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Pacing, less formula…. I really have to keep this in mind

Timeline home base = Forrest Gump Template lol first thing that popped in my head. Very good point!

So I just wrote 1700 words of a first draft that I hadn’t touched for weeks. Because of this video. Thank you!

Thank you. I was wondering at the start how I could apply this to my writing-Web novles are a bit more hectic. But it became self evident as time went by. So thank you, I will try this for my mini arcs and chapters.

This is exactly what I needed! I would love a series on all character related aspects. It is my favorite part as well.

Thank you for this! I would agree with you on every point, except visuals. This was also Nolan's visual laziest film as well.

I've been trying out the method suggested of breaking up the storytelling from the prose and it's so simple yet so effective. I actually feel a bit stupid for not having realised this earlier, but it's taken the dread almost entirely out of my writing process. Embarrassingly enough this method is one I've been using for some time now in my music composition and I didn't even realise I should be applying it to my writing, starting at the highest level, creating a basic structure and then refining inwards with each pass/draft, delving deeper and deeper into the details with each subsequent pass and reserving certain types of changes for different stages in the process. The thing is, my general workflow of music composition has this structure built directly into it. After putting all the notes in place and tweaking them, I eventually have to record them all and this forces me to become critical about the composition in a way that isn't necessary or useful at all in the earlier stages. Then the recording is analogous to the prose draft, where how the notes are being presented is all that I'm focusing on. Of course, this general approach seems to apply to other mediums as well with the process from a sketch to a painting, or from the foundation of a house to the decorations on the walls. It's so simple yet I feel that stepping back to take this very simple linear approach isn't emphasised enough within the writertube space (which for myself - and I believe many others - is almost the only place I go to these days for writing advice). I'm very glad to have come across this channel.

Omg... You and I seem to think somewhat alike here. Character creation must be involved with the story. It makes total sense and that is what I did, but your method is so simple and easy to build with! Thank you so much for sharing such valuable insight, colour me subbed! 🎉

NEW SUBSCRIBER! Thank you very much for going over this but I'm still a little confused. To me, it seemed as if you were describing how to figure out plot points. I'm still confused as to how to speed up and/or slow down the pacing (and WHEN I should do either action). Any clarification would help. Again, thank you for doing the video and I look forward to watching more.

This sounds like my chapter by chapter outline rather than my first draft. I'm one of those crazies longhanding haha 😄 But my first draft is def more than a detailed outline but def lacks the prose I desire. I look at it as a journey, opening my pages moment by moment. Instead of seeking an end, I simply seek the next moment. I also have no deadline and refuse to edit. This is why I prefer longhand for first draft because editing is much more messy and daunting. When I type it's way to easy to edit and I have no self discipline not to edit.

Thank you! This was a kick in the pants to quit obsessing about the details... just get the damn story frame on paper!!! Subscribed.

I have been hard stuck in the vicious cycle of trying to perfect my prose and it’s KILLING my productivity. Your video just happened across my feed a few days ago and holy shit I needed to hear it. Thank you for coming in clutch with excellent writing advice. I can’t wait to see your next video. ❤

Thank you. Even tho im still slacking off without getting any story done, your explanation make it doesn't seem that hard!

How you made your animations?

That's not how it works for me. What you suggest as a first draft already exists in my head when I start writing. Once I've got the outline, and done the research, I sit down and I write. Yes, some of the language may need polishing during editing, but my first draft is my novel. I don't agonise over anything, nor do I have writer's block.

What about the second draft? Would love to see a video on that.

You're the best when it comes to explaining things. Can you make a video on how to avoid single purpose sentence, and transition between scenes. Please ☺️

this is exactly what I needed to hear! Thanks so much, I'm feeling motivated again and even though I won't be anywhere near my Word goal for the month, I'm going to keep working on that first draft

I always try to write characters as real people, but I think I also see most real people as characters filling a particular narrative. It's frustrating. Your video made me feel sorta valid. Thanks. Might go start a cult now.

I'm so happy I've found this channel.

Your videos are refreshing. I find your way of talking about story resonates with how I naturally write. Although some of the other ways as you touched on briefly are helpful in a way, they seem confining and predictable. This is the 2nd video of yours I've watched and I will def be watching more.

Omigod, I absolutely love this. I keep trying to get looser with my first drafts so that I can actually finish them, but the idea of just stripping out the prose altogether??? I love this! Maybe it's my over-reliance on word counts and feeling like I need to hit a certain word count before the draft is "done", so I feel as though I have to write prose or it doesn't count. But I am definitely going to try this. Thank you!!

Thank you so much for your valuable insight! I have heard and read this concept from others, but the way they explained it wasn't getting through to me. You explained it perfectly for me to understand. ❤

I have been binge-watching you today. I am learning a lot - thank you. 11:00 I am in a Greek Fan Fic phase right now. I have someone collecting all these Greek artifacts - what happened to the cloak that killed Hercules or the Spear that killed Odysseus. Thank you for architecture and design advice. Polycrates offers you his ring as tribute :)

Orson Scott Card has taught kindergarteners to create a story collectively by guiding them through the principle you demonstrate--that one thing leads to another. He even prevented them from suggesting any plot development that would end the story prematurely. (If the parents come home too early, the story about a baby-sitter would come to an end too soon; therefore the suggestion that the parents come home early must be headed off by Card saying, "The parents only come home because they forgot something; then they go right back out again.")

A technique I have used (at least once) with success is essentially what you suggest here. I summarized my story in three sentences. Then I turned each sentence into a five-sentence paragraph. Then I turned each of those sentences into a five sentence paragraph. Those paragraphs became scenes that were like your mini-arcs.

Great video. Very motivating. Here’s a question for your poll. How do you tackle the second draft then without it becoming a very long list of things you must still do to make it become a novel?

You may have just saved my first attempt at writing by letting me know that I don't have to write the entire story as one long arc! I have many small stories to weave into the main story, but in my inexperience, I never thought to just write one at a time and THEN weave them in as I go!

I have never seen anyone explain character creation in such a digestible way GOSH THANK YOUUUU!!! this helped so incredibly much

How do you handle showing multiple archs that occur at the same time?

You've been dropping valuable advice one after another! I definitely look forward to more of your videos. I'm new to writing and want to do it just as a hobby, so I'm not well familiar with the drafting process. I have a question about the implementation of mini-arcs. So from my understanding, this first draft is basically making a basic synopsis of how the mini-arcs are going to play out, so are you supposed to 'expand' these sort of summaries out in the later drafts? As in describing it in greater, more specific details like the prose and the dialogue. Would you also add in more, tiny mini-arcs into that expansion then as a result? Like from what I've observed, the mini-arcs have these even tinier arcs that carry the plot towards its climax and end, I think. I'm basically wondering if I should draw up the bigger picture first, then get smaller with the details in the next draft, like the larger mini-arcs' children mini-arcs! Sorry, I'm kind of struggling to articulate this, so this might seem unclear!

Nice to see you added chapters. Much appreciated. As to character creation, I disagree. It is not up to the author. First, you can either create the character first and then shape the plot around the character, or vice versa. The reality is that likely they will merge during editing. What do I mean? Taking the latter option. First, you imagine a premise: character A does not want to do action x (character and not protagonist because this may be true of every character in your story). Why? What sort of person does not want to/ is unable to do that action? First character trait. Now, how can you make that action even more objectionable for character A? This is perhaps an escalation. What second trait would make this even more objectionable? And so on. It is the story that trumps everything. If it advances the story, keep it. If it does not, change or drop it. Want to give the character a quirk? Fine. But that quirk should add to the story. For example, in a love story, the woman loves daisies. The real reason, they remind her of her childhood and she would love to relive it vicariously. That reason does not need to be pushed at the reader; it can be alluded to much further in the story and the reader has to connect the dots. For example, 'That daisy looks just like one I had as a little girl. See, it's missing a petal.' (Is the woman herself missing a petal?) In another place, she can wonder whether her daughter will love daisies. You don't need to have her fantasize about leading the daughter to fields of daisies so she can watch the girl run through them.

Cool! And very interesting. I *Love* creating characters. I'd never heard of all those forms _thingies_ You've mentioned, but they sound pretty much the same as the way I had approached creating characters at least twenty years ago, back at the Carboniferous Era; my writing has significantly evolved since. 😃 Your way, however, appears to be a very good one; I shall attempt it. I like the _Helen_ character, she mostly sounds like Red's Granny's Character at _"Once Upon a Time"_ excellent TV Series = a rather formidable, and 100% self-reliant old lady, who (like any good GrandMa...🙂) Always Knows Best. And, *of course: One Must Write, What One Feels Right.* I wish to tell You a little bit here about my two most beLoved characters, the Two Queens of My Own Well. They are both rather lithe-built 16-year-old girls, but the similarity ends there. 😍😍 Short-haired Blonde Yullie is a wild Bisexual Slut. And *she takes Great Pride* in that. For Her (as for me), _"a Slut"_ is the Best conpliment, as it shows how she goes and extract whatever Sexual Pleasures she wants to out of Life, without ever giving a damn about _"what society might think!!"_ 🤣 She is Free and Independent, with *extremely* high self-confidence, and is practically *never* afraid of *_anything_* in Life. She has various hobbies, the greatest two of which are swimming, and classically playing the violin. Long-haired pale Brunette 'Iddìth is rather shy and concervative, and is very proud to be called *_a Nerd._* She is pretty religious, *always* dresses very modestly, is very much aware of any expectation any authority figure might have of her, reads a lot, and her most favourite Literature includes pretty much everything from the 19th Century - and, more than anything else, she identifies with "Pride and Prejudice"'s Mary. She proudly maintains her virginity, is not willing to let any boy even kiss her prior to an _official_ engagement, enjoys _"Hallmark"_ movies, and sees a lot of Beauty at the _"trad wives"_ trend - but, nonetheless, something in her does wish to break away from it all, and to be more like her Cousin Yullie.😍😍😍

I've been devouring videos on BookTube looking for advice, guidance, tips, tricks, inspiration, knowledge...there are a lot of very useful & helpful folks out there. But I've been drawn back to this video multiple times since I found it two months ago. You so succinctly convey the importance of mini-arcs & put into words something I think I've unconsciously known, but could never name. Thank you. Truly. I've gotten myself unstuck from the rut I was in with my story. ❤

You are a Story Lecture Genius Teacher Professor. Thanks for the good Information, you just electrified my blocked Immagination. And if I dare, I love your hair. It's Red and stylish. Could I guess the answer is YES, are you Irish? You are a Treasure, could we get together? Now my typewriter is really humming, keep those Writing Tricks coming. TXT

Would love the homework thing

There are many vital components to a great story and pacing is crucial. I recommend writers study certain films to learn about pacing. It's hard for people to grasp how to do something by simply understanding the theory behind it. When you study music, after learning theory and analyzing certain seminal pieces, the teacher tasks students with applying what they've learned by writing in the styles of famous composers. This is where you really learn. Yes, you have theory as a foundation, but you almost have to forget about it and get into the creative flow when you compose for yourself. For pacing in stories, it's hard for me to grasp because I don't read novels in one sitting (short stories are another matter), so seeing the pacing clearly can be difficult (especially in the really long 19th century Europeans). For this task I use movies. The first two Godfather films, for example, are master classes in pacing. Have you ever wondered after seeing these films how you feel like you've been involved in a story that seems much longer than the film's running time, and even how you feel like you've been through years with the characters? Very few films can do this successfully. How did Coppola do it? Kubrick is another pacing master. Looking at great films can also be instructive in terms of how to include visuals in your story that you probably wouldn't otherwise - including background, ambience and characteristics of your characters. You can also read the books the great movies were based on and study what was changed and left out of the film that is in the book. While, when writing a novel, your goal isn't to emulate the structure of a movie, it can be instructive to see what the director or screenwriter chooses to leave out of the book to make the pacing work for a film length story. Personally, I no longer read 700 page novels (I probably will again after I retire), been there, done that. My favorite contemporary writer is Nobel prize winner Patrick Modiano, and his books are all under 150 pages. His structure is quite unique, so it would be hard to use him as a model unless you wanted to write in a similar vein. But I would recommend him, if you haven't read him. because he is quite unique. And what a writer should be after is to discover their own voice, but it is no shame in saying that you only learn what this is after studying and even emulating others. For those of you trying to write screenplays. Good luck with that. I have nothing to say because, while I love good movies, I really hate the formulaic way screenwriting is taught, and there are tons of bad films in the culture as a result. It is cynical for a writer to follow schemes in order to be successful, and anyway that method rarely works. You will lose your way. You will be derivative and likely rejected. Unless you have connections in the film industry, via a highly paid agent, your best bet is to write your best and then someone might want to make a film based on your book. Ever wonder why it is difficult for even well-established actors to get the films made that they want to make? That is how hard it can be. Keep it in mind.

I’m definitely following your channel, you’re explaining everything so well and take the pressure out of writing which most content and advice these days results in. Also love that you give examples, i’m not comprehending anything if do not have an example.

your advice is so good, truly thank and please keep making videos. I just watched your others, and for the first time i do not feel overwhelmed on how to write characters or my first draft. I’m not dreading to finally start, i’m excited now and really think i can do this!

This is probably the best advice I needed to hear.

Here's my takeaway from this: Build on mini-arc's to the overall story arc. "Meanwhile" and "And Then" are useless and boring. "But" and "Therefore" are far more engaging, effective, and better for story building and pacing.

Amazing

Personally, the best way to create my characters is by thinking about the story I want to tell. For instance, if I get the inspiration to write a story about a doctor who finds a cure to cancer, and learns they're getting targeted by the illuminati, then WHO is my MC? What kind of person will they be, the type to run and hide, or the type to directly confront the puppet masters that control Big Pharma? And once I decide that, then what big obstacle does the MC have that prevents them from getting an easy win? Based on the story's ending in mind, how will the character grow? And so on, so on. I totally agree that writing lists of blood types and traits and favorite color can come in handy, but that plunges you into a black hole of information, information that will most likely never see the light of day. By knowing the story you want to tell, you'll slowly understand what type of characters the story deserves.

Hands down one of the best character videos I've ever seen. Very succinct, and very correct. Everything I've seen with very few exceptions peddles these cookie cutter, card board cut outs of similar character after similar character.

I've watched tons of youtube videos about writing (mostly sci-fi, because that is my goal, I'm totally newbie) and this video, and your other about character building are the MOST USEFUL content so far about the topic. Big hug and thank you <3. Please, make more stuff! Your perspective and thoughts I think these what people REALLY need to hear!

This was fantastic, i hadn't considered approaching the first draft this way and have been bogged down in prose and research mode. Thank you, I will start with this method today!

As a playwright who is transitioning to screenwriting, this segment has been important to me. It has given me rhythm and simplified everything in my transition journey. Thanks. From Kenya