I've been working on several story ideas off and on for years and while I've got a good amount of ideas for each story and even some scenes that I'm happy with, I have trouble fleshing out the ideas to have enough length for a novel. My most promising one has a beginning, middle, and an end but trying to add more elements to move them together is difficult. How do you come up with more ideas that fit in the story that also move the story along? I've tried listening to some writing podcasts and looking at writing tips online but I thought a forum with other writers might be more helpful. Thanks!
If you haven't tried Thomas's advice yet, do. If you have yet to write a novel, it's easy to stay stuck on the planning stage forever. Sit down and start writing and you'll learn how to string scenes together as you go. That being said I've learned that I personally can't write a decent novel if I don't have a nicely roadmap beforehand so I'll give you a few ideas that work for me. My ‘fleshing out ideas’ process is…chaotic, and differs from story to story, so take what works and leave what doesn't. - Lots of off-the-wall brainstorming. By ‘off the wall’ I mean weird, unlikely, or just very different from or not related to what I already have. It’s easy to get stuck coming up with ideas because I keep looking at things from the same angle. This frees up my brain and occasionally I’ll run across a real gem. - Targeted brainstorming. This is often when I know what needs to happen in a section, but not how I want to do it. I try to define what needs to happen in as much detail as possible, then come up with as many different ways for those things to happen as I can. The character needs to learn a piece of information. Sure someone could tell them… or they could need to seduce it out of someone, or find it written on a scrap of bloody paper in a corpse's pocket, or it could come out in a massive argument, or… Both forms of brainstorming tend to be pretty stream of consciousness, but I type it up as I go because that makes it feel more tangible. -Deep dive into my character's wants and needs and how they’re going to change. How they see and interact with the world will influence all the events that happen thereafter. I can ask, how can I push them farther out of their comfort zone? What would make them confront their weaknesses or dig their heels in and refuse to change? - Clarify the motivations, goals, and plots of my secondary characters. Conflict lies where two characters' goals get in each other's ways. - Deep dive into inspiring setting elements. Sometimes a setting can be a character in and of itself, and can give me all sorts of story and character ideas. Once I was stuck on 'rebels meet in tavern' I changed it to, 'Rebels meet in illegal underground kabuki theater.' Which led to all sorts of fun spitballing, rebels are members of a theater troupe whose theater was burned down after they refused to stop performing banned plays. Rebels wear masks of famous folklore figures to use as propaganda. Scenes where characters perform one of these pro-revolution propaganda folklore plays, fun unmasking moments, tons of opportunities to weave in fantasy culture and religion. - Subplots! -Iterations, so many iterations. I'll do an outline, keep what I love and think is working, toss the rest, do a bunch of brainstorming around the ideas I liked the most, then write a second, slightly more detailed, often significantly different outline. I'll continue making these changes even after I start writing. The outline I have when I start writing will get tossed out about 20k in. -The outline a scene write a scene method and variations thereof. I typically start writing once I have the bones of the story in place and a few key scenes fleshed out. Instead of fleshing out over a single scene, I'll just go ahead and start, and keep fleshing out my outline in smaller chunks as I go; often things I write will spark ideas for future scenes.
Do we come up with ideas, or do ideas come up with us? The format matters to this. A novel at 70k or more words is so long that the ideas will be stretched to a breaking-point. In short formats, such as sci-fi short stories, the idea is the focus and should survive. But there is no idea strong enough to fill 70k words - so what matters isn't the production of more ideas, but the revelation of character. A simple idea, or even a stubborn refusal to use any idea, can work so long as character is revealed. So good prompts for the OP at this stage might be: Who is the story about? What do they think and say about the idea? And what do they do about it? Does it change what they were going to do anyway? Does it change how they relate to each other? Does that take the story from its beginning to its middle to its end, or somewhere else?
As far as I can tell, that's what writing is all about. In my current and first WIP I have a solid cast of characters and some solid concepts - at least as far as I'm concerned. I have some "set pieces" that define the characters and the direction of the story. I've got a decent beginning and know (basically) how the story is going to end. But I'm in the same place as you - connecting the dots in an interesting way. So, as has been mentioned, I just write. When I'm on my routine (difficult of late) I just let it all come out in my evening writing session. Lots of it is bad, and gets deleted, revised, adjusted or set aside for later consideration when I review it all the next day. I also have tens of thousands of words of character background and world building/universe rules, and thousands more of ideas. Some of those ideas are stupid, ludicrous and downright crazy. But they came along for a reason when I was developing this project, so they're important somehow. But the secret to success is to practice your craft EVERY DAY. You'll never improve if you don't work at it. I had a mentor who said we had to get all the crap out to make room for the good stuff, so don't worry if what you write isn't satisfactory; it will get better if you just keep writing. As they used to say, "Don't talk about it, just do it!"
So you've got a feel for the beginning/middle/end. You need to make sure that each of those points is tied to a crisis, both in the external plot and the internal character arc. Look at arcs for more characters than just the MC. They don't have to be as dramatic, but it's nice to have them there because they add nuance to the story. Since what you're doing is 3-act structure, you want to take each of those Acts and detail them. The crises are your targets. You have this already, it sounds like. ACT I -----> ACT II ------> ACT III ----> denouement What you're building on is the -------> sections. Those are the setbacks. (Technically, they're within the Act, but it helps to think of them as connections.) As the character tries to address the problem posed in each Act, they succeed with failure. It's like they're moving forward but new obstacles keep appearing. The key is that the obstacles serve the plot AND test the MC's arc. They draw out the personal failing that holds the MC back. (That's the moral crisis that must be overcome. There are differing opinions as to when that is solved. I guess you have options with where it's addressed.) Anyway, you daydream and brainstorm setbacks and just work on one -------> at a time. You know your target (the next Act), and if the target happens to change while you're planning, you adjust the other Acts to accept the improved change. The plot is the character's journey. Make sure it is unique to that character. Only one MC can shape it. Change your MC's nature if you need to force a particular plot. You want a unique journey for a unique character. It should seem impossible that they can fulfill it, but they overcome their own nature and then they do. Once you have a good feel for the connections, list them all as a series of scenes and make sure you're not writing too much / too little. Then start at the beginning and plow forward. Always be willing to bend the story around a better plot if you happen to discover one. (I feel like the real answer is too big for a forum post. I tried, anyway.)
Character. I find that when my stories are skinny I'm not delving into the character enough. It's not just a plot or event or idea it's the characters turning that plot, event or idea into a story. Take the movie Titanic. The actual event of the Titanic can be summed up rather quickly -- a short voyage doomed by an iceberg. There's no real story there, just event. But their are hundreds of stories to be told using Titanic as set, event, metaphor - the arrogance of the builders describing it as unsinkable, the brand new beauty of the ship sinking to it's grave: corrupted before natural wear and tear did it. But the movie writers went for a flashback class distinction romance. They built up Jack and Rose to showcase the doomed/sacrificial state of working class versus the protected rich. It was nicely done and filled out three and a half hours allowing their romance to enfold with obstacles (a pushy fiance, a social climbing mother, Rose's own torn feelings.) Think how differently the movie might've gone had it been about the ship's designer being on aboard. It shifts the details, the theme, the story angle itself. Think about your characters and your story angle. Think about how each obstacle reveals your character and the plot. Rose's fiance shows she's willing to sacrifice security, social status, defy her mothers wishes to love someone beneath her station and it's a position that ultimately loses her security symbolized in her having lost a spot on a lifeboat. Obstacles will shape your plot much better than an mc's easily won victories.
My first book happened completely by accident. And it sounds like it was in a similar state to where you find yourself now. At the time I was casually involved with a couple of writer's group, I showed my scribblings to a published author in the group. Her response to me was, "When will you publish?" After I picked my jaw off the ground, we had a discussion. She felt there was a lot of potential, but too many gaps. Some of the questions/suggestions she put to me about characters: Where are they? What do they see? Are the active or passive to action around? What is happening around them, or to them? What is their goal/motivation? That's just a few examples. Once I focused a bit more on the characters, I was able to start to see where the links were from one scene to next. I don't know if this will help you, but it may spark a few ideas for you.
If you don't feel ready to sit down and write the actual thing, you could try writing short stories about your characters and world. You can even use them in the actual story if you end up with an interesting mini-plot or a minor character that gains unexpected development.
