There\u2019s no one right way to write your story. Complete pantsing is a totally effective way of writing (don\u2019t let anyone tell you otherwise!!), but if you want more structure or clarity, here are some ideas!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Outline After Finishing.<\/strong> After discovery-writing a first draft, writing an outline based on your draft can be really helpful while revising. I find that it clarifies a lot of plot points that grew naturally while writing. Story Grid<\/a>, created by Shawn Coyne, is a way to express the change in your story. Or you can summarize scenes on index cards and move them around to create a visual timeline. (And you can color-coordinate them, which is exciting!) Tables and timelines can help to see what each scene gives to the story, the overall progression of the story, and which scenes need to be cut (I\u2019m sorry).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Draft Zero.<\/strong> Another idea I\u2019ve heard is to write a really messy first draft, skipping over a lot of description, dialogue, and even scenes and noting them in brackets instead, and then treating it as an outline and either rewriting it or filling in what you wrote. (So you\u2019re basically discovery-writing your outline.) <\/p>\n\n\n\n Archetypes.<\/strong> Again, there is no right story structure, but archetypes that happen to fit your story can give clarity on plot points instead of having it float around in your head like mine usually do. Two very common ones that I like are the Hero\u2019s Journey and the Three-Act Structure. The Hero\u2019s Journey (also known as the Monomyth) is most common in fantasy, but it can fit into any genre. Usually a Hero\u2019s Journey arc starts with a character in their ordinary life, after which something brings them into an unknown world or situation; then they face trials and some sort of death and rebirth; and then (usually) they finally return to their old life changed. Within that, there are a lot more common details \u2014 here\u2019s the Wikipedia article<\/a>. Regardless of the type of story you\u2019re writing, elements of the Hero\u2019s Journey can help to clarify what different events are doing for your story. A looser model is the Three-Act Structure. Act one: Introduce the characters and problem. Act two: Make everything worse. Act three: Have them solve the problem. And here are some more archetypes<\/a>. If you don\u2019t find archetypes that fit, you can also define these basic plot points: Inciting incident (what causes the plot to start happening), rising action (foreshadowing, tension, and everything getting worse), climax (the culmination of the plot, in which the evil is defeated), and denouement (resolution and wrapping up loose ends). I also like the idea of expressing plot in terms of connection and disconnection rather than conflict<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n