Hello All; I'm relatively new and I have found my self in a situation where I have many story beginnings but very few endings. There are a couple of stories where I have that I know roughly where I am going but I seem to have a hard time coming up with good plots. Any help or advise you all have would be great! I look forward to hearing from you all!
Hi there! After you've been on the forum a while, you'll see you're not alone in this by any means. The one bit of advice I can offer here is to scribble down your basic ideas for other stories, by all means, and keep hold of them, but pick one of your ideas and concentrate on it. Make yourself think about THAT ONE. I don't know how far you get, but do you have a situation in mind? A character? Have you actually started writing character and situation, then got stalled? If that's the case, then go away and think about what you've got. You'll need to twist something, or add something. Make it as dramatic as possible ...you can always tone it down later. Push that character and situation. The best way to do it is to concentrate on problems. And on what your character really wants. Figure out what your character wants (or what really matters to the character) and then start throwing problems at this character. Problems that prevent her from getting what she wants, or threatens what really matters to her. Make it tough. Kill people, if need be. Take away stuff. Give her responsibilities she can't handle. Stick her with a bunch of people she can't stand. Burn down her house. Break her leg. Make her go blind. Make it TOUGH. And make it work. That's the key. If something isn't working, stick with it until you can make it work. Change whatever you need to change, but don't give up and walk away and pick up something else. That's a very bad habit for a writer to get into. Hit snag, get bored, walk away, start something else that looks shiny, hit snag, get bored, rinse and repeat.... The most important thing is STICK TO IT. Don't give up and start working on something else. Stay with your chosen story until it's done. Make yourself live with this character and that situation. Look out the window in quiet moments and daydream about it. Put on music that gets you into the mood. Do whatever it takes to get the story going. If you don't like the character, change the character until you do. If the situation seems silly or boring, change it until it works. But don't quit. There are books and articles out there to help you construct a plot. These can often be very inspirational, so get a few and read them. It's actually pretty basic and simple. Instead of looking for new ideas for new stories, look for new ideas to improve the story you're working on. If you can do one, you can certainly do the other. There is nothing more satisfying than writing 'the end.' Make sure you get there.
