Sarah: To Nicole

First of all, welcome girlie! So glad to have another member and see that SAAWAKM is growing!

As for your question:

When I get an idea for a story, it's usually not the beginning. My inspiration usually plants a thought in my head. It's usually about a girl (since I always write about girls) and some sort of trail she is facing. This is called your protagonist, but you probably already knew that.

Since my idea is not usually something at the beginning, I know I can't start right there. But that's okay too. I write down the initial idea, usually calling the characters "He" or "She". Once I have that, I read it and read it again until I can figure out just what type of person they are. I start to build them up in my head. Is she strong? Capable of dealing with this? How could she change? What about him? What does he look like. ETC.

I usually take notes at this point, and work through what characters are what. I also like to pick name at this point, because a name can make someone real.


As far as sitting down and ACTUALLY writing the idea, yes, then I start at the beginning. (This is usually several days, if not weeks, after the idea is planted in my head. I have to get the characters works out before I can write them. I have to know who they are before I figure out how to portray them on paper).

Of course, I get some great ideas along the way. When something like this happens, I open another word document or get out another piece of paper and write that out. This can be just a summary or an actual word by word event of what you would like to happen. I usually keep the extra document saved with my story, and have it open while I'm writing to see where it should fit.

When it comes to planning, I usually know what I want to happen. Sometimes, my story takes different turns, though, and goes somewhere else than where I wanted. When this happens, it is okay! That means that your characters are alive, and their own people.

As far as the people who told you to write roughly...er...well...that's not what I do. I try to get it as good as I can the FIRST time, and that way I don't have so much work in editing. Plus, if you go roughly, you might forget some important detail.


Kas had a great thought there. I do that too. If YOU write out what is wrong, then you can know what to fix. You have to think like your character. I also reccomend letting someone else read your work. If it doesn't make sense to them, then it won't make sense to other people!

I hope this helped you, Nicole. And all of you other SAAWAKM peeps.

~SG~