dorylinae-supremacy

[dorylinae-supremacy]

Hi! I was wondering if you could give some advice on how to plan fics? I’m writing my first multi chapter fic at the moment and I’m struggling to outline a coherent plot

(also I love ur writing so so much!!)

Hello!! I’m happy to help :D my first piece of advice is to take your time with stuff! Rushing a fic will usually make you unhappy with the result and demotivate you so it’s better to just wait a bit until you’re happy with a chapter instead of forcing it!

The same goes for ideas, have somewhere to write fic ideas so you can pull from it later! Sometimes a fic just has to stew in your brain for a while until it’s done cooking lol.

Another part is that writing is personal! What works for me might not work for you and that’s ok! Take what works and use it or experiment with stuff! It’s your process and it should work for you!

This is a bit of a long one because I ramble and I wanna give you as much to work with as I can but below the cut is a breakdown of my process! Hopefully it can help!

I generally have 2 methods for when I plan multichaps. It depends how I have written the plot out but I will write what I want to happen as a whole and then split it off into chunks that’ll later be chapters.

You don’t technically need the whole plot to be written out before you start either. It’s ok to have some empty gaps that you can fill in later. This depends more on whether you follow your chapter plans exactly or if you just go with the flow more though.

The way that I write will just follow the flow that I fall into. The plans I write out are basic guidelines for me but unless I have a very specific vision, I don’t hold myself to them too harshly.

I break off my long, usually incomplete plan for the plot into sections and then I’ll split that further into 2 scenes per chapter. I'm a bit of a visual learner so I'll attach some screenshots below.

Here is an example from The Green Striped Hat. It started with me basically rambling about the plot to myself in a long list that I then broke down.

Long ramble vs after being chopped down into chaps:

From this, I got to here:

I basically put those points under a miscroscope and thought about the details of what I wanted in the chapter. Since this chapter is later in, I also referenced some stuff from previous chapters from where I went a bit off plan.

Usually after I'm done chopping, I'll structure my document properly. I make a title and a little table of contents so I can click to a chap I wanna get to quickly.

I also find it easier to read when I just scroll to my unwritten chap and see the shorter points rather than a long one at the very start of the fic lol.

You can also see the scene structure! Scene 1 is Phil making the big reveal about getting unsealed and attacking Technos (at the time) father and then scene 2 where Techno gets turned into a book and gets stolen away!

Another example is for AFN with a more rigid structure:

As you can also probably see, some of the points are ticked off already and are out of order. This is because I don't write every fic / chap in the order that stuff occurs! There's even stuff that I retconned later on in there lmao

I generally find dialogue easier to write. I love writing conversations because I find it easier to make the characters bounce off of each other. Its much easier for me than writing long scenes with no dialogue.

Because of this I generally write talking scenes first and then slowly link them together for the more technical stuff! If I know how I want Techno to talk to Phil, then I'll write it! The scene where I wanna describe Techno feeling sick can come later!

This can also be used for adding stuff into the plot! Some fics are made purely for a certain scene! Henchman AU? Only made because I got glass in my foot and wanted to write a scene where Techno suffers through the same pain.

If there's a certain scene in your head that you wanna write then just build some plot around it!

Lets say I wanna make a fic purely for a tea party scene between Phil and Techno where Phil gets drugged. How can I pad this out? Why not make it a royalty AU? One where Techno is a more unassuming prince and Phil is a servant forced to obey?

Why not make it be an adoption fic and have it so that this tea party is what finally gets Techno to trust Phil? When he willingly lets himself get drugged just to prove that he will accept anything Techno does?

As long as your fic has a beginning, middle and end, you'll be good. It doesn't have to be this long, insane coming of age story to be a fun read.

You don't have to know every single detail of what will happen before you start writing it. You can just leave blanks that can be filled in later, I do that a tonne.

Here's an example of a plot I have in progress right now:

Its not complete but, by the time I write the scene where Techno serves Phil I'll probably have a general idea of how he gets assassinated. From then on I'll be able to follow the flow and know the consequences and link that up with the kingdom falling.

A lot of my plot planning is writing stuff like this and then thinking "ok now where can I go with this" and just improvising until I get a broader picture of what I want.

The Green Striped Hat literally started as a brainrot drabble, one that had a vague intro into its world. I literally just followed its vibe in one of my longer plot rambles until I had a semi cohesive plan.

I knew that Tech would read the cursed book, I knew that Phil would pop out and be all spooky and then I knew it'd end in Tech almost dying and being adopted.

I just chopped it up into chapters and prayed that I'd have a better idea of what I wanted by the time I reached stuff. A majority of my early chapters just looked like this:

I know I'm rambling but I guess the point I'm trying to get across is that you don't need it all figured out. You just have to know the direction you're going and how you want it to end. You can fill in the blanks on your way there.

A lot of my writing is just 'yes, and?' until a plot comes out in a way I'm happy with. Just think about how you're gonna get to wherever you wanna get to.

Is it a series of misunderstandings? Is there a big reveal that can be hinted at? Just follow the vibe of what you want and it'll slowly flesh itself out.

Generally, since its your first multichap, I recommend sticking to a lower chapter count. There's less to keep track of and its easier to have a cohesive plan.

If you're planning a 4 chapter fic, you know that you need to be about halfway through the plot by chapter 2 and wrapping up / reaching the climax by chapter 3.

Another thing you might wanna keep in mind is how long you want each chapter to be. I generally try keep my chaps equal in size, somewhere around 2.5k.

This isn't anything mandatory and its not the end of the world if its under / over this much but I do make sure to plan for this much in content with my bullet points. If you want something below that, plan less. If you want something over, plan more.

My very final piece of advice is if you're reading something you've written a bunch and you hate it take a break! My eyes get sick of my writing a lot and it can really skew your perspective of! Leave the chap / scene alone for a bit and come back to it after sleeping!!

I'm glad you like my writing and I hope this was at least somewhat helpful for you! If you have more questions feel free to ask, I'm happy to help people out whenever!

Also feel free to call be a dummy if I've somehow missed giving you an answer on what you're actually asking!

[dorylinae-supremacy]

Joy, Wilbur suffering upon you

Also have some Handle With Care

[dorylinae-supremacy]

Gotta fuckin write Tommy dear god pray for me

[dorylinae-supremacy]

Ok so turns out my awful brainfog is fucking covid

[dorylinae-supremacy]

Just woke up!! Handle with care won by 1 vote so that’s what I’m working on next!!!

Blehhhh vote time because I'm avoidant at making my own decisions.

While this is my next longfic theres no promise that itll be like, the very next thing I upload. Probably the thing after it lmao.

All of these vary in length but all are above like 5 chapters. 2 are probably like... 15+ depending on how shit turns out.

Idk I just wanna clear out my longer WIPs because hopefully that way I can get back into the groove of writing that oneshots doesn't really give me.

[dorylinae-supremacy]

2 hours left, get your final votes in if theyre not done already

Blehhhh vote time because I'm avoidant at making my own decisions.

While this is my next longfic theres no promise that itll be like, the very next thing I upload. Probably the thing after it lmao.

All of these vary in length but all are above like 5 chapters. 2 are probably like... 15+ depending on how shit turns out.

Idk I just wanna clear out my longer WIPs because hopefully that way I can get back into the groove of writing that oneshots doesn't really give me.

[dorylinae-supremacy]

Its gonna tie again isnt it 👁️👁️

[dorylinae-supremacy]

12 hours left and we were at a 3 way tie lmao, reblog

Blehhhh vote time because I'm avoidant at making my own decisions.

While this is my next longfic theres no promise that itll be like, the very next thing I upload. Probably the thing after it lmao.

All of these vary in length but all are above like 5 chapters. 2 are probably like... 15+ depending on how shit turns out.

Idk I just wanna clear out my longer WIPs because hopefully that way I can get back into the groove of writing that oneshots doesn't really give me.

[dorylinae-supremacy]

Blehh now that like 20 people have voted, time to elaborate on the concepts of each fic!!

Magic Mitosis - Wilbur lives in a world where your magic will manifest at some point in childhood. He's always looked forwards to his one but then things begin to go wrong and he gets a new eldritch brother.

Handle With Care - Four Seasons fic set before Techno gets yoinked, kinda shows off what crimeboys were up to with Phil. A lot of it is dark meanza.

The Moonless City - Emduo centric werewolf au with misunderstandings and instincts. It has skrunkleblade AND skrunkleza lmao.

Door 000 - Techno centric, he wakes up in an odd manor and is greeted by Wilbur. He's told he has to wait in his room, one that will make all his dreams come true, until its time for a mysterious 'party'.

Blehhhh vote time because I'm avoidant at making my own decisions.

While this is my next longfic theres no promise that itll be like, the very next thing I upload. Probably the thing after it lmao.

All of these vary in length but all are above like 5 chapters. 2 are probably like... 15+ depending on how shit turns out.

Idk I just wanna clear out my longer WIPs because hopefully that way I can get back into the groove of writing that oneshots doesn't really give me.

[dorylinae-supremacy]

Fuckkk I missed the 24 hour reblog >:(

Blehhhh vote time because I'm avoidant at making my own decisions.

While this is my next longfic theres no promise that itll be like, the very next thing I upload. Probably the thing after it lmao.

All of these vary in length but all are above like 5 chapters. 2 are probably like... 15+ depending on how shit turns out.

Idk I just wanna clear out my longer WIPs because hopefully that way I can get back into the groove of writing that oneshots doesn't really give me.

[dorylinae-supremacy]

Blehhhh vote time because I'm avoidant at making my own decisions.

While this is my next longfic theres no promise that itll be like, the very next thing I upload. Probably the thing after it lmao.

All of these vary in length but all are above like 5 chapters. 2 are probably like... 15+ depending on how shit turns out.

Idk I just wanna clear out my longer WIPs because hopefully that way I can get back into the groove of writing that oneshots doesn't really give me.

[dorylinae-supremacy]

In all honesty idk what to feed you guys.

My brain worms haven’t been very cohesive so I don’t know if I’ll be able to stick to long term uploads like with AFN rn.

I’m thinking you’re either getting WIPs or I’m gonna focus on four seasons? Not too sure yet, it’ll probably be a poll

[dorylinae-supremacy]

AU where Techno is plucked out of his normal, comfy life and forced into a magic world where its all of a sudden his job to save the world from dark forces.

A lot of protagonists would quite like this, especially people with quiet lives like Techno had.

But thats the problem. Most would. Techno liked his quiet life where he was just starting his writing career. He liked the little garden he just started growing and he loved how everything was.

He doesnt want to save the world and fight for his life every day, its never something that he'd wanted to do but others just... won't let him have that. They wont try fight for themselves because he is meant to do it for them.

So he's forced to go on a heroes journey anyway.

--------

Basically the entire AU is Techno being a normal fucking guy forced into this horrific magical world with powers he doesn't understand and very high expectations of him.

Naturally, SBI (the evil ones) catch onto this and try to instead coax him over rather than outright murder him. Why should they waste such talent when everyone else is already forcing him into a fate he doesn't want?

All they have to do is give him comfort and choice and the world is all theirs :)

[dorylinae-supremacy]

Oh fuck its an upload day

Ive just realised how much I'm starving you

You'll get fed probably next sunday if not earlier

[dorylinae-supremacy]

RRRAHHHHHH!!!

[dorylinae-supremacy]

FUCK MY SPREADSHEET IVE FORGOTTEN IT!!

[dorylinae-supremacy]

No upload tonight due to it being 7pm and I just woke up