Blacklilly27 - Untitled

Brainstorming

Ok, so one of the best tools in your back pocket to fight writers block (or as @starting-today-you-are-a-writer more accurately calls it, story block) is the power of BRAINSTORMING. That’s right, when you beg your brain for ideas and all it does is play the same three lines from whatever song you briefly heard in a store two weeks ago, there is a way to get through it. 

Mind mapping: Grab a paper and a pen and one (1) idea. Put it in the middle. It can be a character, a theme, the tone, conflict, or your trouble spot. Putting “Break out of Jail????” in the center is 100% valid. Now, around it, draw a line and write any words or phrases that pop into your head when you look at your center word. And if you get ideas from that word, draw lines away from that, and so on and so forth, until you may get something like this: 

You don’t have to use all of it, or even most of it. Usually, I end up connecting with one little corner and going from there, but it’s a great way to let your mind move fast over lots of ideas without judgement or our own thoughts getting in the way. 

Automatic/Free writing: This was a concept I learned about in art history, but when i went to research automatic writing, apparently it’s more connected with magic/witchy/psychic people now. My advice is not to ask help from ghosts (unless that works for you), but to let your own subconscious take over. Automatic writing is just writing whatever words come into your head in the order they come in, without letting yourself stop. That could be NONSENSE but it’s also very freeing. More helpful? Keep yourself a topic. So maybe you want to try to write your problem scene without stopping, or writing about your problem scene without stopping. It forces your brain to come up with all sorts of things because you have to be writing something the whole time. Will all those things be useful? No, but I’ve learned a lot about my characters, themes, and overarching plot from exercises like this. 

Others:

Taking a long shower

Taking a walk

Talking over your problem with someone willing to listen

Reading

Art/Dance/Craft/some other creative outlet separate from writing

Making and listening to a playlist for how you want your scene to feel

Watching writertube videos that talk about tropes and subplots to give yourself insperation. 

I’m sure there are a ton more, but these are all my favorites. Remember, writers block, or story block, is temporary and beatable. It all boils down to thoughts we have about our writing, not some magical force that crashes against us whenever our life gets too easy. Gather tools for when it hits, and you’ll always be able to find your footing again. 

Deep worldbuilding questions

1: What are their “emergency foods”? Things they eat during famine or hardship, or when regular staples aren’t available. 

2: What is their view on illegitimate children, if they even have a concept of them? 

3: What are the stereotypes of different parts of the world? Or, more specifically, of a single country? Think the “North” vs the “South” divide in the USA. 

4: How much do the people of the world know of their own history? 

5: What is the formal process for declaring and ending war? 

6: What differences in ideology exist in kingdoms or republics? For example, does your republic have different political parties, or your kingdom have pretenders to the throne? 

7: What vital careers are looked down upon? Garbage men, tailors, fishermen? 

8: What words came from other countries in your setting? For example, did the word ‘king’ derive from a native word, or a foreign word? Why?

9: What is their medicine like? Is it actually effect, or based on superstition, or a mix of both? 

20 Basic Plots

1. QUEST - the plot involves the Protagonist’s search for a person, place or thing, tangible or intangible (but must be quantifiable, so think of this as a noun; i.e., immortality).

2. ADVENTURE - this plot involves the Protagonist going in search of their fortune, and since fortune is never found at home, the Protagonist goes to search for it somewhere over the rainbow.

3. PURSUIT - this plot literally involves hide-and-seek, one person chasing another.

4. RESCUE - this plot involves the Protagonist searching for someone or something, usually consisting of three main characters - the Protagonist, the Victim & the Antagonist.

5. ESCAPE - plot involves a Protagonist confined against their will who wants to escape (does not include some one trying to escape their personal demons).

6. REVENGE - retaliation by Protagonist or Antagonist against the other for real or imagined injury.

7. THE RIDDLE - plot involves the Protagonist’s search for clues to find the hidden meaning of something in question that is deliberately enigmatic or ambiguous.

8. RIVALRY - plot involves Protagonist competing for same object or goal as another person (their rival).

9. UNDERDOG - plot involves a Protagonist competing for an object or goal that is at a great disadvantage and is faced with overwhelming odds.

10. TEMPTATION - plot involves a Protagonist that for one reason or another is induced or persuaded to do something that is unwise, wrong or immoral.

11. METAMORPHOSIS - this plot involves the physical characteristics of the Protagonist actually changing from one form to another (reflecting their inner psychological identity).

12. TRANSFORMATION - plot involves the process of change in the Protagonist as they journey through a stage of life that moves them from one significant character state to another.

13. MATURATION - plot involves the Protagonist facing a problem that is part of growing up, and from dealing with it, emerging into a state of adulthood (going from innocence to experience).

14. LOVE - plot involves the Protagonist overcoming the obstacles to love that keeps them from consummating (engaging in) true love.

15. FORBIDDEN LOVE - plot involves Protagonist(s) overcoming obstacles created by social mores and taboos to consummate their relationship (and sometimes finding it at too high a price to live with).

16. SACRIFICE - plot involves the Protagonist taking action(s) that is motivated by a higher purpose (concept) such as love, honor, charity or for the sake of humanity.

17. DISCOVERY - plot that is the most character-centered of all, involves the Protagonist having to overcome an upheavel(s) in their life, and thereby discovering something important (and buried) within them a better understanding of life (i.e., better appreciation of their life, a clearer purpose in their life, etc.)

18. WRETCHED EXCESS - plot involves a Protagonist who, either by choice or by accident, pushes the limits of acceptable behavior to the extreme and is forced to deal with the consequences (generally deals with the psychological decline of the character).

19. ASCENSION - rags-to-riches plot deals with the rise (success) of Protagonist due to a dominating character trait that helps them to succeed.

20. DECISION - riches-to-rags plot deals with the fall (destruction) of Protagonist due to dominating character trait that eventually destroys their success.

by Pavel Simakov

Did a small #tutorial for class on “How to Improve Storytelling in Panel Layouts”! Thought it might help some peepz around here!