#bless mike laidlaw for talking to me for so long

[pastafossa]

fellow writer here 👋🏻 I wanted to know what your drafting process was like for TRT…how did the idea come to fruition and how do you draft each chapter? do you follow a plan to guide the story or just wing it? It’s one of the best I’ve ever read and I’ve always wondered what your writing/thought process looks like

Heyo writer friend! I can absolutely talk about this! And I'm going to do the best I can not to sound too much like this:

-How did the idea become TRT: so after a friend challenged me to try a 2nd POV fic (the only POV I hadn't written yet) and I'd chosen DD, I was trying to think of an idea that I could build a plot around. That was when I saw a little image blurb that said something like, 'In mythology, a red string of fate ties two soulmates together. It can tangle or stretch but will never break.' And my brain went... what if you had someone who could see those threads? And what if there were more threads, more colors, more types of connections? What if you could feel them? The plotline kind of blossomed up around that: obviously it would be useful for tracking, so a Big Bad should want to use it (enter Man in the White Coat funded by the military), and all protagonists need a Big Secret, so I can use one of my favorite tropes of the Morally Grey But Likeable Bad Dude (enter Ciro). I'd also been taught about the seven basic plotlines for large stories, so it made sense to choose a combo of 'Overcoming The Monster' and 'Rebirth' since those are continual themes explored by multiple characters in the DD universe. I also looked for openings to write my take on my favorite tropes from my favorite stories, and so those influences are there if you know what to look for (books like the Dresden Files, sci-fi fare like Stranger Things, etc).

-How the fuck did you plan this beast and the chapters: I do in fact have a guide/outline for TRT to guide me for each chapter! I generally wing it for shorter fics, but once I realized just how big this was going to be and decided I was going to go for it, I knew I needed an outline. I actually figured out what worked based on talking at a con to Mike Laidlaw, who at the time was the creative director of the Dragon Age series at Bioware, which is known for expansive stories with rich, detailed, branching plotlines. I wanted to know how the hell they kept track of everything, and bless him, he talked with me for a good while. They use a combo of a wiki page and twine, and twine was visual which worked well for me - highly, highly recommend twine. I've got my outline broken down in general events/themes/arcs, and then get more detailed as needed, though not too detailed since I like a little freedom in deciding how to do it as the event gets closer. Generally, everything flows downwards into the chapters like so:

Overall arc: these are the two arcs I listed above - Overcoming the Monster and Rebirth. Think 'Destroy the Ring' for LOTR. Even when a bunch of other stuff happens, these are the two eventual end destinations. I've got this broken down into general stages (which will be broken down further, as you'll see below) like, 'Avoiding connection due to fear of WC', 'Reveals WC tracking', 'Decides to stay and fight WC', 'Thread Training As Prep', 'S.H.I.E.L.D. involved to fight WC', 'Almost Caught By WC', etc. This allows me, at a glance, to figure out how the major events are driving everything else that's happening in any given chapter: how is it influencing the emotions of the characters? How is it nudging events along? What clues should I be leaving? Etc. It also lets me figure out how to create a rising arc of tension. This is then broken down further as needed, and I can get as specific as possible (I broke down Miami pretty detailed as I got closer to it). I also try to make sure most of the smaller arcs in the chapters nudge these two plotlines along at least a little. Everything should serve your overall arc in some way, is what I was taught. Admittedly I sometimes deviate from that cause this is fic and it's fun (aka: why this story is so long), but if I were publishing this, I'd snip some of those elements out.

Major Arcs: these are sometimes breakdowns of the overall arc (say, Matt and her relationship, which both plays into the Rebirth arc and also is an arc of its own), and sometimes they're standalone plotlines. If it were a tv show, some of these would be classed as the arcs for a single season rather than the entire show. I've got Matt and her relationship broken down into stages for this - 'Wanting to Connect', 'Struggling Not To Connect', 'Considering Running To Escape Connect', 'Accepting Connection', things like that. I then have those events broken down further, so 'accepting connection', for example, is broken down into the kidnapping arc, which fuels those chapters.

Minor Arcs/Breakdown Arcs: and here is where chapters usually pop up, and the place I might wing it. This is the reason I leave myself some generalities and open doors in the outlines, specifically so I can go with how the story's flowing at present. Sometimes I can write a chapter/scene in from the very beginning before I have the outline worked out, because I know they'll fit SOMEWHERE even if I'm not sure where or how yet. I had the Post-Nobu chapters plotted out from the very beginning, for example, and the Kidnapping plotline was also written up really early on when I was inspired and the muse bit. Other times, when I'm actually drafting a chapter, I look at where we are in the overall arcs and major arcs, figure out how the plot needs to be progressed (or if we just hit something heavy and need a break), and workshop around different ideas until I find one that fits. While drafting it out, I keep notes at the top of goals for that chapter and the driving theme (so Devil Hunt themes/goals are, say, releasing the Devil, displays of relationship trust, thread training, and just plain fun). Then I write out an in-order list of, 'things that need to happen'. I usually re-read the previous chapter, too, so that I can ensure things flow properly from one chapter to the next. Once I've got all that down, I just... sit and write it out in a fairly basic fashion, glancing at the themes as needed, but still allowing myself the freedom to deviate a little if the flow needs to veer off a little, especially since I can nudge things around in editing (fun fact: roughly forty percent of each chapter you read in TRT is added in the editing process!).

So basically, when it comes to drafting chapters and outlines for a long fic or story like TRT, the way I work is: I like having an outline, specifically so I can figure out how to drive the plot and what clues/foreshadowing I need to leave ages ahead of time. At the same time, I always remember to leave myself a little room to breathe in individual chapters. I've found that locking myself in too much can either stifle creativity or I wind up painting myself into a corner. Let your outline and draft be the bones of the story, the muscle and the meat, while the chapters themselves are your clothes, made to be changed and altered as needed.