In this installment of Creative Writing Tips, I will be going over story and character development. There is not necessarily a right or wrong way to develop a story or character, but there are many ways to go about it. Each way can depend on your style of writing, and any can be used effectively. They will depend on how structured you want the process to be essentially.
Authors like J. K. Rowling are very structured writers. She had everything planned and laid out before she even started writing the first book. There are some pros and cons to each style, and this one is no exception. This style fits for people who like to have very ordered stories. It requires the writer to be able to see the big picture of the story and every aspect thereof. Depending on your flexibility, changes may not be able to be easily made. An analogy would be a well built house. Each brick is laid down that supports the next brick. Everything is planned out, yet when you realize the hallway may not be big enough, it may require a slight change if possible to the adjacent rooms, or a complete change of the house. Because everything is planned, it should not take as long to actually write the book because you can move through it with ease. That is not to say that problems may not arise, but there is less likely a chance of hitting a wall, though extensive planning prior is required.
Another form of writing is slightly different in that the beginning and end is known prior to starting the book, but what happens between is left up to chance. This almost a like a fated story of sorts where no matter what the characters do in the story, the ending will be the same. That is not to say that the ending is bad, only that it is pre-determined. This type of story may not be about the journey itself, but about the characters who go on this journey. Because not everything is planned, it can allow characters and the story to evolve to a certain extent.
The last form is completely open ended. The story, the characters, everything is left up to chance. The characters, settings, and maybe some background information is known at the beginning of writing, but for the most part, everything will evolve into whatever it will become. This sounds like a very easy style to write with, but it has a lot of problems. Because it is so open ended, it is prone to writing blocks. Think of it as riding out a town aimlessly; eventually, you will hit a dead end. The question is how far did this road go and can you turn back? Or is there a side alley you never saw before? It is a very fun way of writing because it allows the characters to almost come alive. Everything they do is not determined by the story, but by their actions, their words, and their reactions.
Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water. Jack fell down and broke his crown, and Jill came tumbling after.
The first style would have this all planned out. Their relationship is fully known, the action of Jack is known, and Jill's reaction and action is pre-determined. The story of love, basic necessities, and the pitfalls of a fated relationship can be an interesting read regardless of how it is written.
The second style would know that Jack and Jill were to go up a hill. It would also know that in the end, both would lie at the foot of the hill injured. The difference is what happens on the way up and what happens at the top of the hill that would cause Jack to fall or for Jill to follow. Maybe their relationship grows from the mutual love of the work they do. He could have fallen because he tripped when going to plant his first kiss on her cheek. Whatever happens in the middle is unknown and completely developed as it is written.
The last style would make for a very interesting story. Jack and Jill may not even have personalities at first. They may have a quirk or two, but it is through their journey up the hill that you really develop the characters a long the way. Jill could come from a broken home, but it is not found out until Jack gets up the courage to ask her why she is always so eager to help him get water each day. His decisions to help her run away from her abusive family means they give up their duties of getting water together. This means that instead of both of them lying hurt on the bottom of the hill, they open a water treatment plant in another town. It is a completely different ending based upon the decisions and actions of the character. The characters develop the story.
Finally, I am going to touch on Linear and Sporadic writing. A lot of this can depend on what style you are using to write. Sporadic lends more towards the first style, while Linear can be used with all three.
Linear is pretty straightforward (no pun intended). You write the story as is read, from page one to the end. Revisions and edits will always change the layout of a story, but how it is initially written can be done in these two ways. For the second and third style, this way of writing is almost required. What happens along the way of the story can impact what happens later. If you jump out of sequence, it may be difficult to follow the continuity set up previously.
Sporadic writing is a way to prevent writer's block. If the writing is feeling forced and not up to par with what you feel is good writing, you can jump to another section of the story and start anew on something else. If the story is all pre-planned, this way of writing will cause little problems as far as continuity.
A fourth style is very unorthodox. It combines the Sporadic writing with the third style of writing. In essence, not much may be known about the character and stories, but when you feel stumped, you jump ahead in the story and begin writing something new. This helps if you may not know the end, you have a firm understanding of the setting, but only a few ideas of what may happen within the story. There will be sometimes large gaps between each section that you wrote, but later you will fill in the blanks. The difficulty with this is that once something has been put down later in the book, you will be confined to adhering to that continuity later. It can be an exciting way to write because although you may know where the characters are going to be at points A, C, and E, it can be fun to connect the dots as it were. Points B and D can be an interesting challenge of connecting from where the characters were to where they are to end up.
Sometimes, you just have to not worry about it all and let it write itself. You would be surprised how suddenly, and insignificant piece of information written at the beginning of the story somehow has a much deeper meaning or purpose later on. Often this will happen without the need to plan; it just happens. It is almost like your subconscious is writing the story for you. It may know what it wants in the end and places pieces it needs at the beginning.
And remember to above all, have fun while writing. The more fun you have writing, the more it will show to the reader. Stressing over one little part of the story may cause you to lose focus on how it all comes together. So hopefully these tips help, and keep on writing.
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