Preparing to Write

Preparing to Write

Before a soldier goes to war, they prepare themselves. Before students take a test, they prepare themselves (if they want to pass). Before vacationers go on a vacation, they plan their trip with reservations and roadmaps. Most people have to prepare for tasks ahead of them. Writing is no different, especially to write those longer pieces.

Many of the contests on WDC challenge writers to write fast and furious. Short bursts of creativity to get you writing. Those are good and useful, but eventually some writers will want to tackle a longer piece of writing. You could try to jump right into things, but you’ll probably get lost and lose your steam. I’m not saying you can’t write a longer piece on the fly, but it’s less likely you’ll succeed.

The tools I present here are just some ways to prepare yourself for succeeding in writing that idea out into a long piece. These are presented in a loose order. Sometimes you’ll do things in different orders depending upon the circumstances. Choose what works best for you.

Brainstorming. First step is to pick your idea. If you don’t have one, brainstorm. Think about what interests you. Take a look at pieces you have written, some of they may be the perfect thing to expand. Look at old notes and scribbles. Look at the world around. Oftentimes, you’ll pull ideas from various places and mold them together to create a story.

Outlining. Consider the outline your roadmap. Without it you can get lost and never get to your destination. With it, you know where you’re going, what you want to do and you have the freedom to deviate from it if you want. You’ll know how to get back on track once your done with the side-trip. It is most important to keep these short, but include all the points you want. Don’t get caught up in writing the story. You are writing about the story. Think summary as you write the outline.

Character Sketches. For longer pieces, it is very important to fully flesh out characters. A sketch will get you o think about all the details of your characters. It’s always better to write down more than you need. You’ll never know what odd little tidbit will show up in your story, but you would never have known it had you not done the sketch.

World Sketching. As important as the characters is the world in which they live. No matter what world it is, you should write down relevant facts. Where is the story taking place? In a city, in multiple cities, in space, in a tree, etc? What is society like? Technology? Magic? I think you get the picture.

Test Scenes. I’m not sure what other people call this, but this technique is to take your characters and place them into a situation to see how they will react. This will help you better understand your characters and develop your characters before throwing them into the story. This is also a good way to test unusual aspects of your world to see how they work and hopefully help you find ways to describe unusual aspects.

Bouncing Board: Find someone you trust (and value their opinion) and show them what you have written so far. Oftentimes, they’ll point out things you didn’t think of or maybe missed. Maybe one thing will interest them a lot that you only gave a passing thought to. Bouncing your ideas off another person is a great way to expand your arsenal before the battle.


Do you have any techniques you use to prepare for writing? Please email me or write it in the review form below. I will add your technique into this item, giving you credit for it.

❦ Revising Novelist would add one more important thing in begining your novel/short story, and that is to determine the goal of the main character or event. What is driving the character to reach the goal and what are the events or people that stand in the way of that happening? Once those questions are settled the story will flow easier because you have the goal in mind. e.g. Wiz of Oz. We know Dorothy wants to get home (why?). There are many things that keep her from reaching the Wiz, who will tell her how to get home. Entertwined is the Scarecrow, lion and tinman's goals too. All which make this a classic story.

ElaineElaine has this poll for you to take regarding your preparation habits: "Have you a plan, man? (ma'am?)" 

Sanchez uses this mental code when writing seperate stories: NEOTWY. N is for when, E is for where, O is for who, T is for time, W is for how and Y is for why.


Check out my other article which encourages developing the habit of writing every day.

ID: 1573372   (Rated: E) Write Every Day  Writing every day will improve your writing skills and lead you to your goals. by Silva Shado

Once you’ve got something written that you like, the next step is revising!

ID: 1573381   (Rated: E) Revise, Revise, Revise  Techniques to help you revise. by Silva Shado