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According to Mimi's avatar

This was an instructional post that will help me with my trilogy. It's hard to keep up with details through a series of stories, so these seven categories should help.

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Bill Gerace's avatar

Simon, this was such a detailed post. I enjoyed reading all of it. Before I start any story, I do brainstorm and have a template I use for this. I try to get an idea of my character, for example, what haunts them, what truth are they running from, one secret that no one knows about them, something they would never do. I developed this in Notion as a template. From there, I will develop the demon or dark force in my story. What kind of supernatural force are they? A demon, a cursed object, or where did they originate from? I follow this method, which is a little newer for me as I find brainstorming then outlining is best, so I have a solid idea where I want my story to go. I write in the supernatural horror genre, and feel that having structure is best for me. Also, since my story will also involve the supernatural world where those who are part of that world are crossing over via a hidden portal, unknown here in Phoenix, I will be developing that world a bit too. A lot of this is new to me, as I normally have written short stories and have tried off and on with longer works of fiction, but I always lose steam and interest and never finish. I am hoping this method will work well for me. I also use Novel Crafter, which is a fabulous tool where I will put everything in a beat sheet using the Save the Cat Plot Method. Thanks for sharing such a fantastic piece.

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