soc_puppet | Entries tagged with socchan's school of writing

An important lesson I've learned about my own writing process:

No outline survives first contact with the drafting process unscathed.

Like. Mine usually get pretty close, especially in spirit, because that's what I'm drafting to find and preserve. But details inevitably get moved around or changed wholesale, so when I go back to look at an outline and compare it to a finished fic, some parts of the outline just flat-out don't show up in the fic, or show up in a different spot entirely. And I know how that happened during the writing process, because I was there experiencing it, but it's gotta a bit of a brain twister for anyone who's read both but doesn't have direct access to my thoughts.

Not that there are a lot of people in that category, but still.

(This post brought to you by a detail in an outline I'm going to be moving from one chapter to another, and may have to do some gymnastics if I want to fit it in at all.)

Current Mood: quixotic

(Cross-posted from Tumblr.)

For anyone who has trouble coming up with titles, here's the trick I use:

Start with an important element from the story. Then, think about things that are related to that element, especially phrases and puns. Keep going until you have something that feels at least a little right.

Examples:

Adrien eats some magic cheese and turns into an actual feline, but still has patrol with Ladybug? How about, uh, The Catification of Adrien Agreste, or Felis Domesticus (implying that Cat Noir is a domestic animal), or wait, what's that meme again? That's it! Love is Stored in the Cat!

A blanket scenario where Marinette needs to cuddle Cat Noir so he doesn't get sick from being too cold? Something with blankets, something with covers, hah, covers, he's trying to keep his identity secret, so he's under cover, but will also be under blankets, as in covers—that's it! Under Cover(s)!

Hmm, this one hinges on using a wishbone to make a wish, except it's a Lucky Charm; Splitsville, maybe? Since they're splitting the wishbone in half, and also splitting their identities (depending on interpretation)? Wait, I should look up whether that's even a thing in Europe, never mind France. Oh hey, looks like it probably is! And it was called something else back in the day? Well, it doesn't have quite the punch of Splitsville, I think, but I love it as an obscure detail too much not to go with it. Merrythought it is! (Note: I'm pretty sure a lot of people skipped out on this fic because I went with the obscure title rather than the one that had more punch, so think hard about how much presentation means to you.)

And so forth.

Dunno how well it works for original fiction, but it might be worth a shot.

Starting point for Idea to Outline: Original Fiction Walkthrough:

Character A needs to find their True Love to break/subvert a curse, travels with Character B to find them.

(Spoiler alert, whether or not this was so at the start, Character A truly loves Character B by the end. Platonically? Romantically? Filially? In a QPR manner? Any of these will work to break the curse as long as A and B truly love one another!)

(I mean, NGL, I'm thinking romantic, but hell, I could also up and make it a group trip and Character A needs at least one of each Platonic, Romantic, and Filial True Loves, because Why the Hell Not.)

(~~Yes, this was inspired by a particular story in Ana Mardoll's No Man of Woman Born. You can probably guess which one, if you've read it.~~)

Here's roughly how it goes for me:

1. Consume media. This can be anything. Books, movies, TV shows, plays, pictures, fiction, nonfiction, whatever. If you can look at it or hear it and think about it, then it'll work.

2. Make observations about it. Look for patterns in the media you consume, and start thinking about them. Things like, "I really love when people write about [xyz], but it always makes me wonder if anyone has written it with [twist]." Or, "I will read [trope] any and every time anyone writes it and will never get tired of it." Or, "Ha ha, I love it when that character does that thing. If anyone out there ever wrote, like, nine thousand words of them doing that thing, I would read it in a heartbeat." Or, "Has anyone ever noticed that this character has this really specific trait, or explored it before? It seems like it would be interesting." Or, "I wonder if anyone else has ever thought about what would happen if these characters were put in this specific situation."

3. Realize you are an "anyone". Which means that you can create any of the things you just made observations about.
3a. "Oh, shit." Yeah, I know!

4. Pick something you want to write. Whether it's because you really, really, love the idea, have been challenged to do it, just think it needs to exist in the world, or any other reason, you should want to write it. Not only does wanting to write something make it easier to do the actual writing, I firmly believe that you shouldn't make yourself do leisure activities that you don't like, and that includes writing. I've also found that writing something you like and enjoy can make it easier to finish, but if you've committed to a request or a challenge or a job, it'll still help if you aim for something you at least find interesting.

5. Time for outlines, I guess? Good thing you've already got that part figured out.
5a. Or you can pants it. Which is to say, "fly by the seat of your pants". This doesn't usually end well for me in particular, unless it's something really short, but it might work for you; different people have different writing styles, after all.

Good luck, everyone! Writing can be a wild ride, and even when I hate it I love it.

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

Ha-HAH! With the majority of my brain powers restored and me mostly on the mend from that horrible throat cold thing that's been going around in these parts, I have finally gotten the willpower to finish this: my example of how to take a story idea and turn it into an outline!

It's Miraculous Ladybug, because that's what I'm into at the time of this writing, but I hope it still makes a modicum of sense to folks unfamiliar with the show. I'll probably go back and edit this again with a mind to that later, but for right now I'm pretty much happy that it's done at all. (Also, majority of brain powers restored is not entirety of brain powers restored, and giving my noggin a bit more of a rest while I'm still somewhat on the mend would not be remiss.)

(Yes, I probably should be using a Ladybug icon instead of a Cat Noir icon for this post, since I'm creating something, but I'm still editing that one and I'm finally happy with this one, so this is the one you get.)

( Peer under the cut to find out how I go from Idea to Outline~! (ey said in eir best circus showperson voice) )

And that's a walkthrough of How to Outline as according to the Socchan School of Writing. (I will definitely need to revise my preliminary How to Outline post now.)

Side note/disclaimer: I do not actually plan to write this fic as of this point in time, which is one of the reasons I left Step 5 "incomplete". If this outline has piqued your interest and you might be interested in doing the grunt work of filling in scenes, uh. Maybe? Probably? IDK, if you're cool with the possibility that I may someday come back and write my own version, then go forth with my blessing (and link me when you're done). Edit: EXCEPT

alexseanchai, who is not allowed anywhere near this until or unless they get more work done on the Double Trouble 'verse.

This is definitely rough, but I think it's about right.

1) Start with an idea
1a) An idea you like, one you're passionate about
1b) It doesn't matter where it comes from! It could be...
1b1) An actual plot idea that you think might be interesting (All the Names I Know You By (Miraculous Ladybug), MC's secret identity becomes an open secret)
1b2) A single line, phrase, or paragraph (Him and Me and You and Her (Miraculous Ladybug), "My Lady," he said, "I can assure you that if you're really not interested in me, you wouldn't be interested in him,")
1b3) An actual prompt written by someone else (Pheromone Woes (Homestuck, NSFW), basically: Trolls emit a special pheromone when kissing that signals their desire to Do the Sex rather than using their words, their human partner doesn't know this, perceived rejection and confusion abounds)
1b4) A collection of thoughts or goals that you want to coalesce into a single story (Buzzer Beater (Miraculous Ladybug), something that has fun opportunities for interesting audio stuff in podfic recording)
1b4a) (If you're starting with this, first think of an idea for how all of these elements can work together in a single scene or story) (Buzzer Beater - "Maybe a game show of some kind? That would have lots of sound effects...")
1b5) Something else???

2) You have your idea? Great!
2a) Figure out the circumstances under which this idea occurs
2a1) What are the characters' emotional states? What are they thinking about?
2a2) What are they doing right now?

3) Figure out how your characters got to the idea point
3a) It may take only one scene
3b) It may take a lot of scenes
3b2) (Luckily, we already know how to write scenes)
3c) All we have to do is write down, in order, what we think will happen in the scenes leading up to the Idea Point

4) We know what happens to get us to the Idea Point? Great!
4a) Figure out how you want your story to end.
4a1) You can totally do this before Step 3, by the way
4a1a) Or even at the same time!
4b) Figure out the steps it will take to get your characters from the Idea Point to your desired ending
4c) Write those steps down, in order

5) REMEMBER, while you are thinking about how to get from Point B to Point A and Point C? BE SELF-INDULGENT.
5a) Think about how you would most want to get from the beginning to the Idea Point to the end, what would be most fun for you to write and that you would have the most fun re-reading to edit.
5b) Pampering yourself and making writing fun really, really helps with motivation to write and finish stuff.

6) You have everything you can think of?
6a) You got your characters and situation lined up so you can write the Idea you started from?
6b) You like the way the outline played out, and how the whole story shape feels to you?
6c) Great! Now let's get to work on that first scene!

Am I going to turn this into a whole little lecture series? Yeah, I have no idea.

ANYWAY, sneaking in details!

Sometimes I have these little headcanons that I don't think warrant an entire fic. They're still useful, though, because I can use them to set scenes, or to justify actions that characters take, or just to expand the world in general.

Example from Metamour or Less (AO3 link):

When they'd first begun doing regular patrols, Ladybug had wasted no time in finding a secluded rooftop corner near her house to detransform in. It was risky to be seen clambering across rooftops as Marinette, but it would be riskier to try and sneak back in through the house when her parents thought she was asleep—and riskier still to try to get back in by any entrance as Ladybug. As an extra precaution, whenever she could, she would vary the time between when she arrived in her dark corner as Ladybug and when she left as Marinette.

It fits with Marinette's characterization of being ultra-cautious over protecting her secret identity, and sets the scene nicely for a discussion of same. It's also something I thought to myself, "I'll bet this is something Marinette does."

Merrythought (AO3 link) might be the exception there:

[Ladybug] shook her head. "It's not quite that simple. See, in order for the miraculous cleansing to work, the Lucky Charm has to be used. Remember Animan?"

Cat Noir shuddered. "Only every other nightmare."

Ladybug smiled sympathetically and patted his shoulder. "Well, the only reason I went back in was because I hadn't used the Lucky Charm for anything. If I hadn't used it to open Animan's mouth, nothing would have gone back to normal after, even though we could have captured and cleansed the akuma that turned him into a supervillain without it. All the animals would still be on the loose, and that bus would still be destroyed, in addition to everything else."

But then, I was only ever planning to use that headcanon as an explanation for what happens after, which I always thought of as the real hook. Merrythought is only its own fic because I wanted it to act as a prompt for other writers—because I thought the idea had a lot of fun potential, and couldn't imagine having the time to write every scenario myself, even if I could pick just one.

There's more in other fics, I'm sure, but I'm not in the mood to go digging at the moment. The point of this is: If you have a justification for why a character would do a certain thing, or act a certain way, or notice or not notice something, it is not only okay to include it, it can add something to the story you're building as a whole. You can come up with them as you construct scenes, or you can think of them independently and slip them in when you find (or accidentally make) a place for them.

(Bonus example: I'm not sure where I'm going to slide it in yet, but I've got a headcanon where: A) Right after Rena Rouge appeared, Alya spent three weeks researching exactly how Peter Parker gets pictures of Spiderman, and B) Nino totally noticed she was doing this, but hasn't necessarily put two and two together yet. I know I'll have the perfect fic opportunity to use this someday, but I'm not entirely sure where yet. Until then, I Wait.)

Near as I can tell, what follows is roughly the Socchan School of Writing Scenes:

1) What is the first thing in this scene that a character needs to be doing?
1a) As in, if you didn't show the character doing this, you would have to write exposition of them doing this
1b) Like, a lot of exposition. Not just one or two sentences.
1c) Honestly, if you have to go into exposition to get to the exposition that explains this scene, back up a step.
1d) Don't go too far back, though! We don't need to be here all month.

2) What exactly is the character doing?
2a) Why are they doing this thing:
2a1) In this way?
2a2) At this time?
2b) Is there anything else we need to know about what they're doing right now?

3) Now that you have things to talk about as you do so, write the next thing that the character needs to do.
3a) Rinse and repeat until you get to the end of the scene.

4) Got it all? All the way to the end?
4a) Great!
4b) Go back to 1 with the next first thing a character needs to be doing.
4b1) Repeat until you run out of things you want/need characters to do.

*shrug* I think that's about it, anyway. Now I just need to not overthink this as I work <_< ....