What Chess and Writing Books Have in Common

I don’t really see this comparison much, but in my opinion chess and writing books have a lot more in common than most people think. I thought I’d write about it this week because I use some things from chess with my writing.

Learning From Chess Grand Masters

I prioritize working efficiently in my work, and have been researching how chess grand masters manage their health lately. While my work is not nearly as intense as theirs I find that the things that they do to take care of their health have benefited me with my writing. They concentrate a lot on proper diets, exercise, and rest. Some chess players even cut sugar out of their diet completely!

Using Different Perspectives to Come up With a Plotline

When I came up with the outline for the main plot of Dream Sparks, I did something that really helped me make it solid. There is a rivalry between two brothers in my story, (a good vs. evil situation) and I wanted their actions to be logical. I did my best to look at the first brother’s perspective on what was currently happening in the story. I’d ask myself questions, like what were his feelings on what was happening? What was the most logical decision that would change what was happening to be in his favor? Then I would also ask myself if his current emotions would override making that logical decision. Once I had done that, I would write that down as the next thing to happen in the story plot. Then, I would look at the second brother, and repeat the process. What would he do in response to what his brother just did? When would he be informed of it? If he was informed late, how would that affect things?

Unknown Author

This really made a big difference early on as I worked to set up the plotline of the story. I did this for Franca as well as some of the other characters, always trying to consider their motives and emotions when having them take action on something or when they were responding to one another. It really was part of what made each character independent from each other. But it also takes a lot of pondering, mental focus, and introspection to do that, (or at least for me it does.) So I usually have to take breaks, and have sometimes gotten a headache from doing this. As a side affect I found that using this method also helped define character arcs and it created opportunities for the characters to grow. Even something as simple as a character’s level of focus can have dire affects on the plot, and can change everything. I have a chapter in my book where one of Franca’s crewmates does something that gets her sidetracked in a way that she wouldn’t have normally.

Making the World in Your Story Come to Life

Mimicking how our world works, where everyone makes their own decisions based off of their emotions, thoughts, motives, and current situations makes a world in a story come to life. I don’t know if I achieved this, as I’m too close to my own story, but I really wanted the universe that Dream Sparks takes place in to feel like it was running whether the characters took action in the story or not, similar to how our world is. I have two timelines for that universe that go over the history of everything and future events. Some of those events are out of the character’s control.

Whenever I get stuck in my stories, I use this strategy to get things back on track. When I can, I try to find something unexpected for a character to do, that would still make sense for their motives. It adds a lot of twists and turns to the story!