Fleshing Out That Vague Idea

Fleshing out that vague idea

YOU HAVE A PLOT. Well, okay, you have a character. Or maybe just this one cool image. Problem is, that’s all it is, and it’s hard to write an entire novel on a month with just a vague idea.

Now, you might say, “but I’ve worked on my character for so long they’re a wizard/vampire/space pirate rolled into one, how can I possibly fit that into a plot,” and I say to that, weirder books have been published, you’ll be fine. Our main goal is to figure out how to get that sweet space vampire fighting bisexual cyborg into a book you can write in thirty days. Though that seems challenging, never fear, for we are going to give you a working framework with which to move forward with. It goes like this:

A [character type] has [a problem], and [tries to fix it]. However, [plot twist/inciting event] happens, and [deadly complication ensues].

Yes, we are talking about loglines. Don’t groan, I know these are hard. Our goal is simply to end up with a starting point. It doesn’t have to be pretty, or succinct. We are merely trying to find a starting point, so let’s tackle each one by one:

A Character: Your characters are complex individuals, but we’re going to distill them to their most distinctive, plot important aspects. A sixteen-year-old wizard. A trans lady dragonrider. A lonely accountant, etc. Since we’re not trying to sell anything, we can expand a bit and give into cliches. “A eighteen-year-old werewolf with a chip on his shoulder.” “A trans dude with a terrible crush on his married landlady.” “A lonely accountant into the sanguinarian scene.” Etc. Have fun with it.

A Problem: We’ve got two main types, external and internal. External will be the outward issue being dealt with - solving a murder, finding a girlfriend, stopping an asteroid from destroying the moon, etc.An internal problem will be the driving force of the character - needing to fix a broken relationship, facing a fatal flaw, confronting an addiction, etc. Both will be important to driving your plot, so consider how connected they’ll be both in tackling the plot and complicating it.

An Inciting Event: No way back, this it what thrusts your character forward. The discovery that their mother was a werewolf. The loss of an important necklace. Realizing you’re a magical girl in a world where magical girls are evil, etc. You are going to ruin your character’s life, so I advise doing it as gleefully as possible.

A Complication: We’ve got the basics of our plot, now we have to figure out how to keep it moving. Your protagonist’s mother was murdered for being a werewolf, and now they’re after your character too too. The necklace was more than important, the mob desperately wants it back and knows your character was the last person who had it. Your sixteen-year-old wizard has cast a spell to raise the dead, and now the Wizard Council is out to kill her to stop it.

You now have the beginnings of a plot and where it’ll take you. There’s going to be more complications to carry you through to the finish line, and good god don’t stop writing them down if you’re on a roll, but this should at least get you out the gate. Good luck!

me rn. GIVE US STU FOR SCREAM 6!!!

I don’t care how many Scream movies they make, they could come out with a Scream movie every year, we could end up having 295 Scream movies and every single time a new one was released I still would be holding out hope that it’ll be revealed that Stu Macher is still alive and out there carrying on the Ghostface legacy

this is my formal apology to the readers of the fanfics i have abandoned - 

i will come back someday. when? only the lord knows. but someday…

#RACHEL IS NEVER WRONG

I’m going to say something that might get me yelled at…

Stu was not a shaky, manipulated victim. Stu Macher enjoyed the killing spree. He was having more fun with it than Billy was. For Billy, it was personal business; for Stu, it was fun. I’m not saying that his obvious “fondness” (love/attraction) for Billy wasn’t a factor in him doing it, but he very clearly enjoyed it.

And trying to take that away from Stu’s character just waters him down and makes him an unenjoyable villain.

this post is the best post i have ever seen.

The hot guy in ready or not played brendon urie in Jennifer’s body????