Young Writers Society

It may seem strange, but for the life of me, whenever I choose what to write, I get bored. It's terribly annoying, and I'll just stop when I'm halfway through a story. I need to be told what to write.

So, I would like you to give me some themes, ideas, or anything you can, really!

You're all life savers! Thank you!

My usual methods to deal with that are: browsing through A Softer World strips, looking up lyrics to music/writing with one track I like/am inspired by on loop, look up poetry quotes or just come up with a title and work my way from there.
The site's story theme generator can be fun when you're in a bind too.

Write TONS of plot twists in a typical cliched story. So, for example, a quiet fantasy quest? Ha! Then, just add twist after twist after twist! Don't outline what you're going to do... just write whatever random thing comes to your mind! It'll probably suck at first, but it'll be AWESOME after a while!

Here are some of my rules, phrases, proverbs, etc. To be obeyed and broken at leisure.

1) NEVER outline. Never ever ever ever ever. It's a bad idea for three reasons, as far as I can see. One, you know what's going to happen next all the time, which means the reader'll be able to smell what's gonna come next, because you'll leave breadcrumbs without realizing it, and so therefore, you bore your reader. Two, you know what's going to happen next all the time and so you get bored because then it's the tedium of writing it down rather than discovering it, and so therefore, you bore yourself. Three, you rely on secondary inspiration when you outline, rather than the raw unbridled unfiltered stuff straight from your subconcious, and therefore the story is contrived and blah and you bore both yourself and your reader and bring shame to the literary world.

Well, perhaps the last one's a bit extreme, but don't outline. Instead:

2) Just begin with a conflict. Conflict is the essence of plot. You've got a character who wants something, but for whatever reason, can't get it. Bob wants a cookie. But his parents say he can't have a cookie. Boom bang bling, man. Conflict.

And then:

3) Complex-ify your problem. Bob wants a cookie, but his parents say no, and they say no because they've been brainwashed by a totalitarian state determined to beat the happiness out of children.

And then what you do is just follow the conflict along. You just write what happens next. Don't know what happens next? Ask yourself, "Well, what happens next?" Because you didn't outline it all beforehand, you get to decide what does happen next!

Whatever happens next, though, has to make sense in the context of the story. Oh, and it's good if you avoid cliches. It's also good if you avoid wimpiness. My friend and I have an acryonym for this. It's AITNOGL. All In The Name Of Good Literature. And what it means is you have to write what makes the best story, not what you want to happen and most certainly not what the reader wants to happen. (And if you want something to happen at point X, you have to sow the seed for it way back at point B when Bob remarks that he'd also like some milk with his cookie.)

Sometimes, it helps if you have a general idea of where the story's going to end up. Aka, you're starting in California but you want to end up in Maine. And then writing the story becomes about figuring out how to get to Maine. Hint, while still in metaphor land: don't use a GPS. Characters and general common knowledge (heading east is a good start, for instance) are the only navigators you need.

Final tips for the road:

1) When in doubt, blow it up . Never ever be afraid to take your carefully constructed story and smash it all into pieces by introducing a new character, killing off a main character, introducing an alien horde, etc. Note that the size and type of kaBOOM needs to match the style of the story, but even so, break out the matches and kerosene.

2) When in bored, refer to the Principle of kaBOOM listed above.

3) Plot holes are your friends, and they were made for filling. (You'll have less of them anyway once you don't outline.)

4) If you're stuck, write a letter to your novel and ask it very kindly why it's stalled in the middle of Nebraska. That's not very nice. Why couldn't it break down in some place more fun and convenient?

5) At all times, strap yourself in, prepare your evil laughter, and drink whatever beverage suits your fancy.

As for the ideas themselves, I highly recommend doodling in class and daydreaming. But don't write anything that isn't true in the sense that it resonates with you, and don't write something you wouldn't want to read.

Dream big, go for the project you think is way beyond your skill level to contend with, and hold on tight.

Rach

Even this wasn't my question it was really helpful.

RachaelElg wrote:1) NEVER outline. Never ever ever ever ever. It's a bad idea for three reasons, as far as I can see. One, you know what's going to happen next all the time, which means the reader'll be able to smell what's gonna come next, because you'll leave breadcrumbs without realizing it, and so therefore, you bore your reader. Two, you know what's going to happen next all the time and so you get bored because then it's the tedium of writing it down rather than discovering it, and so therefore, you bore yourself. Three, you rely on secondary inspiration when you outline, rather than the raw unbridled unfiltered stuff straight from your subconcious, and therefore the story is contrived and blah and you bore both yourself and your reader and bring shame to the literary world.

This is really helpful. I always have breadcrumbs in my stories. This is actually a problem I have noticed in lots of famous authors!

My way to get over the stop in the middle of a story problem is get people to yell at me, but also join a contest. When you are writing for a contest you have to follow a theme or some other thing. It isn't, exact, but it is general, and for me that is enough to make me want to finish. Here is a link to the YWS Contest Page

Thanks again,

A. S.

A. S.