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+--- Thread: Hell is other people ... or is it? (/showthread.php?tid=14579)
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Hell is other people ... or is it? - Super Buu - 09-01-2009
I can only speak for myself, but if I over-planned something (ie, knowing all the details well in advance) then often I'd get excited whilst actually planning it all out but when getting to the middle stages of the story I'd have no motivation to keep writing since I already knew the exact outcome. I can only guess though, it could be that I just bore easily and it had nothing to do with me pre-planning it.
Hell is other people ... or is it? - Vad - 09-01-2009
I pre plan enough to set a direction. Since you don't really want to die in a personal story I usually have a couple different outcomes that randomly occur as I write said story.
Sometimes I'm even writing something and like, instantly the original idea changes because of a plot twist I just introduced. I've said it before, I have a small section of my brain devoted to Vad's brain and train of thought. When I write him he calls the shots (Within reason of course).
I do agree with Rose. Planning the outcome is usually not a good idea. You know the ending and you lose motivation. I may plan a structure, but coupled with Vad and my severe ADD it changes frequently like life and a story should. Dynamic is the word, right?
Hell is other people ... or is it? - Kaden - 09-01-2009
Vad Wrote:I do agree with Rose. Planning the outcome is usually not a good idea. You know the ending and you lose motivation. I may plan a structure, but coupled with Vad and my severe ADD it changes frequently like life and a story should. Dynamic is the word, right?
I don't quite agree. I can see how planning all the details of the ending could make it boring, but I think it's important to know what you want the end result of an arc to be.
If, for example, I sit down and say "I want Kaden to be bitter and angsty by the end of this storyline" then I have something to drive everything else in the story arc. The growth might not be as organic as letting what will be be, but it makes more sense as both a writer and a reader.
Once something is planned out, and you get to the end, it's pretty easy to say "well, I wanted him to be bitter, but I don't like that now, so I'll show his resolve to be happy and optimistic instead" and ditch your original plans. You still get some character development and can create a pretty cool ending.
On the other hand, though, it's a lot harder to get the arc where an end result hasn't been planned or considered and go "well... I want him to be full of angsty, but I don't really have anything to set that up, so I have retcon it through the rest of my arc in this last post." Thing can look disjointed or just not make sense. You were having a very similar problem not too long ago, Vad. I'm sure everyone has had to deal with something like that.
Readers notice when a writer suddenly decides "ok! this should be happening now" and it usually doesn't play well.
Hell is other people ... or is it? - Tyr - 09-01-2009
Then I find it's just a lack of energy. If you have made a post limit to a thread you're restraining yourself. I too find it boring to sketch the entire map, but I'll mark the cross and steer my way towards it.
Hell is other people ... or is it? - Kaden - 09-01-2009
Cerion Wrote:I too find it boring to sketch the entire map, but I'll mark the cross and steer my way towards it.
Yeah. That's what I was saying.
Hell is other people ... or is it? - Vad - 09-01-2009
True. This very problem was plaguing me. I hadn't thought of that, or I did and as usual left my point and opinions too vague. To revise my stance, I agree that refining your story so much that you know every outcome and every twist is well, not exactly fun or exciting. I think it cripples your story as the writer. If you can pull it off I do think it'd be one hell of a story.
Having just the backbone to an ending helps you stay this awful plague called "Instant Direction Change Syndrome" (xD) as I've learned in recent Roleplaying with Sage and currently with Black Dawn.
Hell is other people ... or is it? - Tyr - 09-01-2009
Kaden Wrote:Yeah. That's what I was saying.Sorry, you pointing out that you had to squeeze the entire thing in on the last post of the arc made me think that you were much more detailed in your planning.
E.g.
1. Kaden wakes up.
2. Kaden eats breakfast.
3. Kaden puts on shoes.
4. Kaden becomes angsty.
etc.
Hell is other people ... or is it? - Vad - 09-01-2009
You people post too fast.
Hell is other people ... or is it? - Super Buu - 09-01-2009
I never said that planning the outcome is bad, just the overall detail of a story. I always have a rough direction in a story (I wouldn't say that's at all required as there are some excellent writers who don't plan at all, but it's my style) but I keep it loose and try not to stick to it if it doesn't make sense. Sometimes when you come to write a story, you realise that certain aspects of your plan weren't 'realistic' or taking into account all the variables which necessarily emerge when you write it out in full. It's often tempting in such a situation to just find a way around the problem to make things happen as you want them, which is why I try to remain fairly unattached to my plan.
There's necessarily a compromise either way. Planning can lead to something which seems overly contrived, not planning can lead to something which seems to have no aim or point to it besides literary rambling. In this case I believe it's purely a matter of preference - there are critically acclaimed examples of both.
Hell is other people ... or is it? - Cain - 09-06-2009
Something along the lines of environment planned, character spontaneous at first was me. A little too spontaneous at times, and sporadic. So, Cain's flaw is his actions are sometimes without direction, which fits well for a starting martial artist toward becoming better through the job rank system.
Hell is other people ... or is it? - Mal Nova - 09-09-2009
I write in a mix of the sorts of planning/winging it. I know what set events I want Mal to undergo, but it will be everything in between those lines along with the planned scenarios that will produce the outcome.
On the same lines, I want him to have similar traits as Retane, but be his own personal traits as well. In the same manner, I have him expressing traits or actions near to what Retane would do, yet not fully the same.
At the same time.. I don't have to give Mal a background history..I get to make it as I go..
But yeah..
Hell is other people ... or is it? - Jesper - 09-10-2009
I've never really planned anything. Even my sagas.
I can't plan to save my life. ;.;
Hell is other people ... or is it? - Celena - 09-10-2009
Alexander Trafford Wrote:His alignment is neutral, and he is apathetic. This is by design, but it bothers me. Since the turnover there hasn't been an emergence of a particularly evil character, and, for some reason, i feel like i'm letting the RPG down by not creating a monster. My original character design for post-turnover was designed to make Minoshia look like a saint, but i was tempted to try something new and went for it. I might regret it, but i'm not sure. There are too many morally straight characters.
Zena's far from being morally straight. She's not pure evil (I could never RP a character with at least some bit of morals) but there's evil in her. She can take a life and feel no remourse for doing so which is why she's suited for her profession. Heck, she even killed her mentor and had no regrets despite Sage's feelings about it. She wouldn't risk her neck out to save someone unless there was a reward in it for her.