I write stories (comics, mostly) and I'm pretty good at it (or so I'd like to think). Among my fellow comic-writing friends, it seems that I have a unique knack for brainstorming.

Essentially, I can think up full plot lines, characters, twists, backstories, right up to the end of the story and have the whole thing outlined in a day. Of course, then comes the part where it has to be edited and filled out properly with scenes and, since I draw everything, that takes a while.

Others I know carefully plan everything before they take the next step in their stories. They finish one chapter of their comic and then take time to write the next.

Some of them have vaguer outlines and wing the middle portions of the story.


Storytellers out there, how do you operate?
Did you master the brainstorm?
Do you take it one chapter at a time to see where it goes?
Do you wing it and let your improvisation skills shine?

Wing it one chapter at a time
I have a general idea for the overall story, but the details come as they must

Storytellers out there, how do you operate?
Did you master the brainstorm?
Do you take it one chapter at a time to see where it goes?
Do you wing it and let your improvisation skills shine?

I don't plot in chapters so much as in segments. I'm like... the dad in Big Fish, if you've seen the film. I tell stories about my characters as seen in key moments in their lives, rather than unwinding a straightforward tale.

I think I still have a lot to learn when it comes to brainstorming, but with that said, I enjoy my own process of doing it --which is pretty random and fun. I don't do improv, but I tend to focus on different aspect of the characters or stories as it catches my eye, so a story unwinds like the roots of a tree --thick in parts, and splitting off to finer details.

I tend to world-build and create characters, rather than tell a story straight out, but I have a lot of fun doing it. Working behind the scenes leaves me with knowledge of what will happen, and a lot of speculation, but the complete story often remains open-ended in terms of possibilities.

I can't seem to put to paper my stories.
I have such wonderful ones in my head that will never be read and it makes me so sad because I think I could be a amazing story teller if I can figuer it out

@Firefoxflare

A lot of old stories used to be oral --they would be told from one generation to the next. Maybe that's something you could do with your stories: you could jot down some key points so you don't forget, and then tell the stories to your children if/when you have them. :3