Do you write the ending or beginning first?

zerogod

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Do you imagine the ending first and create the plot from there? Or do you write naturally without a plan from Chapter 1? I tried both of them and failed miserably so I wanted to ask you to gain insight.

Edit: Thanks for the answers!
 
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FriendlyDragon

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So personally I have a general outline for my entire plot including some notes for what I want in each arc. However, as I write the chapter I just go with the flow and just write. I know where I want it to go and where it'll start. Everything in between is organic and unplanned.
 

yansusustories

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I have a general outline in mind before I start writing that often includes the ending. I begin writing with the first chapter though and adapt the outline along the way.
 

DaoFox

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I start writing from the beginning but find it super hard unless I know where i am going to end.

Only when I know where I shall end can I set an appropriate pace for the story.

Problem is... writing endings are objectively harder than writing openings so... I am sorta stymied there :P
 

Jemini

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So personally I have a general outline for my entire plot including some notes for what I want in each arc. However, as I write the chapter I just go with the flow and just write. I know where I want it to go and where it'll start. Everything in between is organic and unplanned.

I have something fairly similar in my writing style. There are a few important points though. Rather than endings or beginnings, what I write first is my world lore. I put a LOT of effort into my world lore and my setting.

After I have a setting, I put some thought into my characters, and I get really good at having my characters act as they want to, not how I want them to act.

Finally, I begin actually writing my story, with some points in mind for milestones that need to be passed along the way. Given my writing style, it requires a lot of outside stimuli to be placed on my characters in order to direct them since they mostly are reacting to the world around them according to the settings I gave them at the start. I find though that this forces me to flesh out my world more and make it feel like there is more to it.
 

XianPiete

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Do you imagine the ending first and create the plot from there? Or do you write naturally without a plan from Chapter 1? I tried both of them and failed miserably so I wanted to ask you to gain insight.

I like to start with a general idea for a story. Nothing fancy, just a basic story idea. The idea itself has a natural beginning, middle and ending. Then it's just a matter of embellishing that idea into a story that someone would care to read.
 

DaoFox

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I like to start with a general idea for a story. Nothing fancy, just a basic story idea. The idea itself has a natural beginning, middle and ending. Then it's just a matter of embellishing that idea into a story that someone would care to read.
Ever find that as you put down the basic notes, additional details just seem to creep in and at the end you find a "not so simple" outline laid out before you?
 
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I start from the middle and work my way outward in each direction. Kind of like, "okay, here is this big action climax I imagined that is really cool in my head, to what end purpose does it serve and how did the characters involved get there?"

But I never, ever write a story until I know exactly how it is going to end - while I keep that ending open and flexible to new possibilities and details, there is still a key end goal that I set for myself to achieve. It's sort of like when I would hike up a mountain near where I live. When I left the house, I more or less knew exactly where I wanted to go (the peak of this mountain), and often I knew which hiking trail I would take, but if I saw a hiking trail I hadn't walked on before that looked interesting, I would be open to the possibility of changing my route and seeing something new. I'd still end up at the same final destination, but I may end up approaching it from a different direction that I'd originally intended.
 

XianPiete

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Ever find that as you put down the basic notes, additional details just seem to creep in and at the end you find a "not so simple" outline laid out before you?

No, my idea notes are usually as simple as; Guy gets hit by truck-kun and wakes up in a game he played.

The idea note I had for my current story was: Villain in Otome game tries to avoid bad endings, is really a decent person. Guy gets Iseki'd in and falls in love with her and does his best to change the world.

I just write down basic simple notes like those in a pen and paper notebook I carry around. Then, when I am ready to write, I take those little writing prompts and bash out the story.
 

Dragon

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Start with a premise - whether it's an interesting scenario that can grow into a larger story, or a cool, climatic scene that you want to get to. Specific ideas come after you have an idea of the type of story you want to write. You can't really start anywhere unless you know the topic you want.

Ideally, you should start after you have a general idea of both the beginning and the end. That way you can make a strong beginning that stays strong until the end.
 

mrsimple

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Do you imagine the ending first and create the plot from there? Or do you write naturally without a plan from Chapter 1? I tried both of them and failed miserably so I wanted to ask you to gain insight.

Start by having fun. If you enjoyed what you wrote, even the unfinished works, all's cool. :blob_shade:


Pretty simple: you have fun writing, then write all the time. That's what I've done for a year, and it has been an excellent distraction away from my everyday life. :blob_joy:

If ya wanna do something more specific, then here. Any radical ideas that pop in your head, put them into a folder for later. Who knows, you could come up with an outstanding followup to link with a previous idea ya had. Pretty neat, huh? :blob_wink:
 

jinxs2011

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I start with the start - at least, I have for my current two novels. Still, I know the endings for both, plus the start and end of my third novel which is just plans for now...
When writing, I keep in mind where I want the characters to be at, what I want them to do, and think about a logical progression of how they get from a to b. Obviously, it's not always that simple. Often, the best way (for me) can just be to think how a character would react to a situation at hand - create the situation from how the characters act, rather than how the characters act from the situation. it can feel forced and unnatural.
 

Ai-chan

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Ai-chan writes the clearest one first. So, many of Ai-chan's stories started as bits and pieces of texts here and there. Some clumps are at the start of the story, some at the ending, some even in the middle of the story. Once the chapter has reach the part of the text, Ai-chan just copy pasted them.
 

CupcakeNinja

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Do you imagine the ending first and create the plot from there? Or do you write naturally without a plan from Chapter 1? I tried both of them and failed miserably so I wanted to ask you to gain insight.
It's only recently I put more thought into my story. I'm a genius you see,.the greatness merely flowed from my finger tips before. But now that I've set a foundation the ideas simply overflow and I'm FORCED to plan. I miss the days when the entertainment came effortlessly. When I didn't have to come up with brilliant twists and turns. Only creating scenes of gold instead of actually having to form a deep, intertwining tale of passion and tragedy.


Simply put I bullshit my way through a lot and people loved it. A story about a dude with a milf and cat girl fetish in a fantasy world just dicking around has somehow been called a masterpiece. There is something seriously wrong here don't you think? It was just supposed to be a long set up for ero....
 

Jemini

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Start by having fun. If you enjoyed what you wrote, even the unfinished works, all's cool. :blob_shade:


Pretty simple: you have fun writing, then write all the time. That's what I've done for a year, and it has been an excellent distraction away from my everyday life. :blob_joy:

If ya wanna do something more specific, then here. Any radical ideas that pop in your head, put them into a folder for later. Who knows, you could come up with an outstanding followup to link with a previous idea ya had. Pretty neat, huh? :blob_wink:

That's my policy. About the only thing I have to add to it is share it. If you are pushing yourself to share your work, that naturally forces you to make it more structured and fill in those gaps better and faster.

My recommendation would be to share your early work in a different location from where you plan to make the debute where you want to actually attract followers and be considered something of a big name. (I'm never gonna tell where I did my early work, that stuff's freaking embarrassing. But I shared it there (under a different name) anyway.)
 

tak

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I start by a slice of scene. A wiitty come back, a character background, or 10 second dialogue.

Then i tried to patch up with plot, world building, other characters...and find myself so far from when i started.
For example, i wrote the prologue. This will be a light hearted comedy. So there will be change of genre every x chapters. But why? How could everyone change suddenly? Hm, i wanna include chinese cultivation and western fantasy...why not use religions. Yes, the changes is because this is god's whims. They changed this world like an experiment, like a ...game sand box, this world is an abandoned free to all chaos. And everyone is doing all they can to please god because...they wanna survive. Yes. This is a death game world, and...wait, i was writing comedy. Wtf.
 

Jemini

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I start by a slice of scene. A wiitty come back, a character background, or 10 second dialogue.

Then i tried to patch up with plot, world building, other characters...and find myself so far from when i started.
For example, i wrote the prologue. This will be a light hearted comedy. So there will be change of genre every x chapters. But why? How could everyone change suddenly? Hm, i wanna include chinese cultivation and western fantasy...why not use religions. Yes, the changes is because this is god's whims. They changed this world like an experiment, like a ...game sand box, this world is an abandoned free to all chaos. And everyone is doing all they can to please god because...they wanna survive. Yes. This is a death game world, and...wait, i was writing comedy. Wtf.

The creepy part about that is... except for the comedy and death game portions (and the genre changes,) that description sounds alarmingly similar to my own story. Only-instead of fruit-salad mixing the three (cultivation, western fantasy, and religion) together, I put them in a melting pot, turned them into a uniform solution, and then put the whole thing into a rather play-it-straight dark and occasionally fluffy (in a Miyazaki way) slice-of-life style package.

Yes... yes I did. I do believe I have successfully mixed Chinese cultivation into the other genres, taking the core of it, distilling it away from the other extra unecessary things, and then putting it into my own world.
 

tak

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The creepy part about that is... except for the comedy and death game portions (and the genre changes,) that description sounds alarmingly similar to my own story. Only-instead of fruit-salad mixing the three (cultivation, western fantasy, and religion) together, I put them in a melting pot, turned them into a uniform solution, and then put the whole thing into a rather play-it-straight dark and occasionally fluffy (in a Miyazaki way) slice-of-life style package.

Yes... yes I did. I do believe I have successfully mixed Chinese cultivation into the other genres, taking the core of it, distilling it away from the other extra unecessary things, and then putting it into my own world.
genre change is the essence of my story so don't worry lol.
 

LotusLily

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Yes... yes I did. I do believe I have successfully mixed Chinese cultivation into the other genres, taking the core of it, distilling it away from the other extra unecessary things, and then putting it into my own world.

What do you believe is the core of the Chinese cultivation genre?
 

Jemini

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What do you believe is the core of the Chinese cultivation genre?

Essentially the same thing WMW did, take the aspect of pulling in mystical energies (insert name of mystical energy) in order to fortify your spirit and essentially use that as your method of power scaling your characters. The complex social dynamics that raise up around that are often based on Chinese aristocracy, and are an artifact of the culture the cultivation concept was written in. Those social dynamics are extras.

(Also, IMO, those social dynamics are the thing that always ultimately bogs down your typical cultivation genre story. WMW escaping from that is the reason it did so well. Cultivation as a concept has its merits, it is all the extra things that are always added onto it that go along with the genre that make it rather hard to read often.)
 
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