Hi guys, Normally, when I think of a new story, I think of a coherent plot or a character, but this time it's just been a vague idea, that I am struggling to put a plot/character to. I keep walking away from the idea because I can't think of anything, but I always end up coming back to it because it interests me so much and I think it's a relevant issue today. So how do you take an idea and build a story from it when there is no clear character and only a small plot line? I've looked at character sheets but they only work if you have a character in mind. Same with plot structure. (happy to share my idea but it may be too long for people to read so I'll only post it if requested) Thanks guys.
Hi, Have you tried brainstorming ? you probably have. write down all the ideas you have in mind. Character types, plot ideas , scenes,objects. You might come across two or three ideas that link together nicely and that will give you something to build on.
I've done lots of brain-storming but the problem is, the idea is so vague that my character could literally be anybody. There doesn't seem to be a character that seems "right" for the story. He/she could be a hero or a Villain. I think I need to choose someone who is most affected by the events (but that's lots of different races). I mean my main character could be an animal as they are deeply affected as well.
Hope you don't mind me asking. What is the vague idea ? Just start writing. See where the story goes. This approach sometime helps me.
Watch vaguely related movies and documentaries. What you're waiting for is a trigger event that clarifies.
Ask 'What if...' Example - thin plot line: Guy wakes up after a coma to find all the people have vanished. What if.....he'd been drugged and it wasn't really a coma but an experiment What if … he'd been in the coma for a long time and war/famine/other had wiped out most of humanity What if....he was unknowingly involved in the worlds biggest game of hide and seek What if.... my grandmother had wheels, then she'd be a bike. Just keep asking until something sticks.
I write sci-fi, so I frequently start with a basic world concept that needs to be made into a story. I usually start by writing down the key elements of the setting, the mechanisms through which the society works, technologies available, etc. Then I ask "who is put into the worst situation under this society?" Perhaps in a religious society it's the heretics. In a society of magic users it's the people who can't use it very well. Look for the greatest conflict in your world.
This. It helped immensely; I had a rough idea of the plot and characters, but I was like you - kept walking away, but it kept drawing me back. I was suddenly inspired by a random scene, so I just wrote that, and I came up with more scenes that ended up being some of the major plot points, and it helped me to flesh things out a lot more. For me, putting things down in writing, as opposed to keeping them locked up in my head, makes everything more concrete - I can actually see what's going on, what needs to be developed more, and where things can go from there. I've also found that getting things out of my head frees up room for more ideas. You should give it a try.
First: Thank you for not sharing your idea. It makes answering more possible and interesting. Second: What if... questions have been mentioned. Here you have another, more character based method: Think about the worst, the most impossible, least suiting and least probable character to be your protagonist. What would happen? How? Think about worst ally he/she could have. Where that would leave things? The point is that if you get good ideas, you can use those characters or not. It's up to you. But what ever you do, you have your inspiration factory in virtual Absurdistan and you can use things this factory feeds you.
Unfortunately I'm not someone who can just start writing when I have absolutely no idea of where it's going, who any of the characters are and even where my starting place is. I have given that a try and attempted to write some random scenes but nothing really came from it. Ah! That is something I haven't tried because I don't have any characters yet. I think, what I need is to brain-storm some characters in situations and then ask 'what if..' Thanks I give this a go. Good advice. Thank you. Thank you, I'm going to sit and do this tonight. Thank you everyone for answering and helping...I appreciate it.
I'm very keen to hear what happened. So... Please shout about your experiences with this method loud enough so that I can hear it here in Finland - even if our kids make noice.
So it's 4am here and I've been working on your "game" for the past 5 hours. Got some ideas but so tired and delirious I maybe too embarrassed to share them in the morning because I just don't see how an 200 foot, eight-legged mars could fit into a human bed. I'll re-read my notes in't morning and if you're still curious I'll tell you...
I'm just starting my working and I'm still curious. I'm more curious about how the method worked, did it help your thinking & story... than what your ideas were. (5 hours sounds a good start.) Of course you can share ideas if you like to.
Well... "Think about the worst, the most impossible, least suiting and least probable character to be your protagonist." This definitely made me think outside the box and encouraged me to try something a bit different. But it was hard to think of these things when I have no idea what my plotline is because I don't know what the story will require from my character. Then I realized I was trying to build y character around my plot, when maybe it should be the other way around. So I just started to sketch out random ideas based on the other questions you stated and although not all of them will work for my MC it also helped me develop other characters. So now I have a vague idea for a main character, some supporting characters and a beginning for my novel that I can continue working with - which is more than I had before. So thank you so much for the help.
