Lilirulu

So in other words, you discovered the importance of writing a "skeleton" as I call it.

Yes, very important indeed.

I'd recommend, for any writing in general, you start with three pieces: How it starts, the overall problem, and how it ends. From there, you can subdivide it down further and further and further until you get a per-chapter piece. Then you're ready to write your draft.

At least, that's how I do it. Your mileage may vary, but I found having my ending known in my head helped me greatly, because then it wasn't "How the hell am I going to end this?" but "How am I going to get it there?" That's a lot easier to do, believe me.

@Dark Pulse: Yup. Up until now I was writing the scripts out in full instead of using a skeleton with caused me major pain when I needed to go back and change things.

I don't think I can ever EVER kick myself enough for doing that. You would think all the years I have been drawing doing pretty much the same thing it would have occurred to me to use this method. I probably could have been farther along with the scripts too if I had done it soon. /Kicks self

I also do the Beginning > Probelm > End thing too.

Good, then you'll find it helps you greatly.

Lots of stories die because, simply, the author doesn't think about it! They just get this neat idea, run with it, and when the fact they have no resolution comes up... it crashes and burns. Shame.

Well, in my case, I tend to have a problem getting from the start to the resolution. I usually know how I want things to end (to the point that I've sometimes started writing sequels before I finish the original fic), and I usually know where I'm going to start, but I struggle to work out how to connect the two.

@ Mike: I sometimes come up with ideas for pre/sequels too. In the case of the Witch VN I have a two ideas for possible sequels and a prequel.

I didn't find it very hard to connect the sequels to the story of the Witch VN but in one of my ideas it's really mostly it's own story and the original has little impact on it, while the other is a more direct sequel (it's also less fleshed out that the former) but I have a good idea on how to connect them.

But maybe that was because I came up with the ideas while I was planning out the story so I was able to add in the details that would allow for the sequel(s) easily.

Originally Posted by Mike1984

Well, in my case, I tend to have a problem getting from the start to the resolution. I usually know how I want things to end (to the point that I've sometimes started writing sequels before I finish the original fic), and I usually know where I'm going to start, but I struggle to work out how to connect the two.

You need to subdivide it further, then. Once you got a beginning, a middle, and an end, you create two more points: Something to move from beginning to middle, and something to move from middle to end.

Then after that, you got four more points. Beginning to Beginning-Middle, Beginning-Middle to Middle, Middle to Middle-End and Middle-End to End.

Keep slicing it down, and eventually you get to something that could roughly fit a chapter or two. That's when you're ready to draft.

@Lilirulu: well, my sequels tend to be easy enough to write, because I know how I want the first story to end. However, it does lead to the possibility of me finding that my original ending just won't work, or wanting to change it slightly, and then finding myself stuck.

@DP: Yeah, I guess. The problem is that, in general, what happens in the "middle" is mainly aimed at moving from the initial situation (for example, Sakura being not-saved) to the final situation (Sakura being saved). So, it's hard for me to easily pick a "middle" point because you can't exactly half-save a person (obviously, other stuff does happen, but that's the most obvious example). My fics do tend to be driven by the outcome I want to achieve (and the ones which aren't are usually sequels), and thus it's harder to set a mid-point in that way.