Story
Complete
Plotting a Storyline, and Avoiding Common Pitfalls
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EducationalMusings & MumblingsRated - Wholesome/All-AgesSITE ADMINSoloTutorial
The biggest part of roleplaying is the creation of storylines, or character arcs that revolve around multiple posts to form a complete story. Many people start out with an idea for a storyline, but things falter and they don't finish them, or ideas get muddled. There is a common reason for that... most feel like too much plotting hinders creative expression, but the fact is, you can have a wholly inspired storyline without feeling like it's overdone, by having some milestones to hit and leaving the rest up to the individual characters.
Have An Idea/Brainstorm
This goes without saying, but it needs to be thought out thoroughly. Plotting doesn't mean saying “We're going to meet and then have dinner, and we'll see what happens.” This is the quickest way to ruin a storyline for yourself before it even starts. Without knowing what your characters are working towards, each post will feel contrived simply because no one knows what they're actually doing, and things feel lost. You don't want to get too finicky in details at this point, but having a broad stroke idea will help you to narrow things down.
“We're going to meet at this place we both frequent, and my character will get up the nerve to ask yours to dinner. At dinner, we'll talk and find things we might like about each other and explore our differences to show the budding friendship/relationship. Once dinner is done, we'll go our separate ways, but we'll realize that we can't stop thinking of each other, and one of us gives in, contacting the other. Unfortunately, -extra character- doesn't approve of the relationship, so they have to fight to prove that they're able to withstand outside influences in order to be together.”
One thing we at the Darkside like to do is to propose a question. “What would happen if Acheron was imprisoned in Kalosis, instead of Apollymi?” Then we brainstorm. People throw in ideas like... “Well, that would mean daimons would run the world, instead of Darkhunters. Humans would be food.” Or “If that happened, everything would be opposite, not just that, because Acheron had such a hand in forming everyone in NOLA. People who were 'good' would be 'evil' in this world. Events that happened would be flipped.” Okay, that's awesome, and we can totally go somewhere with this! Now, how to fix it, cause uh... we can't let the world go to hell for reals. “Well, maybe it's a spell. Or an artifact. Ooh maybe it's a deity from XYZ pantheon, and someone realizes this isn't right and recruits the others by ending the 'brainwashing' and they send the deity to Tartarus.” Score. We got ourselves a storyline. -Note, this is actually a storyline Ds is working on slowly, so please don't borrow it
Flesh It Out
Now, you have a plot idea. Not only can you write the meeting, the dinner, and the solo posts where you can't stop thinking about each other, but now you've introduced conflict... someone who doesn't want you two together. You'll be able to do posts with that person both solo and together, and be able to show how the experience either draws the two characters together or pushes them apart. This is now a story arc, consisting of more than one random post, with implications for the characters in the future that will change how they think, act, and respond to each other. Obviously, this is simplified somewhat and a bit of a banal plot idea in the long run, but you can see how a broader range of plotting can help take something from a single post to a story arc that can be worked on over a longer period of time.
Who/Why/What/When/Where
These are the staples of writing. You have to be able to describe these things in order to know that you're making your point. Where are they? In each post, describe their environment, both their physical location and the city they're in. Let people be drawn into the story in a way that makes them visualize it as a movie in their head. Details! Who- Who are you two main characters? Who are the supporting characters? Why are they there? Why are these two characters acting, thinking, and behaving the way they do? Don't leave it up to user interpretation, we human animals are good at seeing things that aren't there and making up our own vision of things, tell us what's going on in YOUR vision. What is the end goal of this? Do they end up in a relationship? Do they realize they aren't ready to fight the rest of the world to be together and walk away? Why does this matter to them in the long term, how will it affect them? When is this happening? Is it over a span of a few weeks, a few days? Clearly acknowledge the passing of time so people can frame it within their own perspective. You don't want this to feel like a wham bam thank-you-ma'am goodbye in one night, so you have to clearly show that nights are passing, days are going by, and time is moving.
Involve Others
One of the greatest aspects of storylines, especially in groups, is to bring multiple characters together for the purpose of the storyline. See who you have available. Not only do you have the two main characters and the “villain” of the piece, but you can have them go out with their friends, talk about the situation with them or family members. You can have random instances of the characters meeting someone else somewhere, and not being interested because they can't get character A out of their mind. Even when falling into a relationship, real life still goes on. People interact with their bosses, their mailman, their family/friends, heck, their Starbucks barista. It's an opportunity to make any storyline seem “real”. Life doesn't stop just because something happens to you. No, it continues on, with each new item being seen through your new lenses. Be careful not to include random people just to include them, though. Make sure they have a point in the story, give them something to work on so that the main characters “need” their input or that break from their situation to get it out of their mind.
Set Your Milestones
Now that you have your plot, your characters, and your conflict, sit down and write out a plot outline. It sounds complicated, but it's really not, I promise.
1- Characters meet at SomePlaceTheyKnow.
2- Character A gets up the nerve to ask Character B out.
3- Characters A/B go to dinner.
4- Characters go home, post one or two posts separately over a few days thinking of each other.
5- Character B goes home from work/school/moseying around, gets into an argument with Character C about Character A.
6- Characters A/B talk, try to figure out how to handle the situation.
7- Characters interact with Characters D-Z/whoever, while emotions are high, tempers flare, etc.
8- Characters A/B get together again, decide whether they are able to handle this situation or not.
9- Characters A/B confront C.
10- Do they get together? Does C ruin the budding relationship? Do their relationships with D-Z change or morph due to their actions during scene 7?
11- Final plotting... wrap up posts, have a conclusion, sort things with C-Z, etc.
Write it Out!
Now you have your map of what needs to happen to get you to the end. When writing, some people find it helpful to have a private blog on a group page or in messages, where all characters can comment with “Scene 5, done, here's the link” or something of that nature. Notice, we didn't tell them what to say, do, or think. Their reactions and writing/posts are their own, but they are done within the framework of the storyline that has been plotted. This helps the situations seem real and believable. When things are plotted too tightly, people tend to lose steam as they aren't able to really behave in a way their character would normally behave. Give them room to grow as a writer/character within your framework, allow them to choose how their character will react and what they'll say. Not only does this make your storyline more vivid, but it helps them flesh out their characters more during the process as well.
Go With The Flow
Contrary to all of this, some people get too wrapped up in the framework and miss opportunities. Maybe a character throws a wrench in things with a random comment. Maybe a new idea presents itself that would be perfect to flesh out the storyline further. Add it in. As long as everyone keeps the end goal and milestones in mind, you can move the milestones/map as you see fit, to squeeze in interesting posts and side plots that crop up. Don't get too hung up on everything being concluded in one storyline. Life is never tied up in a pretty bow, with a curtain going down and applause from the audience. Life goes on, and your storyline will too.
Events in a storyline should have far-reaching ramifications for the people involved. With any luck, something that happened in your storyline could spawn a whole new storyline to deal with that issue. Letting characters speak, add their input, and react in new ways is the gift that keeps on giving, really. When you let go of the reins and give everyone a barebones plot to work with, sometimes magic can happen. Sometimes it gets muddled beyond belief. Know your friends, know your styles of writing, and set your boundaries for how much free rein is wanted. You never know, people may surprise you.
Archive... archive... archive.
While RPL does its best to protect work, there is no excuse for not properly archiving a storyline you want to keep, especially when it involves multiple characters. You never know when a character might be given up, deleted, or changed, ruining your work because now there are posts missing. We've all seen it, far too often. You can do this one of two ways. You can save posts as they're finished, formatting them into a notepad or Word doc separately, or you can keep track of the links and format everything at the end. Personally, we generally format posts as they're finished so that once the storyline is over, we can post a PDF copy of it, formatted novel-style. Examples here- http://darkhunterdarkside.weebly.com/storylines
Above all, be patient. Writing storylines take longer than regular random posts, but they're so worth it for character and group development. People have real lives, and sometimes things get in the way of writing. We at the Darkside have had storylines take a full year to complete because the characters all have other things going on. That's okay, and in fact, encouraged. It gives time for the ideas to percolate, and new thoughts to appear that might take the storyline to new heights. While working on a storyline within a group of people, a great thing to do is to stress to everyone that the storyline posts are separate from their “usual” posts.
Let people post all over, with whoever they wish, in whatever time period the wish. When the storyline is completely done, THEN they can start the after posts of reacting to events that happened during the storyline. This helps keep content fresh and moving forward, even while working on a longer storyline on the side. It also ensures that no one gets bored waiting for someone else, which can derail a longer storyline more than anything else. Keep moving forward, even if you branch off to the side as well. Variety is the spice of life and keeps things interesting, after all.
Have An Idea/Brainstorm
This goes without saying, but it needs to be thought out thoroughly. Plotting doesn't mean saying “We're going to meet and then have dinner, and we'll see what happens.” This is the quickest way to ruin a storyline for yourself before it even starts. Without knowing what your characters are working towards, each post will feel contrived simply because no one knows what they're actually doing, and things feel lost. You don't want to get too finicky in details at this point, but having a broad stroke idea will help you to narrow things down.
“We're going to meet at this place we both frequent, and my character will get up the nerve to ask yours to dinner. At dinner, we'll talk and find things we might like about each other and explore our differences to show the budding friendship/relationship. Once dinner is done, we'll go our separate ways, but we'll realize that we can't stop thinking of each other, and one of us gives in, contacting the other. Unfortunately, -extra character- doesn't approve of the relationship, so they have to fight to prove that they're able to withstand outside influences in order to be together.”
One thing we at the Darkside like to do is to propose a question. “What would happen if Acheron was imprisoned in Kalosis, instead of Apollymi?” Then we brainstorm. People throw in ideas like... “Well, that would mean daimons would run the world, instead of Darkhunters. Humans would be food.” Or “If that happened, everything would be opposite, not just that, because Acheron had such a hand in forming everyone in NOLA. People who were 'good' would be 'evil' in this world. Events that happened would be flipped.” Okay, that's awesome, and we can totally go somewhere with this! Now, how to fix it, cause uh... we can't let the world go to hell for reals. “Well, maybe it's a spell. Or an artifact. Ooh maybe it's a deity from XYZ pantheon, and someone realizes this isn't right and recruits the others by ending the 'brainwashing' and they send the deity to Tartarus.” Score. We got ourselves a storyline. -Note, this is actually a storyline Ds is working on slowly, so please don't borrow it
Flesh It Out
Now, you have a plot idea. Not only can you write the meeting, the dinner, and the solo posts where you can't stop thinking about each other, but now you've introduced conflict... someone who doesn't want you two together. You'll be able to do posts with that person both solo and together, and be able to show how the experience either draws the two characters together or pushes them apart. This is now a story arc, consisting of more than one random post, with implications for the characters in the future that will change how they think, act, and respond to each other. Obviously, this is simplified somewhat and a bit of a banal plot idea in the long run, but you can see how a broader range of plotting can help take something from a single post to a story arc that can be worked on over a longer period of time.
Who/Why/What/When/Where
These are the staples of writing. You have to be able to describe these things in order to know that you're making your point. Where are they? In each post, describe their environment, both their physical location and the city they're in. Let people be drawn into the story in a way that makes them visualize it as a movie in their head. Details! Who- Who are you two main characters? Who are the supporting characters? Why are they there? Why are these two characters acting, thinking, and behaving the way they do? Don't leave it up to user interpretation, we human animals are good at seeing things that aren't there and making up our own vision of things, tell us what's going on in YOUR vision. What is the end goal of this? Do they end up in a relationship? Do they realize they aren't ready to fight the rest of the world to be together and walk away? Why does this matter to them in the long term, how will it affect them? When is this happening? Is it over a span of a few weeks, a few days? Clearly acknowledge the passing of time so people can frame it within their own perspective. You don't want this to feel like a wham bam thank-you-ma'am goodbye in one night, so you have to clearly show that nights are passing, days are going by, and time is moving.
Involve Others
One of the greatest aspects of storylines, especially in groups, is to bring multiple characters together for the purpose of the storyline. See who you have available. Not only do you have the two main characters and the “villain” of the piece, but you can have them go out with their friends, talk about the situation with them or family members. You can have random instances of the characters meeting someone else somewhere, and not being interested because they can't get character A out of their mind. Even when falling into a relationship, real life still goes on. People interact with their bosses, their mailman, their family/friends, heck, their Starbucks barista. It's an opportunity to make any storyline seem “real”. Life doesn't stop just because something happens to you. No, it continues on, with each new item being seen through your new lenses. Be careful not to include random people just to include them, though. Make sure they have a point in the story, give them something to work on so that the main characters “need” their input or that break from their situation to get it out of their mind.
Set Your Milestones
Now that you have your plot, your characters, and your conflict, sit down and write out a plot outline. It sounds complicated, but it's really not, I promise.
1- Characters meet at SomePlaceTheyKnow.
2- Character A gets up the nerve to ask Character B out.
3- Characters A/B go to dinner.
4- Characters go home, post one or two posts separately over a few days thinking of each other.
5- Character B goes home from work/school/moseying around, gets into an argument with Character C about Character A.
6- Characters A/B talk, try to figure out how to handle the situation.
7- Characters interact with Characters D-Z/whoever, while emotions are high, tempers flare, etc.
8- Characters A/B get together again, decide whether they are able to handle this situation or not.
9- Characters A/B confront C.
10- Do they get together? Does C ruin the budding relationship? Do their relationships with D-Z change or morph due to their actions during scene 7?
11- Final plotting... wrap up posts, have a conclusion, sort things with C-Z, etc.
Write it Out!
Now you have your map of what needs to happen to get you to the end. When writing, some people find it helpful to have a private blog on a group page or in messages, where all characters can comment with “Scene 5, done, here's the link” or something of that nature. Notice, we didn't tell them what to say, do, or think. Their reactions and writing/posts are their own, but they are done within the framework of the storyline that has been plotted. This helps the situations seem real and believable. When things are plotted too tightly, people tend to lose steam as they aren't able to really behave in a way their character would normally behave. Give them room to grow as a writer/character within your framework, allow them to choose how their character will react and what they'll say. Not only does this make your storyline more vivid, but it helps them flesh out their characters more during the process as well.
Go With The Flow
Contrary to all of this, some people get too wrapped up in the framework and miss opportunities. Maybe a character throws a wrench in things with a random comment. Maybe a new idea presents itself that would be perfect to flesh out the storyline further. Add it in. As long as everyone keeps the end goal and milestones in mind, you can move the milestones/map as you see fit, to squeeze in interesting posts and side plots that crop up. Don't get too hung up on everything being concluded in one storyline. Life is never tied up in a pretty bow, with a curtain going down and applause from the audience. Life goes on, and your storyline will too.
Events in a storyline should have far-reaching ramifications for the people involved. With any luck, something that happened in your storyline could spawn a whole new storyline to deal with that issue. Letting characters speak, add their input, and react in new ways is the gift that keeps on giving, really. When you let go of the reins and give everyone a barebones plot to work with, sometimes magic can happen. Sometimes it gets muddled beyond belief. Know your friends, know your styles of writing, and set your boundaries for how much free rein is wanted. You never know, people may surprise you.
Archive... archive... archive.
While RPL does its best to protect work, there is no excuse for not properly archiving a storyline you want to keep, especially when it involves multiple characters. You never know when a character might be given up, deleted, or changed, ruining your work because now there are posts missing. We've all seen it, far too often. You can do this one of two ways. You can save posts as they're finished, formatting them into a notepad or Word doc separately, or you can keep track of the links and format everything at the end. Personally, we generally format posts as they're finished so that once the storyline is over, we can post a PDF copy of it, formatted novel-style. Examples here- http://darkhunterdarkside.weebly.com/storylines
Above all, be patient. Writing storylines take longer than regular random posts, but they're so worth it for character and group development. People have real lives, and sometimes things get in the way of writing. We at the Darkside have had storylines take a full year to complete because the characters all have other things going on. That's okay, and in fact, encouraged. It gives time for the ideas to percolate, and new thoughts to appear that might take the storyline to new heights. While working on a storyline within a group of people, a great thing to do is to stress to everyone that the storyline posts are separate from their “usual” posts.
Let people post all over, with whoever they wish, in whatever time period the wish. When the storyline is completely done, THEN they can start the after posts of reacting to events that happened during the storyline. This helps keep content fresh and moving forward, even while working on a longer storyline on the side. It also ensures that no one gets bored waiting for someone else, which can derail a longer storyline more than anything else. Keep moving forward, even if you branch off to the side as well. Variety is the spice of life and keeps things interesting, after all.