Approach to
Developing Stories
Singularitive Ranch's first project is a 7-part series premised on the Extraterrestrial Singularitive (ETS), which we define as the moment at which humanity becomes aware of, and/or has contact with intelligent alien life.
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The ETS serves as a plot platform on which we dramatize how society and the story's characters respond to a sequence of momentous discoveries and developments beginning with and following the ETS—over a century.
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Here's the approach that we're using to develop this story series:
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1) Establish the singularitive events, related themes, and overall arc of the entire 7-part series.
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2) Establish the key intriguing characters along with their goals, motivations, conflicts, and traits.
3) Outline the arc of each of the seven stories that comprise the series.
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4) Starting with the first story, narrate scenes that advance the plot and develop the characters.
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5) Transition about half the scene exposition and narrative to dialogue and close third person point of view in order to drive the pace and intimacy of the stories.
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6) Refine the dialogue into believable conversation.
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7) Get reader feedback and repeat this process with an increasing emphasis on the latter steps.
8) When the first story reaches minimum viable readability, repeat the process with the second story and so forth, while intermittently going back to revise each of the previous stories.
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"Real Writers Revise"
Writing Fiction
Gotham Writers' Workshop
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Version Levels
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Level 1: Revisions up to and including the first complete
draft of the story arc.
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Level 2: Revisions after the first complete draft of the story arc and before synthesizing feedback from several beta readers. This is Internal Alpha Feedback (IAF).
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Level 3: Revisions after synthesizing feedback from the first several (of many ongoing) beta readers. This is ready for Invited Beta Feedback (IBF).
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Level 4: Drafts are at least a coherent story, but maybe not gripping yet. This is the Minimum Viable Story level. This is ready for the Public Gamma Feedback.
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Level 5: Drafts induce in readers the angels cocktail * of neurotransmitters, including dopamine from plot suspense, oxytocin from character empathy / bonding, endorphins from humor, and serotonin from catharsis.
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Level 6: Drafts are gripping in all dimensions, including characters, plot, setting, dialogue and pacing. This is ready for publishing.
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* Angels Cocktail is a storytelling concept conceived by David JP Phillips.