Comments on: What Are the Seeds of Your Story?

By: Carli

Carli — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 04:46:42 +0000

My seeds are always premise. I always think of a beginning, but I can’t seem to find the end until I get there. Second always comes the characters… I’m not sure why, but my thought process always ends up like this.

By: Jens P. Berget

Jens P. Berget — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 06:11:31 +0000

My seeds are two of the characters and the conflict.

I really want to write the end before I write the beginning, but that’s hard :)

By: Suzannah-Write It Sideways

Suzannah-Write It Sideways — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 03:41:10 +0000

Icy,

Sounds a bit like my process. I usually start with a character or a premise, and things evolve from there. It’s amazing how the brain makes all these brilliant connections given a little time and breathing room!

By: Suzannah-Write It Sideways

Suzannah-Write It Sideways — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 03:39:47 +0000

Christopher,

Like you, a story’s ending is not one of my seeds. I really admire people who can picture a great ending before they think of the rest of the story.

“What ifs” are a wonderful place to start. Thanks!

By: Icy Sedgwick

Icy Sedgwick — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 21:14:11 +0000

I tend to find that I get a vivid character on one particular day, and then another day I might get a “What if…?”, and a week later I might get a strong image that locks itself into my head and won’t go away. Sooner or later I find out how they all lock together and the plot unravels itself from there!

By: Christopher

Christopher — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 22:38:26 +0000

Ending is definitely not a seed of mine – I never know how things are going to turn out!

Most of my stories start off as a Premise, but increasingly my stories are growing from the seed of a Situation, a ‘What If…?’, as King puts it – pretty much what you term as Conflict. Starting with an event, something happening, and then discovering the characters and the plot that moves from this point. I find that this helps everything to grow organically, which I find makes for a more natural, and believable, story.

Great article Suzannah, thanks!

By: What Are the Seeds of Your Story?

What Are the Seeds of Your Story? — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 22:06:04 +0000

[...] What Are the Seeds of Your Story? [...]

By: Suzannah-Write It Sideways

Suzannah-Write It Sideways — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 21:58:23 +0000

Bruce,

Keeping a journal is a great way to keep track of your ’seeds’! And yes, combining ideas from what you imagine will turn out to be different stories can sometimes work better.

Thanks!

By: Jamie

Jamie — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 20:52:20 +0000

I ended up combining some for my nanowrimo story. I haven’t looked at that mess since November ended but I do intend to go back and revise. Also, I definitely agree about keeping a little notebook around at all times. :D

By: Bruce H. Johnson

Bruce H. Johnson — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 18:35:25 +0000

Got to start somewhere. Keeping a journal should help – keep jotting down your seeds and reviewing them. Start twisting and turning stuff — you might be able to combine several different seeds into a workable story.