dive into another world when you write. Alternatively you could just throw some words or even pictures onto a page and see what jumps out of you and experiment with which of your ideas compliment each other. I settled for the middle-ground between the two.

Pros! When you plan your story out you can run the entire narrative through your head before you've actually finished it and then you know exactly where everything's heading. Its much easier to find those weak points in the story early on when you have a plan to refer to, in essence its like your first draft of the story becomes an edit of a story already written because as you remember what you want to say your already refining that original idea into something more relevant to your overall narrative.

Cons!  Planning in too much detail can make your idea too rigid in your mind. Its important to remember that your first idea isn't necessarily your best. There's a saying amongst writers that 'good stories write themselves', if you rely too heavily on your intital plan then you end up having a story that move along when the writer wants it to and, as strange as it sounds, you can tell the difference when the movement of the narrative is influenced by what you are learning about the characters rather than being purely what you want. There's times during the proofreading of my first book where I read over things and laugh thinking 'that's typically him!' or just feeling like I didn't actually write parts because I was so wrapped up in the story as I wrote.

Free-Writing: This is the method I used for my second book. Its definately easier to free-write a story once the characteristics of the fictional universe have been established. This method involves little or no planning at all and is a more intimate process of putting 'pen to paper', realistically its 'brain to keyboard' or something. If you want to use this method then you should have a good long think about your main character, at least, and what situation your character is starting in or going to end in and then just write your ideas as they come to you as you go from/to that point you have in mind.

Pros! This method is the easiest way to let the story write itself, provided you have a story-goal in mind and the strong character(s) to carry the narrative along.You'll likely find that you are focusing more detail on the characters themselves because as you define their existence you will understand their thoughts and maybe that will spark a new direction for the story to progess. Writing ideas as they come to you feels more efficient and keeps the idea fresh and interesting. This should help keep you enthusiastic about your own book because sometimes spending lots of time planning a book idea will make people feel like they have done the work and then the actual writing of their story becomes a chore.

Cons!  Problems with free-writing arise when writers lose the flow of their storyline and use all of their fresh ideas to get them to where they want instantly. Its crucial to remember that obstacles and difficulties in a narrative add that extra bit of tension for a reader which helps with building rapport with the characters that they are experiencing the story through  Similarly, there's the issue of continuity to take into mind, in my personal experience I managed to kill one character in my story...twice, so if it might be worth noting down significant events in your story as you to make sure nobody gets dressed twice or hands someone some paperwork four times or even dies multiple times. It almost like backwards planning.



Hoping You Are Well!
L.H
    

Epic clashes

When it comes to the hero of the tale facing off against their rival, opponent or ultimate test there usually has to be some kind of clash; final battles, meetings of the mind, wars and the such like are the kind of things that tend to happen in action-based fiction.


In most cases the epic clashes fall down to being one-on-one. The hero has been on a journey of some sorts which spans across both physical and mental experiences. What results is often the most difficult challenge the character faces, often one they don't see themselves finishing in one piece.

Its a battle of greatest assets, with both sides using the same feats of strength as the other in order to make the story even and ensure the clash lasts as long as it can; the longer the conflict goes on, the longer we can see and appreciate the struggle's opposing motives. Sometimes the rivals fight for the same thing but its rare for it to be for the same conclusion

Whether its Neo v Smith, Harry v Voldemort, Holmes v Moriarty or any other iconic set of rivals the conflict will normally see the end of one of the characters, or both! Or just one because the other miraculously survives a fatal fall down a waterfall...what?
Its very rare that the hero loses and the villains win and the moment we realise that the tension is lost to an extent. I know I have experienced a few stories and definately a few games where the heroes give all they have just to end up failing. The interesting thing about those rare endings is that the fate of the story universe is much more complex in the hands of the villain and opens up much more potential for future narrative than, 'and they lived happily ever after'. 

Personally, I think the clash is essential in the kinds of stories I like to write, just as it was in the examples given here. From looking into these kinds of epic clashes and the success of the long-running story as a whole I have noticed that (excluding this Gandalf/Balrog scene) the clashes that happen in these narratives are not definitive and set the stage for struggle to continue until the time is right. If Harry Potter had defeated Voldemort in the fourth story but had those that remained faithful to deal with in the remaining three its pretty safe to guess that the ending stories would have failed.

The rivals are often set out quite early, and then we can see the character grow through their clashes with their rival until the time that they are ready to return as equals. A purely one-sided clash of power would not excite a reader unless there was some kind of plot twist that was set up so that the reader can have the satisfaction of knowing that their side won in the end. I hope that I can create similar scenes in my own writing to keep alive the awesomeness of the action-epic scenes, though just a fraction of that recognition would be more than what I could dream for from my own work.

First look at the cover!

Well... I couldn't wait, as I expected. So the first version of my book cover is here :] Hope you like it