New storywriter here. Thread

Hey, hello. It's evening from where I came from.

I'm a new storywriter who has done so many complicated magic-and-technology fantasy lore for myself and myself only, and even done some newbie artworks relating to that, but I've just recently shifted from that into doing some story about psychological apocalypse with a pinch of exploring and looting and walking around the messy places with some plot twists planned throughout. Mostly, they're inspired by popular horror mods of the last decade.

I have created unrefined scenarios for my protagonist (yet unnamed at this point, but she's chill as hell) and some lore I am yet to be satisfied about. But knowing myself, I tend to skip chapters after I was done with the first chapter then move on 2 nonexistent chapters ahead. What do I do to create some interesting chapters to fill this gap, in plot? Should I take it slow or be lazy as I explain my protagonist's actions, and environmental moments in detail?

All your opinions, tips and advices are welcome and I thank you in advance. 😊

Edited by: RayneMinterskySam

-Insert comics in between so that reader is motivated to continue reading. Combination of text and pictures has positive effect on low lever patients, so try in now. Give us some mystic pictures, at least one per page.

Edited by: Bazlik_Commander

There's no reason to feel you have to start at chapter one. Go ahead and write the bits that are interesting to you and then, if you're going to release/share it, grind out the bits in-between. But if it's just for you, there's no reason to do the boring in-betweens.

Different readers (an writers!) have different styles. Personally, I like a story that just gets on with things. Use details sparingly. Cut filler. Summarise boring stretches. Jump forward through time. Sketch your world, don't photograph it. Trust the reader to fill in the blanks, let them have their own vision.

We don't need to follow every step of your protagonist - we just want to see the edited highlights. If you're bored of writing the chapter where the hero goes from A to B, then imagine how tedious it'll be for the poor reader! Just cut it, move forward.

You might find that a series of short stories is a better format if your chapters are very distinct.

Writing scripts is always a very time-consuming process, but once you start it won't stop.

Depending on your long-term plan, it might be okay to do a little non-linear writing here. In other words, go ahead and write what comes to you right now, and later on you can thread it all together into some sort of sequence. Remember, you can always go back and rewrite old sections as the overall narrative takes shape. You don't have to commit to anything at the outset.

The novel writes I've counseled in the past all seem to think that there's some need to add intentionally dull filler chapters into their works. I would avoid this instinct. Regardless of whether it's a novel or a script, I've always found that the all-killer approach is best. The heart of good writing is emotion - you make the audience feel something.