We’ve done a lot of planning recently, but it’s time to talk about pantsing. A lot of writers identify as a “planner” or a “pantser.” A lot of other writers hate these terms. Basically, planners like to outline and have a solid plan before they start writing, and pansters like to make everything up as … More Pantsing | Behind the Story

The order of event has been chosen, as well as the level of reader interaction. Now it’s time to decide whose perspective the story will be told from, and what tense that involves. Point of View: This determined who is telling the story, who the story is being told to, how much the reader gets … More Narration | Behind the Story

Now that you have a setting, it’s time to get ready to tell the story. First, you’ll need to decide how that is going to happen. There are different ways for a story to unfold. This effects the timeline of the story and how much involvement the reader has in how the story progresses. Linear: … More Narrative Structure | Behind the Story

The outlining methods this week get a bit more in depth than last week’s. Again, these are going to be super simplified just to give you an idea of how they work. If you plan to use any of these, there is a lot more in-depth information elsewhere on the internet on how to use … More Outlining Part 2 | Behind the Story

Some people have a specific story structure that they swear by. They use it to plot all of their novels and sing its praises whenever they can. That’s fine. As someone who doesn’t usually plan their stories ahead, I’ve never grown any attachment to any of these outlining methods. And, to be quite honest, I … More Outlining Part 1 | Behind the Story

Just like with planning characters, the amount of world building that needs to be done really depends on the story. And the writer. But mostly the story. If you’re writing a contemporary, you probably don’t need to do a lot of world building. The world already exists. You might need to figure out some details. … More World Building | Behind the Story

Now you know what genre(s) and likely what age category you will be writing, time to get some characters. How thorough you are about this process really depends on how in-depth you want to go. Maybe your only character is a duck. You know that it’s a brown duck. He’s a happy duck. That’s all … More Characters | Behind the Story

Once you’ve got your idea down, you’ll need to decide what genre you will present this idea as. Your idea may dictate the genre. For example, if I want to tell you the true story of my life, I’m going to write an autobiography. If I want to write about a girl who works from … More Genre | Behind the Story

Every story begins with an idea. Sometimes it takes all your attention immediately, sometimes it sits patiently on your list of shiny new ideas until you look at it again and realize it’s still shiny. Either way, it started out as an idea. During my latest revision project, I found I had a lot of prep … More The Idea | Behind the Story