Developing a story line....?

If I might be so bold as to make a suggestion, just plow ahead and write. It will probably sound like someone else's stuff. Keep writing. By the time your writing is publishable (after a million words or thereabouts), it won't sound like someone else's stuff anymore. It's kind of like magic!

P.S. Don't worry about the research before putting pen to paper. Writing teaches writing.

If I may make a suggestion, you might start by deciding on a main character. Ask yourself, what's the worst thing that could happen to him? Then make it happen and make him get through it as his situation gets worse and worse until the climax where he solves all his problems, albeit sometimes a little worse for wear.

Just a suggestion I got from Dean Koontz.

I second Avalon's excellent suggestion. Just start writing. The only way to strengthen your voice is to use it.

When I want to avoid certain influences once I've started writing, I tend to stop reading books of the same genre/style for a while, just until I firmly establish my own voice.

Sorry, but asking other people how to have an original thought is a little ironic. Just listen to your inner voice and see what happens.

I think being influenced by those you look up to during your formative years is quite common and not necessarily a bad thing. "Imitate, assimilate, innovate" is what Miles Davis said. Granted, he's not a writer, but the imitation dilemma is just as prominent in Jazz as it is in writing, perhaps a bit more. I'm in the middle of my second novel, and some ways into it, I started reading a book by an author I hadn't read before. The style of my writing changed slightly for the better after that, I think. And it wasn't like I copied the author, it just gave me a new way of looking at my own style.

nicki20 said:

Does anyone have any tips on preventing someone else’s' story from influencing my own?

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Stop reading fiction and start reading non-fiction. People were telling me that my stuff sounded like Stephen King and so I quit reading his books, as much as I liked his books. It was hard, but it paid off in the long run. I still get to read, and generally it's research type stuff anyhow, and so it works out. Try it.

However, if you have to read fiction, read them to study structure rather than concentrating on the idea itself. Fiction can be very helpful; it's just a matter of how you view it. Reading fiction can be to your advantage, and it can teach you how to write.

Ideas come from one place and that is inspiration. What inspires you the most? Focus on that and ideas will generate out of that...

Good Luck,
argenianpoet

nicki20 said:

I am a huge reader and have all of these ideas and feelings that I want to express as a writer. I have decided to do as much research as I can before ever putting pen to paper. Sometimes I love certain books I read, and I even become inspired by them, but I am having trouble developing an original story plot without the influence of someone else’s story. Does anyone have any tips on preventing someone else’s' story from influencing my own?


Much Appreciative,
Nicki

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I just write as if I was having a conversation with somebody or listening to somebody talk. I don't know if this is a good idea or not, if it is simplistic or natural. But try to relax and tell the story and you will use your own voice.

Here's one I learned from a script writer:

Get a bunch of index cards.

Write the name and a sketch-bio of a character you find interesting and might like to use to tell a story.

You don't have to use every character in the story you'll write, this is just a "casting call" for possibles. (When cooking you don't use every spice in the rack, just the ones you need to get the right flavor.)

Write down each idea that's fizzing in your brain, one to a card. It forces you to focus.

You'll soon fill up a stack, and by having the hard copy in front of you you can shuffle them around into a usable order.

I used this during a collaboration with another writer. We had to cold-plot a book (as in anything goes, all ideas are considered).

First we figured out the characters we would need to tell the story (the girl, the guy, the bad guy, sidekicks, minions, spearcarriers).

We gave them names and a driver. A driver is what moves your character forward in life. Han Solo's driver was to make lots of money as a smuggler, but he got side-tracked into being a hero.

Every character has an agenda. When it's in conflict with the agenda of other characters that's a GOOD thing!

That in place, we decided what things needed to happen in the action-oriented story: the bad guy doing something BAD, the good guy follows the clues, the girl foiling the baddie, a few nookie scenes, background locations, etc.

Sounds cold, but once on the cards we were shuffling them all over the floor fitting them together into a plot that eventually turned into the best book we'd ever done.

It's a device that may not work for everyone, but I get like you--too many ideas to sort out! This helps me bring order to the chaos.

Wow, that's all one hell of a piece of advice!

If one's unable to figure out what to do for plot, would you suggest using a similar idea? That is, have the character sketch cards as one set, but to also have another set of cards for basic plot ideas. Then it would be like mixing and matching to see what characters would have the better possibility of fitting in any given plot idea.

If that needs any clearing up, I will. I didn't get even half an hour of sleep last night, so bear with me.

It's just a device to play with--works for some and not for others.

John Cleese & Connie Booth used a giant piece of posterboard to plot out their stories for Fawlty Towers. They put it in the middle of a table and walked around writing in stuff long before anyone typed a script.

Lately I've been using a dry-erase board and different color markers. Makes it easy to put plot points into order.

I've got scriptwriting software which has "index cards" as an option. I can switch the cards around, add more, whatever's needed.

Heck--I've even used Tarot cards to "read" a character's future. (That didn't work, BTW.)

The point is to try different things to see what works best for YOU.

And I always go for a character driven plot. When they're well written you'll remember the characters long after you've forgotten the plot.

Gillhoughly said:

Heck--I've even used Tarot cards to "read" a character's future. (That didn't work, BTW.)

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I wouldn't think it would work either!

I'll have to try out what you suggested next time. As it stands, it's definitely a good serving of advice. Whether or not it will work for myself (at the least, with some minor personal tweaking), I'll have to see. As such, I never thought about that.

There's always this. (I actually used it during NaNoWriMo, and it was useful as well as amusing.)

nicki20 said:

Does anyone have any tips on preventing someone else’s' story from influencing my own?


Much Appreciative,
Nicki

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Yes, don't try to stop this from happening. Use it, benefit from it. Take a bath in it. There's not only nothing wrong with having your story influenced by one from another writer, it's the way we all learn to do what we do, whether we want to admit it or not.

It's a good thing, and it's why writers are told that the only other things as important as writing is reading.