formulating ideas - Where do you start? |
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Vernacula
NYC Midnight Black Belt Joined: 21 Jan 2016 Location: West Coast Status: Offline Points: 3729 |
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You're a fantastic beta reader!
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MissKeister
NYC Midnight Black Belt Joined: 27 Jan 2015 Location: Albany, OR Status: Online Points: 2079 |
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I second this! :)
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Vernacula
NYC Midnight Black Belt Joined: 21 Jan 2016 Location: West Coast Status: Offline Points: 3729 |
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I do a lot of work in my head. I don't sit at my computer searching or taking notes right away, unless the genre is Drama; for some reason that one's the most effortless for me. My approach is pretty much coming up with unique setups, and matching them to a twist if I can. It doesn't even have to be a big twist or gotcha - I just like knowing what the button is going to be. The rest can all be finessed. Eventually I'll sit down and write out loose sketches of these setups, and see if any characters spring to mind. Sometimes I get an idea of who someone is, and if they start to become firmer and more clear (and persistent) in my mind, then I know I'm probably going to be able to finish their story. I have tons of email drafts filled with very specific setups. Sometimes I go back through them, like a scrap heap, digging to see if there's anything usable for a piece I'm working on.
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Joni
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Fantastic beta reader/Life saver = Potayto/Potahto. Thanks so much for all your help with mine!
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Suave
NYC Midnight Black Belt Joined: 25 Jan 2015 Location: Thailand Status: Offline Points: 25027 |
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I pick the prompt that is gong to be worst to work into whatever genre I get and try and come up with any story that could use that prompt. Then I try and work the other prompts into one of those ideas. What I have found is that since my first entry into short story, where I was left aghast at having to write something that I had never ventured into, each time has been easier as my mind has adapted I guess. |
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manifestlynot
NYC Midnight Black Belt Joined: 02 Jan 2018 Status: Offline Points: 4480 |
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I tend to approach it like a puzzle. I make columns of all possibly characters and themes, then cross reference them to each other and to the selected genre. I reference genre tropes and read examples of said genre and try to do enough research that something gets hammered out.
Then I wake up in the middle of the night with a completely different idea and go with that one instead.
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Rhyming R1: Lionheart (Hist fic)
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Tim G
NYC Midnight Black Belt Joined: 02 Nov 2016 Location: London Status: Offline Points: 6626 |
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Sometimes I just think of something and know it’s ‘the one’ and away I go.
Most times I start writing out single sentence summaries (loglines minus any wit!) and then go with the one that feels most promising in that kneejerk basis. I’m always about the plot though. Characters come after I know the story.
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Rhyming Story R2: Flying On Empty (Thriller)
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northernwriter
NYC Midnight Black Belt Joined: 15 Sep 2018 Location: Alaska Status: Offline Points: 3096 |
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That’s so interesting! I was just about to post the opposite! I generally have to find a character I love. Then I think about their strengths and flaws and what kind of trouble they might get themselves into, and that’s where the plot comes from.
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Microfiction 2021: 4th place overall
Flash Fiction 2020: 8th place overall |
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Tim G
NYC Midnight Black Belt Joined: 02 Nov 2016 Location: London Status: Offline Points: 6626 |
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Yep, this is how you're supposed to do it. I wish I could!
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Rhyming Story R2: Flying On Empty (Thriller)
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SisterRosetta
NYC Midnight Groupie Joined: 24 Jan 2018 Location: Oxford, UK Status: Offline Points: 178 |
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Thirded! Isn't this just like the final scene of It's a Wonderful Life, where he finds out just how many lives he's impacted?
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