Tag Archives: plotting

How Do You Get Ready to Draft?

Posted on June 18, 2014 by J. Sevick

At some point, all ideas must become a draft—or die useless in the mind. In order for a story to become something you can share, you have to produce it into a physical object. This could be a drawing, a … Continue reading →

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Making Strides

Posted on June 9, 2014 by J. Sevick

The first step for any writer-to-be is to find the idea. Depending on the desired length and complexity of the project at hand, that can be its own epic struggle. But whether it hits you like a lightning bolt or … Continue reading →

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Plot Types: Epic vs. Procedural

Posted on June 6, 2014 by J. Sevick

Plots can be categorized and described in a thousand ways; at the same time, in other ways, no two plots are exactly alike and thus cannot be too closely associated. While accepting the incredible subjectivity and ultimate pointlessness of separating … Continue reading →

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Plot Types: Immersive vs. Daily Life

Posted on June 5, 2014 by J. Sevick

Distinguishing between plot types and story structures is often an incredibly subjective exercise, both because the analyst’s personal opinions can sway the designations and because stories are individual and eccentric creatures that don’t always fall into neat categories. That being … Continue reading →

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Plotting 101

Posted on May 26, 2014 by J. Sevick

I’m a pinch busy today, so I’m throwing up some random notes I found buried in my computer–lucky you! But they might have a bit of merit–even as incomplete as they are. 🙂 This is really not meant to be … Continue reading →

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Pilot Episodes

Posted on May 23, 2014 by J. Sevick

I wrote yesterday about episodic plotting, and how it can be a great way to combine a short attention span with a desire for a longer work. While yesterday’s post was about generic episode development, today’s is more specifically about pilot … Continue reading →

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Episode Development

Posted on May 22, 2014 by J. Sevick

In a college class on Fantasy Literature I read a collection of Conan the Barbarian stories by Robert E. Howard (The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian). I was struck by the idea that these separate short stories telling the various … Continue reading →

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The Potential (and Peril) of Research

Posted on May 17, 2014 by J. Sevick

If I haven’t said it before, my genre of choice is fantasy. Mostly contemporary, but sometimes not. For some reason, I prefer a world different from the one I live in, even in some subtle small way. It challenges my … Continue reading →

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Random Notes on Story Types

Posted on May 15, 2014 by J. Sevick

Dug into the archive for this one—some random notes on different basic story types (in my unauthorized opinion). Story Types –          Procedural = the plot is not personal to the protagonist, who is usually motivated by a job, morality, or … Continue reading →

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Developing Ideas: Finding The Villain (Part Two)

Posted on May 10, 2014 by J. Sevick

[A continuation of this post.] First, I look to the world and any potential conflict there. Is there some major clash between groups in your world, based on race or class or gender or species or some other cultural element? … Continue reading →

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