What Happens Next?

[Scribbler]

How do you figure out what happens next?

For me, it usually takes 1-30 minutes of walking around or lying my head down. But sometimes I can get an idea of what happens next while I'm cooking or brushing my teeth. So, I would like to hear how everyone else or at least someone else comes up with their ideas. I know the answer for everybody is I think about it really, really hard, but there must be some variation (or easier way).

Honestly, I'm procrastinating right now on writing the next chapter or even thinking about what happens in the next chapter because it blew up in readership compared to my previous stories (it went into the double digits instead of the single digits) and I'm honestly kind of a little bit extremely nervous about ruining the story if I even try to continue it, though I know deep down as long as I focus on the story and nothing else then I can write something good. But still, it's so insane. Why do people like it so much more than my other stories!? I don't get it! And it's so much more serious than my other stories. My other stories had comedy or something similar! My god, what do I do!

 

[Llamadragon]

I start with the beginning, then I write the end, then I go back to the second chapter, then from these two points I work my way towards the middle. Some authors are great at writing whatever comes to mind, but I find that if there isn’t at least a vague goal, it’s pretty haphazard. I think it was Neil Gaiman who said one of my favorite quotes about writing, it’s like driving. You have a start position, and you know where you’re going. You might take some odd turns here and there, and it’s not wrong to take detours if you find someplace interesting. It’s not even wrong to chanmge destination. But it’s good to have a goal, at least as a starting point, to have a general idea of what direction you want to drive into.

Just write. You can’t control whether or not people like it. I mean there are fantastic books out there with barely any readers, and then there are books that I personally think are awful but grew a huge following and became blockbuster movies. I know it’s easier said than done, but it’s much easier to actually write something when your mind is not occupied with worrying about how many readers you’ve got. Just let that go and write.

 

[CupcakeNinja]

How do you figure out what happens next?

For me, it usually takes 1-30 minutes of walking around or lying my head down. But sometimes I can get an idea of what happens next while I'm cooking or brushing my teeth. So, I would like to hear how everyone else or at least someone else comes up with their ideas. I know the answer for everybody is I think about it really, really hard, but there must be some variation (or easier way).

Honestly, I'm procrastinating right now on writing the next chapter or even thinking about what happens in the next chapter because it blew up in readership compared to my previous stories (it went into the double digits instead of the single digits) and I'm honestly kind of a little bit extremely nervous about ruining the story if I even try to continue it, though I know deep down as long as I focus on the story and nothing else then I can write something good. But still, it's so insane. Why do people like it so much more than my other stories!? I don't get it! And it's so much more serious than my other stories. My other stories had comedy or something similar! My god, what do I do!

maybe you just aint good at writing comedy. Unlike me, who's god-tier, but only a bit above average at more serious stories. My arrogance aside, I already know my general plotline. Everything else is just detail work from getting to point C. Point A and B are the details. Usually i have no problems with writing what I want next but if i do i jerk off. Why? For the scientifically proven moments of clarity that come after! You release certain hormones after ejaculation that can leave you sleepy but also focused and relaxed. So you can concentrate on whatever is you;re doing at the moment. You wanna be able to write that next chapter? Fap, brother. Fap, fap away...

 

[XianPiete]

How do you figure out what happens next?

For me, it usually takes 1-30 minutes of walking around or lying my head down. But sometimes I can get an idea of what happens next while I'm cooking or brushing my teeth. So, I would like to hear how everyone else or at least someone else comes up with their ideas. I know the answer for everybody is I think about it really, really hard, but there must be some variation (or easier way).

Honestly, I'm procrastinating right now on writing the next chapter or even thinking about what happens in the next chapter because it blew up in readership compared to my previous stories (it went into the double digits instead of the single digits) and I'm honestly kind of a little bit extremely nervous about ruining the story if I even try to continue it, though I know deep down as long as I focus on the story and nothing else then I can write something good. But still, it's so insane. Why do people like it so much more than my other stories!? I don't get it! And it's so much more serious than my other stories. My other stories had comedy or something similar! My god, what do I do!

I just have a vague idea of what I want to write and then I just sit down and start typing. I know generally what I want the story to look like, but most of the time, I have no real solid idea of what I was going to do. As for what the readers want? I am clueless, to be honest, it never even crosses my mind when I write. I just write the story the way I think it should go. I bet half the shit I think is funny falls flat. The serious moments I write in my story probably piss the readers off more than they do what I intend, but that's ok. In the end, I have to be true to my own voice. If readers love my work, that's great. If they hate it, I can live with that because, in the end, the critic that really needs to be happy with it is me.

 

[Deleted member 5560]

I have a rough, bullet point outline of where I need my stories to go and all the main story beats, while allowing a lot of flexibility in the journey, but here is some advice on chapter to chapter writing.

First, write out one sentence of what your chapter needs to have achieved that actively moves the story forward. It can be a big or small thing, but it needs to be a forward motion. When you know what you're working toward in the chapter, you know what direction to start writing in, and breaking down the task into smaller chunks also makes it easier to work. Instead of saying "where do I go next with my story", forget the bigger story. Just focus on "where do I go next with this chapter." Where do I go next with this paragraph. Where do I go next with this sentence. Put aside the big stuff and focus on the small, manageable, easily accomplished minutiae.

Mostly I end up stalling in stories when I have to large a gap between the goals I need to accomplish in my main story outline draft, and where I am. If the next narrative beat is, say, "Character C suddenly betrays the party", but I'm still at a point where I am building up the sense of trust in that character to make that betrayal sting and be a real shock, then I end up feeling frustrated and unsure where to go because my next story goal is still so far away. So I break it down into smaller and smaller goals, and make sure all those goals are only one sentence long so I don't get too caught up in the details of it. The goal is no longer "get to a point where the readers trust Character C". The goal is "initiate Character C into the party through a dungeon clearing so they begin to build up a rapport." Once that's done, move on to, "have Character C find some information in the dungeon that ends up being valid and panning out to lead them to their next accomplishment in their goals". Then "Character C and Character A have a quiet heart to heart moment that makes them feel more human and easier to connect to." I know this is all building up to a betrayal, so the goal isn't to just ingratiate them with the readers. The goal is to make them likeable, and sympathetic, so even if some readers guess they're going to betray the group, they'll still feel hurt and saddened by it (cackles quietly to myself) because by that point I've begun to make Character C seem interesting, and like someone they'd want to see more of as a sympathetic figure.

So basically, it's just all about figuring out what your big goal is, and then setting it aside entirely and ignoring it for the moment and figuring out the small, immediate goals first.

As for the paralysis of having a larger readerbase, there's the nice answer and the less nice answer.

The nice answer: the readers saw something in your story that interested them. Have faith in your story going forward, because you drew them in on the merits of your story idea and first chapter, so just stay true to that.

The less nice answer: you will absolutely find reader drop off going forward. That's kind of par for the course. A % of readers of stories will inevitably drop off, and the reasons can be myriad. Just accept that it's going to happen and you can't stop it because people are complex and varied and they all seek different things in their narrative and want to see stories go in a different direction. You cannot control what other people want, think, and feel. The only thing in your control is your own story. Just keep writing the story you want to tell - because there will be people dropping your story either way, at least they'll be dropping a story you can still feel personally proud of.

 

[jinxs2011]

Just start writing a situation, then move it along by progressively by thinking and writing how each of your characters would react and act in that situation. It doesn't have to be negative or positive necessarily. It could be something as small as having a meal together or as large as a war beginning. During that, try and fit it in to your bigger plan for the story. You can drop hints about a character's backstory during casual conversation, or in how they act or talk. You can reveal something new about a character by showing them doing something the reader may not expect. And so on.