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Post by Pru Freda on Mar 4, 2014 11:27:21 GMT -5
I've always got more ideas for stories going round in my head than I can ever write, but within each individual story, I often stall through lack of plot. This happened on my WIP, so I put it to one side while I wrote and pubbed The Lockington Legacy.
Now I've gone back to my put aside story, I've got plot ideas coming out of my ears. Every time I go to bed at night, instead of switching off and letting me sleep, my brain throws another plot twist at me. I feel I'm beginning to drown in them - my 60K novella could end up as long as LOTR at this rate.
Anyone else have this happen? How the hell do you cope?
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Post by vrabinec on Mar 4, 2014 11:46:44 GMT -5
I cook them in a white wine cream sauce with mushrooms and pearl onions and serve them over linguine like any other bunny. Still, my WIP tops out over 170k words, so I don't think my advice would be much help.
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Post by shawninmon on Mar 4, 2014 12:15:43 GMT -5
I have so many story ideas I know I'll never get them all written. What I often don't enough of is plot, or conflict. I tend to think in terms of worlds and characters, instead of what is happening to those characters in those worlds.
That's why it has taken me so long to finish what I'm publishing this month. I absolutely loved the characters and the setting, but there wasn't enough conflict to drive the story. It took me months to manufacture a conflict. I am always open to the possibility that I am just slow, though.
Now, before I tackle a new project, I am trying to not get sucked in by a cool setting and interesting characters alone. I am making myself answer the question "Yeah, but what happens to them?" before I allow myself to start. I suck at plotting. Which really is okay, because I used to suck at dialogue, writing action scenes and plotting. I'm getting there.
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Post by Becca Mills on Mar 4, 2014 13:00:55 GMT -5
I rarely have those new story ideas. That lack-of-creativity thing. Blah!
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Post by Suzy on Mar 4, 2014 13:03:41 GMT -5
Lynda, we'd be happy to have any left-over plot ideas. Maybe you could put them in a special thread and we could pick out the ones that we like?
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Post by Becca Mills on Mar 4, 2014 14:12:09 GMT -5
Lynda, we'd be happy to have any left-over plot ideas. Maybe you could put them in a special thread and we could pick out the ones that we like? Seriously!
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Post by Suzy on Mar 4, 2014 14:14:41 GMT -5
Maybe we could all do that? I mean I often get ideas from all sorts of things that might not work in my books. We could gather our not-really-working-for-me-but-might-be-great-in-another-story-ideas somewhere?
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Post by Daniel on Mar 4, 2014 19:55:21 GMT -5
Now I've gone back to my put aside story, I've got plot ideas coming out of my ears. Every time I go to bed at night, instead of switching off and letting me sleep, my brain throws another plot twist at me. I feel I'm beginning to drown in them - my 60K novella could end up as long as LOTR at this rate. Anyone else have this happen? How the hell do you cope? My problem is similar, but it manifests as forks in the road. I have the basic idea for the story and then I start thinking of ways it could proceed...with many twists and turns...and sometimes dead ends. They say the confused mind does nothing, and I can relate to that. Too many branches in the trail before you can make it impossible to choose one. Random selection rarely works out well. My only solution for this problem so far has been to choose an ending to go with my beginning. Knowing where I am and where I want to be helps me eliminate the trails that would take me too far afield. Most of the time.
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Post by Pru Freda on Mar 6, 2014 10:03:34 GMT -5
Now I've gone back to my put aside story, I've got plot ideas coming out of my ears. Every time I go to bed at night, instead of switching off and letting me sleep, my brain throws another plot twist at me. I feel I'm beginning to drown in them - my 60K novella could end up as long as LOTR at this rate. Anyone else have this happen? How the hell do you cope? My problem is similar, but it manifests as forks in the road. I have the basic idea for the story and then I start thinking of ways it could proceed...with many twists and turns...and sometimes dead ends. They say the confused mind does nothing, and I can relate to that. Too many branches in the trail before you can make it impossible to choose one. Random selection rarely works out well. My only solution for this problem so far has been to choose an ending to go with my beginning. Knowing where I am and where I want to be helps me eliminate the trails that would take me too far afield. Most of the time. I like the analogy of trees branching and forks in the road. I've been strict with myself in only keeping what will work for this story. I'm keeping the rest in case they come in useful in the future.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 6, 2014 15:24:45 GMT -5
I keep all my story ideas in a file and I often combine them with other ideas down the road (so I don't like to share them, sorry guys!)
As for plot ideas within a story, it really depends on the book. Many times, if I'm not sure one way is the right way, I think it's my gut way of telling myself something's not right. So I will keep chewing on that part until I get that lightbulb moment where I know I have the right path. Sometimes I just have to keep writing a part line by line each day and it works itself out, though I've recognized that mainly happens with sad scenes or heavy action scenes.
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