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Anyone else still staring at a blank page?

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amlewi08 View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote amlewi08 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 Sep 2021 at 10:25am
Originally posted by RadBadOrJustSad RadBadOrJustSad wrote:

Originally posted by Draiglas Draiglas wrote:

What are your prompts, mate? Maybe you could brainstorm here? :)

Appreciate the kind offer.

Horror / an institute / a newspaper clipping 

The obvious setting is obvious, I guess. Like I said - my issue has been that I have nothing striking me that doesn't feel like fanfic of content that's already been done before. :-/

Well, I suppose the good news is that an institute is a pretty wide setting—classic mental institute, a modern institute of technology or something, the institute for the preservation of fine tea cups….the world is your oyster at that! 

It’s a sub-optimal suggestion, but sometimes with flash I come up with a plot and then place it in the setting, and then add details to try and make it feel organic, if that makes sense.   
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote MorghanEly Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 Sep 2021 at 10:26am
I'll trade you in a heartbeat. I got historical fiction the easiest genre to mess up, and the most time consuming, because research... ugh...and a cafe... does Starbucks count???
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote jennifer.quail Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 Sep 2021 at 10:55am
Well, not nothing, but not much. It doesn't help between carpal tunnel (or ulnar nerve, not sure which) issues making typing awkward and working yesterday and today (someday they could maybe put these on a day I DON'T work?) all I really managed was agonizing over names. I had two ideas right off, but while going with the less-obvious one is better from originality, it means actual plot is the tricky part.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote surnica Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 Sep 2021 at 10:55am
Originally posted by MorghanEly MorghanEly wrote:

I'll trade you in a heartbeat. I got historical fiction the easiest genre to mess up, and the most time consuming, because research... ugh...and a cafe... does Starbucks count???

I somehow turned my horror prompt into historical fiction and now I'm regretting that choice.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Draiglas Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 Sep 2021 at 10:59am
Originally posted by RadBadOrJustSad RadBadOrJustSad wrote:

Originally posted by Draiglas Draiglas wrote:

What are your prompts, mate? Maybe you could brainstorm here? :)

Appreciate the kind offer.

Horror / an institute / a newspaper clipping 

The obvious setting is obvious, I guess. Like I said - my issue has been that I have nothing striking me that doesn't feel like fanfic of content that's already been done before. :-/

I see what you mean but I reckon you can have fun with this one. Some ideas that occurred to me while I was in the shop:

- As someone else said, institute is quite broad. Pick something unexpected or fun and go from there? E.g. The Institute of Directors putting would-be CEOs through some kind of trial from hell.
- Lean really heavily into the horror tropes and go for horror comedy, with everything being delightfully cheesy and horrific?
- As Amlewi08 says, institute brings to mind mental institute. Could try something with that? For example, what immediately sprang to mind for me is that my great-grandfather ran a mental institute until his fall from grace with Stalin basically did him in. It's painful for my mum so I don't ask her much about it but I know the institute is around no longer - could do something about an institute ending for more sinister reasons than Stalin being a bastard and what happens to the patients and the brave person who digs into it?

Edit: I'd also echo amlewi08's suggestion about taking a plot idea and fitting it into the setting? I do that sometimes.


Edited by Draiglas - 12 Sep 2021 at 11:01am
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote RadBadOrJustSad Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 Sep 2021 at 11:08am
Thanks all. As of this moment I'm at about 200 words of what's looking to be a zombie story.

Not feeling hot, but I gotta get something done after all.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Dark&StormyNight Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 Sep 2021 at 12:23pm
Originally posted by MorghanEly MorghanEly wrote:

I'll trade you in a heartbeat. I got historical fiction the easiest genre to mess up, and the most time consuming, because research... ugh...and a cafe... does Starbucks count???

My first thought is WW1…Snoopy is always drinking root beer in a French cafe while on the run from the Red Baron.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote FerretKittyMom Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 Sep 2021 at 12:33pm
Ugh. I finally finished and submitted. My first draft was only 800 words. So I had to go through and pad a few of the details and got it up to 999. (Tried to clarify spots that didn't make sense without the background details in my head lol)
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote timmytimtimothy Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 Sep 2021 at 12:45pm
Ah, dang, here we go again – about to write my first words haha :D 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote kristina_f Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 Sep 2021 at 12:52pm
Originally posted by timmytimtimothy timmytimtimothy wrote:

Ah, dang, here we go again – about to write my first words haha :D 

Even if you only write a hundred words an hour, that still gives you an hour to edit. Tons of time.

I ended up just vomiting out 1070 words in the span of an hour after not sleeping for a really long time. Pretty sure it's incoherent at the moment, but coherence is for cowards. Or something.
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