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I usually just start writing and I see where I end up. Or I start reading old rants by limyaael. They make me think and start getting ideas on new plots.
Of course, it’s probably best not to listen to me. I have yet to finish a novel of mine. And the current one/my first one, which I’ve been working on revising and writing for three years, I am thinking of trashing. The plot stinks. >.< It’s too cliche with the whole ‘save the world pseudo-medieval setting’. [So it pretty much sucks.]
I’m often inspired by something, then tweak it to make it more original.
Other times I come up with what I think is a new plot, then find something else that uses the same/similar elements, so abandon it on grounds of unoriginality.
I use a thought book. I’d look up the article, but it’s hidden somewhere far back.
It’s somewhere on the main site’s archive. It’s exactly what it says it is. A book for your thoughts. Carry it with you. Write down any and all ideas that come into your head. My book is a little different from the article’s suggestion, but I don’t just include story ideas. I’ll throw in any devices, character ideas, conversations, anything that gives me that spark ,that thing that makes me want to write immediately, but just isn’t complete enough to become a book yet. Then I steadily accumulate, find ideas that could be linked, could work together, and my worldbuilding starts from that.
Write. Are you stuck? Just write, let it flow out of your hands. If you reach a dead end, carve a new path. Did a conversation die before you got to the meat of it? Have a character attempt to aleviate the silence by picking their nose and write the others’ reactions. It doesn’t need to make perfect sense. You’ll feel satisfied just from writing and, if you get lucky, something inside your mind will connect and suddenly your destination will be crystal clear. Then, in that moment of clarity, write for goodness sakes, before you lose that momentum!
Really, it all comes down to getting on with the work.
I absolutely love plotmaking. Unfortunately, because I like (and succeed at) making plots more than actually writing, none of them ever end up written. I sort of come up with a general idea and string it out in my head, hard to explain but I can come up with stuff really easily. A consequence of that is my tendency to daydream about the plots and then I end up pacing around my room at 2 A.M. thinking about vampires or whatever my current obsession happens to be. D:
A way that I can come up with stuff is through simple word association, if I have a really basic idea going. An example is when a friend of mine wrote a few paragraphs about a cop named Travis who drove to work and got shot in the head. My thought process: Travis -> Texas -> Texas and law -> Death penalty -> False conviction that led to a death penalty -> Revenge. You said your thoughts wander, using those wandering thoughts can actually be a good way to come up with new ideas.
</failingoverlongexplanation>
Cool! Thanks Northmark, I’ll try it right now.
If I get stuck and don’t have an idea for a story that I especially like, I turn a few of the random small thoughty What-Ifs in my head into short stories. Like, I feel like throwing up when I eat these really disgusting mushrooms, so then I had a ‘What if you were one of those people with hyper-sensitivity’ and now I’m writing a short story about such a person. Because, you see, you don’t need to commit to all the plot twists and turns for a short story, and it seems like such a more plausible effort.
But I’m not sure if that’s what you are going for…?
@Northmark
Oh My Gosh! It really works!
P.S.
I’m still open for ideas and promts from anybody else out there.
I think I tried one of those what if stories before and it just didn’t flow and I got stuck. I think its still stuck in my closet. Hmm… maybe I should dig that up sometime, I could have new ideas now. I’ll take it in consideration.
oh that was @Rand
Ok, yeah.
Hey CGilga I looked up the thoughtbook and it actually sounds better than I origanally gave it credit for, maybe I’ll try to combine all the previous ideas…
And make a monster idea that will eventually allow me to take over the world!!! Mwahahahaha…
cough cough I mean, um, make a really great story…
heh heh yeah.
(weakly amends) Whoops
Sorry I’m feeling really hyper and silly at the moment, but I meant the first part seriously
Do you think I talk to much? I mean I their is a lot of comments up there… ok I’m going to stop rambling now.
Uh, no, there’s no real talking too much. There is an edit button though, you know.
Actually, the story I am writing evolved so significantly from a vague idea I had when I was like, twelve, that I have no idea how I got it. I think I wanted to write something from a Haradhrim (from LotR)‘s point of view, because of Faramir’s (or Sam’s, can’t remember) where he wonders whether the Haradhrim were really evil for serving Sauron.
Of course, what I’m writing now has no one from LotR, no Haradhrim, or anything whatsoever. And it is much better.
So even if the idea is stupid right now, keep tweaking it and you might come up with something interesting. Weird things might inspire you, but just go along with it.
Actually, Harry Potter is an example of a well-planned series. Example: In book one, Hagrid makes a passing reference to borrowing Sirius Black’s motorcycle. We completely forget the name, until it surfaces again in Book 3, where Black is a main character.
Some people didn’t like this method, but I thought it was very intriguing.
I love the way Rowling incorporates important elements in later stories. Like the magic cupboard thingy that used to stand in the Hall.
Heh, some authors make it painfully obvious, though. Either Rowling is really clever and planned such things out in intricate detail, or remembers/re-reads what she writes and uses them as plot devices later. :D
Chekhov’s Gun, yeah… I can’t see how one wouldn’t like it. It rewards the reader for paying attention, makes you think “Oh yeah, haha, this writer’s clever!”
Why would anyone not like it? O_o
Guns are evil and hurt people.
@Dr. A
Why would anyone not like it? O_o
Haha, because it might take reading the books more than once to pick up on those sorts of things?
Happycrab, take a look at the wiki article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chekhov%27s_gun
That might help. :D
Chekov’s Gun is the principle that when you have a gun in the first act you make sure to fire it by the end of the second act.
Duh.
I’m the same.
As a result, I rarely write anything, so I’m not very good at it.
That’s why I use leechblock on my computer, then I sit down and actually hammer out some writing. It’s just a matter of slugging through it. I’m bad, though, because I am notoriously lazy.
Oh, same here. I’m so lazy, it’s terrible.
As for plots, sometimes, things just pop up in my head. LIKE: What if whoever/whatever created us (assuming we were created) got tired of us and decided to kill us all off? Would we be able to convince them otherwise, or would we all die horrible deaths?
Lol.
As for plots, sometimes, things just pop up in my head. LIKE: What if whoever/whatever created us (assuming we were created) got tired of us and decided to kill us all off? Would we be able to convince them otherwise, or would we all die horrible deaths?
Ok, we wouldn’t be able to convince them. They’d squish us all into pancakes. UNLESS there was a super deus ex machina which I can’t think of.
I would suggest loading an earlier save state.
Did no one activate any checkpoints on the way?
I didn’t know there were any checkpoints.
Maybe we’re on Hard mode, with no checkpoints between saves?
Or maybe we’re just trying to get through without saving to unlock the bonus content.
Bonus Content = Wings and Magic?
I hope so, so much.
Or new playable races/maps/etc. Maybe once we’ve finished the campaign, we can play a few custom games over Battlenet.
Apparently, there is supposed to be a save point coming up in 2012, or a dungeon boss, or something.
The worst part about it is there’s no ‘continue’ option if you get Game Over. Only a snickering dog.
On a similar note, TV Tropes’ Real Life page is the most hilarious page on the entire site.
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