Don't Reveal your Plotline

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Hey,
So guys, I got this little piece of advice from a book I've read and reread many times over about novel writing. Basically, do NOT reveal any plot twists, complications, resolutions etc. in your story before you've written it down.
The reason?
It has to do with what makes you want to write a novel in the first place. You have a brilliant idea that is just waiting to be let out into story form. However, if you tell someone all about what will happen in your novel, that burning desire to get it down on paper will be gone, as you've already released your idea out into the open. Then, you get writers' block, motivation problems etc. I thought about this for a while, and realised that it's quite true. Every time I tell someone what will happen in my book, I just don't feel like writing it.
Hope this helps!
"There can never be a perfect story. It is the perception of the reader that makes the story great."




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Absolutely! Even as I have yet to see results to that procedure, I can understand the logic. Thankfully, not many of my major stories were expressed to others, saving me much of my stuff. Thank you!
-ж-Ж-ж-




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I've heard that before and I agree.

Taking this to its extreme, this is why I have a hard time outlining. I'm very much a seat-of-the-pants writer, so I start with an idea and then just write. Mininal to no planning or outlining. When I write it all out in an outline, I just seem to lose my drive to write it out in story format.
I am reminded of the babe by you.




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Ohh dear! This is so true I want to bang my head on the hardest item I find near me. :thud:
It just happened to me twice, reason why my book is not completely edited and my new notebook has nothing but a drawing of Shinigami-sama on the first page even if the whole reason I got it was to write an idea I had and I emailed it to my best friend. :thud:
T_T T_T
Ah, cette la vie!
I will just shut my mouth from now on and let it out after I've written everything.




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Now I find this post, >.< That's happened to me before, and I was always wondering I wanted to write it minutes ago and now I don't? Yeahhh, good post!
"Dream as if you'll live forever, live as if you'll die today."
-James Dean




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Eh, I'm not too sure about that. Writing the twist down works well when you're not the most dedicated writer of a work and want to remember all the twists I came up with. So, I write them down so they will leave me alone.

Besides, sometimes to work out kinks in a complicated plot I have to tell people. I always tell people who want to read my story the twists so then I want to write them out so they can see how it unfolds on paper.

There are also the dozens of mini-twists that happen while writing, so those always keep me interested.
Last edited by Rosendorn on Wed Oct 14, 2009 11:53 am, edited 1 time in total.
A writer is a world trapped in a person— Victor Hugo

Ink is blood. Paper is bandages. The wounded press books to their heart to know they're not alone.




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I agree with Rosey. I suppose the thrill of being the only one that knows what will happen would give you an advantage, but I know that if I don't write my brilliant ideas down, or have some basic outline of what will happen, then it will disappear in a very short period of time. And, once they are down on paper, they will no longer nag at me. And I like some people to look at my plot ideas; they can tell me what doesn't fit and what does.

~Sunny




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It's a good tip for keeping the enthusiasm rush that accompanies a good idea. Personally, I like to talk out my ideas to myself and to another writerly friend to help me sort through character reactions, and it only boosts my enthusiasm because it gets me thinking, but it depends on the person, I suppose. :wink:
~ WD
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"All I know, all I'm saying, is that a story finds a storyteller. Not the other way around." ~Neverwas



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