'kay, so I really wanna write a screenplay, and I've got all these little bits and pieces of a story, but I don't know what to do with them. I'll post what I got - it's really ridiculous, but maybe someone will be able to give me a hand? I know it's set in one of those newer suburbs in Arizona - y'know, the little patches of cookie-cutter houses and WalMarts in the middle of the desert. Half the neighborhood is still being built, so there's a buncha half-finished houses and stuff. Nearby is the "Copper State Mall", a huge and crappy mall where the main characters go kind of a lot. Some shxt goes down there. The main character is new to the town. Someone named Todd is mentioned kind of a lot - he was friends with the other characters before the MC moved in, and it's implied that he died for most of the story. There's a character with some kind of hideous physical deformity who's extremely sensitive to sunlight. The story goes from light and happy to really serious. I know that all sounds really stupid, but I wanna get all that junk out of my system. Anyone have any advice to offer or am I on my own?
It sounds like you have some really good backstory...Now you need to think up a plot/conflict and start writing! Unfortunately, I can't help you there, but I think there are a lot of different places you could go with this story line. I'd get to know your main characters a little and then try to sit down and write - write anything and everything...Just write! Eventually, you might get an idea and be able to really get started.
Yeah, it's the plot/conflict I'm really stuck on. But I guess it'd help to know who my characters are before I have them start doing stuff, right? Thanks, Libby!
Maybe Todd could be the physically deformed kid and the MC discovers that the other kids shunned him when it happened and the MC and Todd become friends? But I know what you're on about, I often get something like that. I think of good backstories and a couple of cool characters and settings and then have trouble piecing them into a story. Sometimes I start an idea from one scene I think of in my head and I like it so much I try and think of a whole story to go with it
Bits and pieces are your bricks and mortar, but they need not end up in the same house. Pick one character or situation and explore it. See if a conflict begins to suggest itself, and let that grow into a plot. Give each character or situation a day or more before giving up and working with another, so it has your full attention. Only then decide if the rest of those wonderful pieces will end up part of the same house, or get saved up for another project.
