After being blocked out of writing in all my 4 WIPs, I decided to give it a break and write a lighter, more relaxed "slice of life" story about a millionaire heir that inherits his father's business and tries to manage it without abandoning his playboy lifestyle. You know, pretty simple stuff. No blood, no deaths, no central villain. For those of you who write more relaxed, lighter stories, how do you develop your plots so it doesn't drag while not deviating the story from being down to earth?
I'm no expert, but my stories don't tend to have life or death at their core. They're about people dealing with relationships that have challenges, and it's more than enough to drive 80,000 words. I think the important thing to remember is you have to have conflict, but it doesn't have to be life or death. In fact, readers will rarely face life or death conflicts, so they can relate very well to 'lesser' problems. A story about a millionaire heir running from villains who want to murder him for his fortune has a good conflict. A story about a millionaire heir who finds he can no longer tell who likes him for him and who likes him for his money also has a good conflict - and, for my tastes, a better and more interesting conflict. Nobody's life is at risk, but it's a bloody interesting problem the protagonist has to deal with. A story about a millionaire heir whose new fortune is threatened when a stranger turns up claiming to be his half-brother and challenging the will also has an interesting conflict. You just need to find the conflict in your story. It can be external (somebody else causing problems for your protagonist, like the villain or the half-brother) or internal (his own doubts and fears about whether he can trust his friends). If you can include both external and internal conflicts, even better. From what you've posted, I can't tell the core conflict - an influx of money would seem to complement a Playboy lifestyle to me - but all you have to do is find it and exploit it. Make things difficult for your character. Give him obstacles and problems to deal with. Nobody wants to read a story where everything goes great for the protagonist and he sails through life. Boring. Conflict is what drives a story - even 'light' stories.
Hi @Veltman - I do have a couple of "serious" works in the toybox, but light-hearted is definitely my go-to The story kinda happens in the background - as @Tenderiser says you need "conflict" but it doesn't have to be life or death. Cutting your finger opening a beer can be conflict, opening it for someone else can be plot. For me the more light-hearted it is, the more down to earth it is. When I talk to my friends it's always light-hearted, even when we're talking about political heavyweights or personal tragedies. Maybe that's just the way I am, but it means that I really enjoy my writing! ETA - I have just seen that the subject says "any experts" so ignore the above, I am still a current spert, not an ex one
Focussing on the lighter-hearted issues and topics is how we write fantasy and science fiction, because without a grounded story you end up with nonsense more often than not and uncompelling nonsense at that. What you need to do is fully round out your characters, their reactions, their twitches, their likes and dislikes, their vices and their backstories... you need to fully realise the world and find an enthusiasm for interactions. But to understand the space in which those stories exist, you really need to experience what it means to take that kind of story and place it within science fiction or fantasy, to understand what really stands out. A great place to start is with film, as the writing you find there will help you visualise your story in a more rounded sense, rather than worrying about the language and the phrasing of certain things. The 'Before Trilogy' for example is a fine character piece that is absolutely compelling but at the same time grounded and totally small frame. My rule of thumb when writing any kind of story is if I can't visualise it, I abandon it. It's essential to indulge in every form of great writing and these films are great for understanding those subtle interactions that at once compelling and at the same time simple, grounded and real: Monsters Syriana Three Colours Trilogy The American The Descendants Chef I approach my writing from a place of music and film being at the forefront of my inspirations and having read mostly fantasy and science fiction for most of my life a book list would be entirely unsuitable. Light-hearted, especially with my tastes in period dramas, is something I strive for when writing any genre I turn my hand to, so I look forward to how your story develops, provided it appears on these forums at some point in 2019. Happy writing!
I agree with the first bit you have, though if the story is full of all kinds of oddity then you don't need conflict to drive it. But yeah you are right, reading somebody sailing through life based on being rich is kinda dull.
It does seem a bit like you're just jumping from idea to idea because each time you get a bit stuck and you're hoping the next one will be easier. I don't think that's particularly helpful, it may be better for you to just stick with something and make it work even if it's difficult. I have found in my experience so far trying to write my novel idea that getting stuck for a while isn't so bad because you might feel guilty for being unproductive but when you get back into it eventually it's quite rewarding to have overcome that difficulty. If you really think working on something easier first will help, I think doing a short story is probably the way to go. That won't require so much grand planning.
Identify the main conflict like @Tenderiser said and build the story around that. From your description, the story sounds like some kind of bildungsroman, a story that depicts a character maturing through some inciting incident, so I'd think most of that conflict would be mostly internal (having the character need to grow into the responsibility while not wanting to abandon less mature pleasures) while also having the external conflict of learning how to run the business effectively and either live up to expectations or subvert them. Other than that, make sure your characters are likable and relatable and remember to cut the boring bits.
I'm not an expert but my stories as a rule don't have a huge body count. A problem is a problem. It doesn't matter if it's about saving the universe or that the MC's shorts are riding up. It's all about the basic story arc. State the problem, explain the steps to solution, and resolve the problem.
Thanks for all the advice. Everyone has been very helpful. And yes, those of you who said I am probably jumping from idea to idea when things get hard....you're right. I hope this is the last time it happens though. Since we're here, I might as well ask, how do you guys keep yourselves from turning a planned short story into a saga of 3 novels? Cause that's what I usually do when I start writing, blow things out of proportion so much I end up quitting.
I pick a word count for the story before I start and make it fit. Other times, it becomes a novel. Novels are good.
One possible strategy could be to force yourself to write...er...”closure“ as often as possible. You can have a series...but this scene needs some closure, this chapter needs some closure, this book needs so much closure that it can stand on its own. I’ve been trying to force myself to bring each scene to some sense of closure—a laugh, a satisfying end to a moment, something. Closing loops instead of opening more and more and more loops.
Maybe plan in more detail, deciding what goes on in each scene and how each thread is wrapped up before you begin to write? If you stick to that, you won't end up with a novel when you wanted a short story.