Patrick Sean Tomlinson / @stealthygeek / "Torque Wheeler" / @RealAutomanic / Kempesh / Padawan v2.5 - "Conservative" sci-fi author with TDS, armed "drunk with anger management issues" and terminated parental rights, actual tough guy, obese, paid Quasi, paid thousands to be repeatedly unbanned from Twitter

cerulean hydra said:
This is something that is different for everybody, it seems. Admittedly, I am a novice, and others like @WelperHelper99 will be able to give much better advice.

But what works well for me is having a beginning, an end, motivations for the main characters (wants/needs), and then breaking it into four quarters, i.e. W happens in the first quarter, then X happens in the second leading to the mid point, Y leads up to the climax, where Z happens. It's fractal in nature, so if I am uncertain about something, I can just break one of those quarters down into four quarters to flesh it out.

My brain doesn't like detailed outlines, but some people will write every scene they have planned on an index card. Others will write out a list of key moments, like frames on a story board. I think the bare minimum is knowing your beginning, middle, and end. You can often tell when a writer has shit out a first draft without knowing their ending at the start.

For a mystery novel specifically, I've seen advice to map it out. Create tables and timelines that state where characters are at what exact times, because consistency is important. I've never sat down to try and write one, though.

late edit: there isn't anything inherently wrong with discovery writing the way patrick does, just don't consider your first draft a finished product that only needs minor tweaks. Plotting and outlining are just tools to get unstuck and tell better stories.
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Speaking more to this, if you like the Lord of the Rings AND are interested in the writing process, the draft series of works on the way that Christopher compiled are worth investigating. You'l find that some things were known from very early drafts, some things changed tremendously, some scenes stayed almost word-for-word but moved to entirely different parts of the story, etc.

Tolkien would stop and write "the story seen from X" which was a forward looking outline from Bree, or Rivendel, etc.

Then again, Tolkien took more effort writing a grocery list than Patrick has expended in his life.
 
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MilkThePig said:
Practicing gratitude can seem like a cheesy thing but Jesus Christ if you ever want to feel better about yourself, just be grateful that you're not Patrick S Tomlinson on this Christmas Day......



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Incel Death Note said:
Time in Milwaukee: 3:30 PM, Christmas Day.
Currently enjoying prison at a rate of 3 per minute.
Merry Christmas, Pat.
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Notice how today the giant group of terrorists is down to a single one: pattymeatloaf.
 
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Null said:
He's replying to me but has me blocked...
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A favored tactic of the coward known as Patrick S. Tomlinson. By the way, that Jim Stewartson guy is a weird schizo who is obsessed with Mike Flynn.

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A lot of what has happened to Tomlinson might not have happened had he not felt the need to respond to almost every single trolling attempt, every post, every text because he has to be right and have the last word. He's like a guy who keeps getting pranked by people leaving flaming bags of shit on his front door and even after the hundredth time it happens he freaks out and starts furiously stomping on the bags as if he expects this time, it will be different.
 
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