I remember staring at a piece of paper full of scribbles and notes. When will I ever start this novel? I had thought to myself. All my plans and ideas I had scribbled on the page were forgotten. So I clicked the button that said: Word 2013 and started typing about my random story characters. I ended up writing a nice short story. That was the first time I realized that planning doesn’t always work.

when you are writing a story, you need to have a plan. But when you over plan, the story process becomes more of a chore. For me, writing is harder when I plan and it’s easier when I come up with an idea and start writing.

Here are some alternatives to planning

Talk to your characters

Have you ever talked to your story characters? I have many times. When I talk to my character, I learn more about her/him. I imagine I’m the friend and they are having a normal conversation. It’s easy and fun to talk to them.

Write random stories about your characters

When writing, you don’t have to always stick with the story. Open up a new page and write a mini story about your character, and how the character handles a certain situation. Then, if you liked the story you can try to add it into you book.

 

Experiment with other ideas

When writing, try knew things with you charcters. Interveiw your character. Ask them questions. That will help you learn more about them, trust me, it helps.

 

I hope these tips help!

What do you admire about other books? Do you have any other tips?