Coming up with a story

Does anyone have a struggle of figuring out what to write about? I really want to write but I struggle thinking of a topic

 

I had a problem with that a while ago. I've been filling my stories folder with different lame ideas since I was fifteen so it was a bit of a shocker at first, and I didn't really know how to deal with it right away. My solution was to watch some movies, read some books, and then sit my ass down and just create a crappy outline to a random story that I'd come up with on the spot. If you can kick your mind into creative gear and then write down whatever flows through your head, then you should be able to come up with something. I always come up with my stories either like that, or when I'm outside taking a walk or jogging. It never happens if I'm just sitting behind a desk thinking "Alright, what to write about...?"

 

I had trouble with this when I first started. The deeper I immersed myself into the writing state of mind, I found ideas coming much more frequently. Just keep a notebook with you and start listening as a writer. And by that I mean paying attention to the things you see around you, constantly ask if there is a story there. You'd be surprised at how quickly that notebook fills up. Just record everything you think is interesting. Random thoughts, pieces of dialogue. Those ideas will incubate in your subconscious. and you'll soon find yourself with too many stories and not enough time.

 

I have several ideas, but they're all to general to actually develop a story with a plot for and it's kinda frustrating.

 

Take a look at our monthly competitions. They come with a prompt that might nudge you into activity.

 

I will have to do that

 

See that's the same problem with me I come up with a general idea like a war story or crime or racing story but it's so broad that I struggle thinking of how to start and continue it

 

Indeed.
My problem is more that I have a general story (like in my current story the MC is basically and undead and will have to try and deal with that) and then I have some ideas for very specific scenes, but I have no clue about the over all plot or all the rest that go in between those scenes.

 

Yep that's same boat I'm in lol

 

If you have a basic idea, then just start writing. The problem you two are talking about right now is the exact same one I had in the beginning, and if you have it, it's not going away until you just start writing. If you have the basic idea, and some basic scenes, then that's all you need to sit your ass down. "Just write" is the best advice I can give you. Don't do what I did for my first two years. If you have an idea, don't just walk around with it in your head. Put in down on the page, even if it turns out like shit in the beginning. It's almost bound to do that anyway. Sometimes you gotta go headfirst into a problem, and in this case, "headfirst" means ass-down in the chair and fingers on the keyboard. You learn how to deal with these problems by actually facing them in your writing. And to do that, you have to write.

 

I think I had seen that last night looked like you had tons of ideas..it's not that I have problems with what I want it to be about it's more what happens in the story

 

Th

thanks for the advice! I can even punch ideas into my notepad on my phone if I think of something and don't have paper handy also