Preliminary Ideas
What are you going to write about? You may have a striking image, or a character, or a situation for which you feel impelled to write something. However, your image needs to be put in the form of a story in order in order to resonate with anyone else.
Remember that at this point everything is fluid. Don't be afraid to make decisions, because it's very easy to change things if you find the story going in a direction you don't like. Just write down something concrete at the end of each step.
Step 1: Getting Your Preliminary Ideas Down
The first thing you need to do is put all of your nebulous ideas and images into some sort of written form. Talk to yourself on the paper (or computer screen) about WHO and WHAT your story is about. Your writing may be fragmented and take three or more pages, but don't worry about putting down a lot of mush. You're clarifying your thoughts.
At the end, summarize your story in a few sentences. |