Overfill a story

[BidoVerse]

Hi, I'm new here and only recently started publishing my story. The first chapter was well-received, so I continued. Now, however, I'm having trouble knowing exactly where I want to take my story and what themes I want to explore. Does anyone have any advice?

 

[Deleted member 266]

Write the ending, then fill in the gaps.

 

[Juia_Darkcrest]

You should have had an overall idea of where you wanted to take your story to start, then break that down into sections or arcs.

Then you take your arc and break it down further, and these would be your chapters.

It isn't how to get from A to B, but A to Z via b,c,d etc etc

So if you are floundering, think about what your overall goal you want to achieve with your book is. Take that info, and think, What major things do my characters need to do to achieve that?

Then you take one of those and break down what they need to achieve that. Then, you start writing.

You are not locked into this, this is more of a guideline than a rule... hell in one of my works I changed my direction 7 times in 50 chapters before I settled out a bit...

just keep writing you will get there.

 

[AnEmberOfSundown]

Basically what they said. You've got the start, find the end. Then fill in the basic parts of an arc. What will the climax be? What will lead up to that? What does it look like when you come back down? What prevents your MC from reaching their goal? How do they overcome it?

Think of it like a suspension bridge. Put up the support towers first (major plot points), then hang the cables (minor plot points), then finally add the road (the actual prose). Like a bridge, if you've constructed the plot well then the "road" will feel smooth. If you need to add more, it will feel choppy.

 

[BidoVerse]

Write the ending, then fill in the gaps.

I have the ending. The more I write, the more I add; I'm just trying to avoid overloading my story.

 

[Deleted member 266]

I have the ending. The more I write, the more I add; I'm just trying to avoid overloading my story.

If you are just filling gaps you won't be overloading too much, tho... i imagined overloading would mean you are adding things that are not filling gaps.

Besides you should just write it regardless, overloading it doesn't really matter, coz you are gonna do another draft anyway. You won't know what is necessary and what isnt necessary in the first draft.

 

[Eldoria]

Your story must answer the premise you stated in the synopsis. Whether the ending is happy, bittersweet, or even tragic.

If you're writing a hero's journey to defeat the demon king, your story should answer the result of that journey. Perhaps the hero wins and the demon king dies (happy ending), perhaps the hero and the demon king both lose and are wounded (bittersweet ending), or perhaps the hero dies and the demon king takes over the world (tragic ending). This is just a simple example; I'm sure your story is more complex.

What's clear is that you shouldn't betray your story's premise. For example, you might write a hero's journey to defeat the demon king, but then the hero suddenly retires and becomes a farmer in a remote area. This clearly betrays your story's premise, especially if you never explicitly or implicitly state this deviation in your synopsis.

 

[AnEmberOfSundown]

I have the ending. The more I write, the more I add; I'm just trying to avoid overloading my story.

If what you add does one or more of the following:
• Advances the plot
• Fills out your characters
• Worldbuilds
• Entertains

Then it's likely NOT overloading the story. The key is managing transitions so it flows smoothly, then you can go back and edit it to cut out/condense anything you think is too much. Make it exist first, make it good later.

 

[Ayaise]

If you're worried about overloading then just write and cache them for later. Ideas are valuable, don't delete them randomly, I have two notebooks with nothing but yaps and stuff, a good portion of them get used but the rest don't, I'm sure I'll find a use for them one day though.

 

[Jerynboe]

If you’ve got an endpoint, and you don’t have a plan to get there, my best suggestion is this: Get closer to that endpoint every chapter and you will finish eventually as long as you don’t make up new obstacles for no reason. It worked for me on my very first fic. Admittedly that was a meandering 330 chapters that I could have probably managed in a quarter of the word count with some planning, but I actually finished and that’s worth a lot in these parts.

 

[BidoVerse]

I would like to thank everyone for your support and good advice.