Story Conceptualization is a tricky thing. Sometimes stories come to us quickly, making our fingers speed across a keyboard or dirty penmanship as the hand tries to keep up with our writing minds. And yet, stories sometimes come slowly, and ideas get hung up, dragging the process out more; driving us crazy.
Usually, however, our stories come to us as a mix of these two extremes. Short spurts of amazing inspiration, clear thoughts, and organized rationale that runs right into the brick wall of, writer’s block, setbacks, frustrations, and plot holes that break our fledgling stories. Don’t worry, Ascendance did all that and more to me, and yet, I kept at it.
When things got tough for me in writing, I’d shelve my story to work on something else. And I collected questions from those outside to help drag me back into the worlds I created. Some of these questions really helped me, but some were awkward because there was no real answer to them. My favorite question like this was: where did your idea for Ascendance come from?
Why do I think this question is awkward? Simple, I could honestly give an answer if I started rambling.
The story itself started with a character, my main character, Kira, who had Ascended to her power. I had visualized it as an egg cracking inside her, and power spilling forth to fill her body, mind, and spirit.
At first, I felt that this power should be almost limitless. No harm to the characters in using this power, only pure force, that could be used to revitalize forests or level cities. Neutral essentially, except to those that wield that power.
From there the rest of the world started to unfold. Everything in the world has this power innately sunk into it. Living things could “ascend” and become awakened to this power. Animals, however, instantly die, and humans with the right training or luck will survive.
Eventually, the problems started to come, and I had to start making changes.
Some examples: The use of this power had to become heavily costed, not everyone could ascend, most would end up being hurt through the process, I had to tune down the power, otherwise every character would be an absolute menace in the story, I had to put in a tier system that was heavily influenced in cultural dogma so that there were outside pressures to not seek more power. Etc. etc.
Understand that all of this was discovered over years of starting, stopping, rewriting, giving up, and fighting for this story. And a startling realization. At the time of these struggles, I wasn’t a good enough writer for this story. I needed to improve my craft and become better. So, I shelved my story for a year and went back to the workbench, I created a plan to improve myself as a writer, a self-study program if you will. And eventually, I started to make progress.
The story started to evolve. It evolved greatly over time as I grew as a writer and improved my craft. The story got longer, with more twisting plot points. The magic system itself got refined to a point where it was balanced, had a cost, and ultimately something that complemented the story and not something that was just along for the ride.
The story expanded, and the world I created grew with it. Histories, religions, and civilization all came under scrutiny when I was working on this story, and it became something larger than I ever anticipated. Something that could harbor many characters, many smaller stories than the main one. Over time it became something, at least to me, a living, breathing thing that kept expanding and deepening.
I never gave up on this story no matter how much I got stuck or broke something. And I’m so happy that I stored it when I broke it, and not deleted the thing, especially when I was angry, burnt out, or just despondent while editing.
Honestly, I believe that story storing is what allowed me to grow Ascendance to what it is. Not to mention other projects as well and is something that I think every writer should practice. Plus, it’s great to look back on a story you abandoned, see how far you’ve come as a writer, and have that epiphany moment of Oh my God…I can fix this!
Some key takeaways:
- Stories are often compiled of many thoughts, over years and years.
- Don’t abandon your stories, store them for later.
- Stories will evolve if you let them, don’t be afraid to start over if something isn’t working.
- The main thing that will hold back a story are the writers themselves, invest in your craft, and make yourself the best writer you can be.
What do you think? What questions do you always get when you talk about your writing? How have you improved yourself as a writer? And have you had a story you just couldn’t let go of? Let me know in the comments!
James B. Vest 