So I'm good at characters, completely obsessed with world-building (admittedly it often gets in the way of my writing, but that's an issue for another time), and I can bang out a premise without issue. I have a huge problem with designing plot, conflict and villains. I feel like I can never think of anything good. I can't tell if my brain is just getting in the way or if I'm just uncreative (ie. also just by brain getting in the way). Does anybody have tips or resources for helping to develop plots and conflicts? Most of what I find is so huge and nebulous that I get bogged down, or its very specific. If it helps I primarily write fantasy/sci-fi and my big project right now is fantasy/adventure.
What do your characters desire? Put obstacles in the way of their desires and you have conflict. Obstacles are generally both physical and mental AKA inner conflict and outer conflict. Good characters battle themselves as much as they battle the people or environment around them. Try to start small and simple and take it from there. Try to create some sort of conflict in every scene. Your character wants something out of that scene but something is in the way. What is it? How does the character overcome it? Do they progress or regress? Fantasy tends to be Good vs Evil (outer conflict) which is straight forward enough but the main character tends to doubt themselves a lot as well (inner conflict). They don't think they are capable of doing what is necessary to defeat the overwhelming Evil.
I guess I should clarify, I'm good at creating small conflicts and obstacles. Since I enjoy adventure I find my structure similar to The Hobbit, wherein there's a problem/solution in each chapter. What I lack is the ability to develop a "big bad" so to speak. I have a point A and a point B, and I have the journey, but not much else.
Ah so you struggle with knowing what your 'end goal' is? Personally I find I need to figure that our early, and I discover my smaller problems along the way. @Historical Science still has some good advice though, a good villain plays off the hero somehow. For example in one of my current WIPs my villain is a contrast to my hero. My hero is kinda lazy and not really doing anything-- bad guy is being very proactive with his plans. They also have a contrast in that the villain is very socially accepted (he's magical and that's literally his magic lol) whereas my MC is not. They are the same in that they are both magical and supposed to be keeping the balance between the magical world and the not-magic, and also the same in that neither are doing that (in different ways). In my rough draft WIP the villain situation is a bit more different, it's about the protagonist becoming a villain. So the plan is the first part, not a clear-cut single person as the villain, but in the second part things shift and a major ally/the MC's boss becomes the villain of the story. She's what the MC wants to become, and because they're all bad guys, he does it by fighting/killing her.
You say that you are writing an adventure, in that case the conflict will probably be the reason for the adventure. Why exactly is your protagonist going on this adventure? Are they looking for a mystical city, a magical artifact? Are they trying to stop some evil force? Or are they just going on an adventure for the sake of it? If there is something they're trying to find a good conflict could be having an antagonistic force that is seeking that same thing and if they get there first then our protagonist won't be able to achieve their goals. Clearly if there's an evil force that creates its own conflict. If they just love to adventure what kind of trouble could they go through that could make them lose that love. Probably not the best advice (I think the other posters did a better job) but it's some questions that could help you narrow down what kind of conflict you might be working with.
Do not strive to make a negative character a bad guy. Make it simple with a different understanding of the situation, with different views on the situation. A good example is the 2011 Hugo movie. Pay attention to character of a policeman who wants to catch a boy.
All I can add is there is structural writing and creative writing. Unfortunately, most peoples brains cannot do both disciplines at once, but structural and creative must coexist on the page. This is the biggest challenge facing most writers and the reason many fail. My advice is to create a system whereby you have an effective structural approach whilst protecting your creativity (creativity is incredibly fragile). It is in my experience not possible to do both at the same time. So conflict scenes, for example, will take practically the same format throughout the book in each scene structurally speaking. As the book/story progresses you simply up the ante. If you look at it that way then you have thought out way of dealing with conflict scenes. The bit that makes each scene appear different is your imagination (the creative side of your brain, which will be forever thankful that you allowed it to just create) Now take a look at youtube and search for creating conflict in stories. Hope this helps.
Well, yeah. So here's my lecture on basic story structure and how it works. Exposition, A Day in the Life of your Character I'm going to preference this by saying not every single book needs this part of the story. But generally with stories that involve a lot of world building, it helps. How do you write it? Well, complete this sentence, "Once upon a time there was a ____ and every day he/she/it ____." And there you have it. That is your exposition... Okay, it's not that simple, but it's your basic idea behind it. This is where you establish your MC and the world that shaped them. What are the norms and taboos of his or her world, and what is his or her attitude towards them. That's the least that this part of the story should do. It doesn't have to be elaborate. You do have to weigh what you're writing with what you're trying to say. Rising Action, Where it all Begins... And kind of keeps going through most your story. Okay, you got your character, now something has to happen. There are many ways you can get into the rising action, but I'm going to give you one that works most of the time. That is someone makes a decision that has an irrevokable consequence. Now, this decision doesn't have to be made by the main character. For example, why do so many stories involve the main character getting revenge after a loved one's death. Because once the decision is made by the villain to do something that leads to someone else's death, that consequence is irrevokable. Consequences also don't necessarily need to be immediately felt. For example, since haunted house stories depend on building tension over time, a character's decision to move into said house is often not seen immediately. In the case of fantasies, it's often times a while between a character making a decision to, say go on a journey, and the character actually reaching a "point of no return." When Frodo found his way to the Prancing Pony and met Aragorn, that was the point of no return. There was no going back to the Shire at that point. He had already met the Ring Wraiths. He was already acquainted with the danger. But getting to your rising action is one thing. Keeping it up, is quite another. Rising action is built by continually upping the stakes. In the movie Ninja Turtles (the original with the Jim Henson puppets, not the awful Michael Bay CGI disaster), the first few fights with the Foot Clan was pretty easy. It established that the Ninja Turtles were actually quite capable and you're led into a false sense of security that the rest of the film would be easy too. Then things start to happen and suddenly it's not so easy. Master Splinter gets kidnapped. Then the Foot gives Raphel a beating of his lifetime. Then they're defeated in the antique shop. So, suddenly this wasn't such a cake walk after all. It was only after Raphel recovered and they received encouraging words from Master Splinter via some kind of astro projection, that the Turtles decided to take the fight to the Foot. And they do and it seems to go okay, and then they meet Shredder, the main villain, and then it doesn't go okay anymore. You see, Ninja Turtles is a completely brainless film, but it's still well structured so thus is functional as a film and as a story despite the absurd premise. Stakes have to be raised. Characters have to face defeat. Their flaws have to stand in their way. If a character never truly fails, then they come off as a Mary Sue. This is why subplots are also very devistating because they often hault the rising action in order to be resolved. Well thought out subplots are resolved in the midst of the rising action, not independently of it. Climax, Finally! We're getting somewhere! I'm going to start by saying that climaxes are not necessarily where the most exciting thing in your story is happening. It's just where the main plot finally reaches its final conclusion. In a lot of Marvel movies, the most exciting part is the fight with the villain, and that's part of the climax, sure. But the climax isn't finished until the hero decides what to do with the McGuffin they were fighting over this time around. (Yes, I am going to say it, no I am not going to apologize. All Marvel movies are the same.) Falling Action; Okay, Now What? Once the story resolves the conflict, we have to see what happens. What changed for the hero? Did any of his or her beliefs change? Were the people finally freed? What they do? This is all explored in the falling action. Conclusion; What do you make of all this? Some stories don't have to have a distinct conclusion, but they can. Often in a form of an epilogue. This is where the author says a few parting words, we see where our characters go now, and then the story closes. That's it. It's done. Okay, so what? Now, that I've explained the basics of plot structure, let's go back to you. How do you translate this with your characters and world building into an actual story people would want to read? You have to look at your protagonist. What is his or her goals? And what would cause him or her to either pursue to those goals or to deviate from them? You could have a girl whose goal is to simply get married, but then she doesn't. Why? What choice was made that carried an irrevokable consequence that derailed those plans? Did he chicken out? Did she chicken out? Did he get killed? Did he get injured and lose his memory? Did she lose her memory?
Excellent post Kallisto! Having worked with you in the past on one of my projects, I can testify that your unswerving question of 'why?' and its many variants such as 'so what?' make one appraise the real issues of writing. As a result, I now ask myself that very same question and its variants at the end of each chapter/scene. 'What, how and why is what I write relevant to the story as a whole. Better I ask myself that question than the reader! Just wanted to add my thanks for your help as maybe I didn't make that clear at the time. The reason I mention this is that whatever the plot issue/conflict is, it is all part of a broader story. Very relevant to this thread I think.
That means a lot that you said that. I know we didn't part on particularly good terms. (I think we were equally frustrated with one another's individual styles and theories of writing.) But I'm glad to hear that. And thank you very much for letting me read your story.
This is the key here. Your characters and world have an established status quo. Whether this is positive or negative is not relevant; your story will be about a change to this status quo and it will start when the avalanche is set into motion. The easiest way to find this status quo is to see your characters' comfort zone. Bilbo is a perfect example. Now; often there is a chain of events from a minor change to a character's condition leading to a greater change in the world. You should also note that your protagonist may fight to preserve the status quo, not only to change it.
