Recently discovered your channel and very much enjoying your vids. Good work! When brainstorming a "what if" idea for a novel, I like to start by writing topic or list headings on a big sheet of paper for the moral, philosophical/religious, technological, economic and social implications of the event or situation. That usually reveals some conflicts and story ideas.
I've seen each of the videos in this series at least twice, but I might as well watch them all again, because I enjoy hearing you speak about writing and it's easier than spending time actually writing.
Oh you are definitely the coolest at this. I've watched a few cutesy American whiners state the obvious on their writing techniques and development. You are straight forward, articulate and cool. Keep up the great work, it is greatly appreciated...I've subscribed.
Thank you so much! This video was so helpful to me and the starting of my novel! I honestly had so many questions about the writing process when i first began watching the video but you had answered them all! Thanks again!!
Great video! I find a great way to get a first draft written after some brainstorming is to do something like NaNoWriMo! :D I got a complete draft for my novel that way! ^^ I am having trouble sitting down and writing a second complete draft though even though I have worked through the ideas quite a bit sincr that first draft, I find it harder to accept writing crap after so much time working on the same project ..
+AlffBooks Nanowrimo is actually responsible for the first draft of my book Flux (which is now published)! I enjoyed it a lot, but I've since realised the nano method just gives me far too much work in the revision stage. Flux took me over four years to finish (admittedly I was studying and working) because the first draft was such an unplanned splurge. These days I find planning saves SO much time and work, which is why I'm always perfecting the process I sketch out in this series! Thanks for your comments (:
I see :) I never actually thought of revising the first draft, I always planned to just write it all down to get it out of my head, admittedly I had 4 years of planning done when I finally did NaNo which means my first draft follows my ideas quite well but I was always going to write a complete second draft before thinking about revising it :) No problem! I love finding booktubers who post about writing and always want to participate in conversations about writing! :D
Just a thought...your ideas and suggestions are helpful and informative. I’d like to share some of your videos with my students. If you could stop cursing, I could share your videos. Just a thought. Please don’t cuss me out...
did you paint your nails gold to match your books? cool. I didn't do a proper prep prior to nano and my outline and plot is being re-done after writing about 15k. referencing your videos again to help me figure out what method I'm using to get this story out my head.
I suggest looking at something like TVtropes.com and making a list of sci fi tropes and creating your own brainstorming questions based on them. Or even making notes on what would happen if you smushed two different tropes together.
Oh god you're so funny, so helpful, and so nice for doing this! :D I have just started writing my first book, would you mind if I ask you some questions regarding that?
+Rachael Stephen I just had this great idea for a story and not until I actually got to writing did I realize that it's super complex with complex characters but most of all, it has to be narrated from different characters' pov. It's quite intimidating since it's my first time doing this, is there something I should definitely avoid or definitely do? (I am already following all the advice you gave in this video, too :P )
This is VERY similar to me starting with Flux! By the time I was done with it I was like MY NEXT BOOK IS GOING TO BE FIRST PERSON, SINGLE PROTAGONIST, NO FLASHBACKS. EVER. You will probably have to be more ruthless than your average writer with your outlining. Go over it and check the TIMELINE makes sense, pull all your character's plots together and go through each seperate one as if it was its own story, what's missing, what needs to be better, what doesn't make sense? A more complicated structure, more characters and more POVs just mean you can't just wing it like you might with a simpler story. Also make everyone pay to stay - evaluate each character and ask what they're ADDING to the story, make them tell you why you CAN'T tell this story without them. What would you lose? Could you avoid that loss by giving that role, character aspect or scene to another character? Chuck anyone who can't pull their weight.
+Rachael Stephen Thank you so much. I'm a math major and even though I'm good at writing I'm just shooting arrows in the dark without any guidance. This would be rather helpful. (Also, no way around the outlining, Amiright! >.>)
Had a session with the Woodland Hellbitch 😊 and came back to watch this video. One thing that was revelatory for me she talks about here: 2:30 How to make your brain give ideas? With the HARD WORK of Directed Brainstorming, to get "the fucking cake base". You must MINE IDEAS THROUGH HARD WORK, disciplined and persistent brainstorming development work, so you may actually CRAFT your story. Ironically, writing is the least important part of writing. lol
4 Year old cool video about a totally other topic. But did you literally put up 3 books on that shelf not because of the content but because they look good? My god thats like the definition of style over substance - tho maybe its both cause they seem really cool! I do guess its the same for most people that have the old bookshelves but rarely read the books. Sorry! Thanks for the intro.
I dont know if you removed the other video but I stumbled across this and really liked it. Where'd you put the rest of the series? Really need some guidance on how to get my story going
The rest of the series is definitely still in my uploads! I would start with this though! 👉 ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-_pZ3ZZd1mms.html
Here's a suggestion. Gather up the up the ideas for the story first then either in a notebook or on iPad write Story Development at the top and then write or type in the story ideas so that way you can play with them.
Aw, that’s wonderful to hear! Have you caught any of my plot embryo videos? They’re kind of an upgrade to this system! I also did a new brainstorming video recently too! 💕
Thanks, Rachel! Some great advice here. Plus the accent is awesome and makes you pay more attention to what is being said. Spoken with everyday words like "crap" makes it fun and real as if someone is actually talking to you vs reading from a textbook. Great job Rachel!
You're Scottish? I'm not Scootish but i do have a friends who are Scootish they sounds Scootish and looks Scootish , omg i'm so forced to say a word Scootish.
No, but it is if you have to make it and serve it all day. Rachael is a prima barrista. Next (first!) time I'm in Glasgow, I'm heading to her coffee shop. How difficult can it be to find?
