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All posts 🦊 Professor Fig Fucking Dies 🇰🇿 :therian:'s posts Post Back to profile
🦊 Professor Fig Fucking Dies 🇰🇿 :therian:

writers of fedi, i have a question for you, and as a beginner writer, i wanna ask for help.

i am writing a fantasy/sci-fi post-apocalyptic drama and i wanna ask you:

is it better to start off with finishing worldbuilding and then writing a story in it, or the other way around?

and is it better to first define themes of your story before writing it, or write it unedited and then see what happens and edit it???

because i feel stuck and i don't know in what direction to go and i am afraid that i will screw everything up

thank you, please boost

#writing #fantasy #scifi #fiction #worldbuilding #writer #writingAdvice

8 Apr 2023 at 12:35 | Open on vulpine.club
10 comments
skze

@tillianisafox this is the distinction between plotter and pantser. you can do either extreme, or something in the middle, combining aspects from both.

either you invest the work in careful and elaborate planning,

or you invest it in fixing up the mess you just vomited into your document.

neither of these approaches is better. both can lead to a beautiful result and success, if success is something you care about.

they require different skills. planning is one skill. revising is another. so if you have the skill for writing, don't be surprised if the task of planning and/or the task of revising are a hurdle at first. it doesn't mean you did it wrong, it just means you need to figure out how to actually do it, it takes time and work to learn.

there is no getting around that work, and no getting around learning that skill, but you get to choose whichever process come more easily to you

@tillianisafox this is the distinction between plotter and pantser. you can do either extreme, or something in the middle, combining aspects from both.

either you invest the work in careful and elaborate planning,

or you invest it in fixing up the mess you just vomited into your document.

neither of these approaches is better. both can lead to a beautiful result and success, if success is something you care about.

8 Apr 2023 at 12:44 | Open on toot.cat
🦊 Professor Fig Fucking Dies 🇰🇿 :therian:

@skye the thing is that planning everything out feels overwhelming and just diving in feels stressful because I am afraid of being cringe

8 Apr 2023 at 12:45 | Open on vulpine.club
skze

@tillianisafox personally I am a hopeless pantser. I plan nothing. I go in with a rough idea about a setting and then I see what happens.

yes, the result you get from that is cringe, it's positively embarrassing, it's chaotic, full of plotholes and contradictions.

so that's the skill of the pantser: turning an objectively miserable first draft into something coherent, readable, and impactful.

you're gonna end up making major plot and world changes, combining, removing or adding characters, deleting or adding entire chapters, removing, introducing or reinventing fundamental plotlines. you're gonna change the rules of the world halfway through and then you have to rewrite everything to make it fix. and all that happens BEFORE you're at a point where you're comfortable showing it to anyone.

for a pantser, revisions need to be drastic and fearless. nothing is sacred. everything can be changed.

the first draft is gonna suck ass. your task is to turn it into something good. that process is gonna take SIGNIFICANTLY longer than the actual writing.

trust the process

@tillianisafox personally I am a hopeless pantser. I plan nothing. I go in with a rough idea about a setting and then I see what happens.

yes, the result you get from that is cringe, it's positively embarrassing, it's chaotic, full of plotholes and contradictions.

so that's the skill of the pantser: turning an objectively miserable first draft into something coherent, readable, and impactful.

8 Apr 2023 at 12:56 | Open on toot.cat
skze

@tillianisafox but obviously you can do both. you can plan a little and save some work on the revising end. if you're uncomfortable with both extremes this is the way to go. but I wouldn't know anything about that, lolsob.

8 Apr 2023 at 12:59 | Open on toot.cat
mkj

@tillianisafox You don't have to do either-or.

Planning everything out first feels overwhelming? Fine.

Just diving in with no plan at all feels stressful? Fine.

So consider doing SOME planning. Figure out the basics of some of the MAJOR elements of your world. Make a BASIC outline of the journey your hero would like to take, then just MARK good places to insert obstacles. And don't feel compelled to follow the outline if you get better ideas.

No one's first draft is ever perfect. That's OK.

8 Apr 2023 at 13:05 | Open on social.linux.pizza
Nathan Lowell

@skye @tillianisafox

Skye's right on the money here.

Some lessons I learned.

1. You will screw it up.
2. You can fix it in the second (or third or fourth) draft
3. If you spend enough time world building, you'll never have to write the story.

The only thing that matters are the words on the page.

Without those, you have no story.

8 Apr 2023 at 12:58 | Open on zirk.us
Emma Cox

@tillianisafox
I’d have a very rough idea in your head of the world your characters are living in and then flesh it out as you begin writing. Often you won’t need half the stuff you’re world building. Depending on where the story takes you, some aspects will be more important than others and you can expand on them as you explore the story.

I’m saying this as I’m a pantser rather than a planner.

Don’t be afraid to explore different writing techniques and find what suits you.

@tillianisafox
I’d have a very rough idea in your head of the world your characters are living in and then flesh it out as you begin writing. Often you won’t need half the stuff you’re world building. Depending on where the story takes you, some aspects will be more important than others and you can expand on them as you explore the story.

8 Apr 2023 at 13:08 | Open on writing.exchange
Smörhuvud (he/surprise me)

@tillianisafox In my limited experience (which included attending the Taos Toolbox workshop) there is an absolute diversity of approaches. What works for me (and maybe only for me) is to write a treatment first, in the words I would use to explain the story to a friend over the phone when both of us are stoked about it but slightly in a hurry.

8 Apr 2023 at 13:12 | Open on mastodon.social
acidpunx

@tillianisafox I am very much a planner. But i like to run with whatever inspires me. And if I feel it, it works out and keeps giving. My planning is just living and thinking deeply. I don't want to write frilly meaningless fluff, so I embrace my voice and write what makes me think and feel. Which might be cringe but no direction is necessarily wrong, in world building or story writing, as long as it feels right. Otherwise, meh. I just need more inspiration, or to chew on ut more. :blobCatBloc:

8 Apr 2023 at 13:42 | Open on mastodon.ahorn.info
Nona Rose

@tillianisafox you’re liable to get as many different answers as replies. Every writer finds their own path. Try, fail, try again, fail better …

8 Apr 2023 at 13:44 | Open on mastodon.au
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