I’ve been writing for five years and I’ve always had tons of issues with coming up with plots and sticking to them.
Something in me would rather just start writing with a general idea but that ALWAYS leads to me abandoning the book. I have so many drafts that it’s not funny anymore.
I also tend to come up with a lot more than I can handle and I get overwhelmed, or I just straight up lose interest.
So, how do you write plots and stick to them? Any and all advice is appreciated!
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I understand exactly. Literally all my book ideas except this current one have been abandoned, since age 9. So I can’t really help sorry!
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That’s exactly the same with me! I’ve been trying to write a novel since like second grade, but I’ve never gotten far except for the one I’m working on right now! (and I got like 80 pages into a previous one last year, which I considered excellent at the time, but then lost interest)
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It’s so frustrating! I’ve gotten around 120 pages before losing interest, mainly because my writing had improved a lot since the beginning and I didn’t want to rewrite half of the book haha
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I know, in my current novel, I’m rereading the beginning and it’s so bad! But I think that regardless of whether I abandon it or not, my writing will change over the course of the book so I may as well keep going and edit it out later!
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As much as any skill improves with practice, this does as well. I’ve been participating in NaNoWriMo since 2015, and I’ve reached the goal of 50,000 words every year, but 2019 was the first year that I actually finished a draft. Crazy! I’ve been writing since I was 7 but never finished a draft until last [name_u]November[/name_u] because I’d always have issues with the plot. Whether it was boredom, quality (or lack thereof, as it always was), or poor planning, I abandoned every draft—that’s about a 1000 paged novel! plus the drafts I wrote outside of NaNo.
I honestly think that when you know, you know? I realize that’s not super helpful… But I can say that when I wrote those first 4 NaNo stories, I knew before 10,000 words in that the plot wasn’t working. I never once had that feeling with the story I’m currently on draft 2.5 (long story) of.
It’s a mixture of knowing where you’re going but letting your characters guide you there. You should have an idea where your story starts and ends, and what needs to happen to get from point A to point B, but how that happens should be driven by your characters. It’s hard, and not every project is going to turn into a bestseller, but every time a plot doesn’t work out, you’re learning what went wrong and how to fix it for the next one. That’s progress!
I hate to tell you this, but that’s essentially the drafting process!
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Thank you so much @SparkleNinja18, your advice really helps! I guess that is the process, isn’t it?
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This is why I write children’s stories exclusively lol!
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I understand the pain, but this is what I do. I’m 99% done with my first novel (I should finish tomorrow) and I’ve started planning my second, so this works for me. I hope I can help! First, I like to think about writing, ideas, and what makes me inspired. I’m not a huge movie person, but whenever I watch one, I think about anything that could be inspiring. Of course, I don’t copy the plots, but it can be something as simple as a town visited, a house that looks pretty or intriguing, the sky, etc. Movies are just “fertile ground” for brainstorming. The ideas I get are often extremely vague, but I brainstorm and brainstorm until I have some sort of skeleton plot. I also like to walk outside, in a park, a hiking trail, etc. This might only work for me, but something about being outside helps my imagination run. I imagine that everyone has a place they can go to be inspired, so maybe you can find one (I’m sorry if that’s vague!!).
For me, as a beginning teenage writer, the most important thing to not lose interest is knowing how I want the book to end. Unfortunately, I’m not one of those writers that can write the first chapter without knowing how the next will go and produce a good novel. So how this process works for me is I have my intro planned, some ideas for subplots, and a clear ending. Then, I plan about 2-5 chapters at a time until I get to the end (at least for my first novel 
)
As for staying motivated, this is the least romantic and most difficult part of the journey. However, I believe this is the most important and most rewarding part. And motivation is not going to be there most of the time. This is where you have to be disciplined. I wake up at 4:45 AM and write for about two hours. Then, I write sparingly throughout the day, but my second “productive block” is from about 10 PM-12 AM. I make myself write 7 pages a day (approx. 4,200 words). Of course, everyone has different times that they are productive. I have a friend who writes from 10:00 PM until 3:00 AM and then sleeps until noon. This would be crazy, for me, but it works for her. 7 pages a day has been a good quota for me, but this is also the Covid version where I have tons of time to write. And, this way, in about a month and a half, I’ve written 70,000 words and finished my novel. It’s not a very good novel, it’s my first and I’m only a teenager, but now that I’ve written one, I know I can write more, and that way I’ll improve.
Probably the hardest part for me personally is self doubt. I constantly worry that I’m a terrible writer and my idea is stupid. But you just have to push through and keep going. Tell yourself that you’re going to write a certain amount of words or pages and make yourself do them. Your first novel probably won’t be an absolutely stellar production the will shake the foundations of literature. If it is, great, but if not, at least you’ve actually written a novel. That’s something most people will never do. [name_m]Don[/name_m]'t tell yourself that you’re going to write for two hours a day or a half an hour, or whatever. Because it’s really easy to sit in front of a blank screen for that amount of time and do absolutely nothing. At least for me, after the first day I wrote 7 pages, I had to do it the next and the next because I didn’t want that day to be the day I didn’t.
All in all, while the plot is obviously essential to the success, even if you come up with a terrible plot, if you can stick to it and make intriguing characters, you could end up with an actual book. I mean, think about [name_u]Harry[/name_u] [name_m]Potter[/name_m]. An orphan kid is targeted by an evil villain and goes to a magical school. The books could have been horrible, and the base plot isn’t honestly revolutionizing. But JK Rowling created a magical world from something that could have been quite cliché or cheesy.
I hope you found something I wrote helpful. Best of luck!! Stick to it and I have every confidence in the world that you are an amazing writer that could produce and amazing book!!
[name_f]Irina[/name_f]
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Plotting is… well… it makes me mad. What I’ve learned is, you can’t really “come up” with a plot, it just sort of has to… happen. I know it’s not the most helpful piece of advice, but the only stories I’ve ever liked of mine are ones that don’t seem so forced.
Personally, I don’t enjoy sitting down and plotting out my books, but I don’t just start writing with a “general idea” either. Once I get that idea, I create characters that would fit, I get to know them, and then by the time I actually sit down to write it all down, I’ve basically written the entire book in my head already.
This technique doesn’t seem to work for you, though, so I’d recommend elaborating on your idea before you even think about what takes place in the book. Maybe make a “story mountain” or something like that so you don’t get overwhelmed while writing. Look through old journals or favorite books (by others) that you enjoy to get ideas for what could happen in your story. Lastly, I find sketching helps a lot when dealing with writer’s block.
[name_f]Hope[/name_f] you find this helpful!
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I also want to add that sometimes talking aloud can be really helpful, at least for me. Whether it’s in my room, alone, or actually with someone else, I have found that once I start talking, the ideas flow. When I first “happened” upon (as @BookSneakersMovie) said, my current novel idea, I told my brother to see if he found the idea interesting. As I began to share my barebones plot, I started coming up with many more ideas. Some of them were ridiculous, but others, (I hope!!) weren’t.
I know that some people like to dictate instead of typing, and while this doesn’t work for me, you might try it?
Yayyyyy!! Congrats in advance for finishing - congratulations for almost finishing as well!
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Thank you so much!! You’re so sweet!!
I am legit the same way. I have HUNDREDS of books I have just… stopped writing. It’s difficult, and I am still learning to stick with one. [name_f]My[/name_f] strategy is this: write as much as I can as fast as I can and if I’m happy with the end result, I either leave it happily or critique the rest. There are so many books I have ideas for I want to write, but I lose interest in. SO MANY GOOD IDEAS I do not justice for. You are not the only one and I’m sorry I was no help. 
am legit the same way. I have HUNDREDS of books I have just… stopped writing. It’s difficult, and I am still learning to stick with one. [name_f]My[/name_f] strategy is this: write as much as I can as fast as I can and if I’m happy with the end result, I either leave it happily or critique the rest. There are so many books I have ideas for I want to write, but I lose interest in. SO MANY GOOD IDEAS I do not justice for. You are not the only one and I’m sorry I was no help. :blush
I’m not like @IrinaNicolaStrong at ALL when it comes to plotting- I’ll have an idea and some characters, like @BookSneakersMovie, and then I’ll start writing and change the entire thing! Sometimes the most important plot points are things that come from entirely minor details that I just write in, and then amplify. And some days I do feel like what I’m writing is just wrong, but I push through it! If you have even the vaguest idea, just start writing and see what comes of it!
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It’s funny how we all have different strategies and some things work well for us and not for others!
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