tlbodine:

aalt-ctrl-del:

typingoverworld:

word-nerds-united:

headspace-hotel:

Literally none of my story ideas come with a plot, ever. WITHOUT FAIL, it’s always just an Aesthetic, like two and a half characters, some very, very vivid settings, and a weird concept. Never plot. Not even an inkling of a plot. My brain tosses me this cool stuff and is like welp i’ll be back in 4-5 business months 

Don’t look for plots, look for problems. 

Examples: 

• crippling debt 
• lonliness 
• a building is on fire 
• the world is going to end 
• failure 
• a broken heart
• guilt 
• noises they can only hear 
• seperation 
• lack of strength 
• lack of wit 
• someone has too much pride 
• forbidden love 
• encouraged love? 

Pick a problem, give it to a character, and let them try and solve it. 

Bam: plot. 

This is exactly Stephen King’s approach, outlined in “On Writing”. He prefers to start with a “What if?” situation, introduce characters, and then see what they do.

I believe that’s where people heavily criticize his endings as being ‘shit’. A bro falls in love with the concept, characters, and “what if”, the conclusion is on the back burner. But too many people expect characters to have resolution, or the descending climax to be something meaningful or impactful.

but endings don’t need that. Stories can be footnotes or a fucking epic long one shot. You murder creativity trying to breathe life into it where it doesn’t need it. Don’t smother an idea, let it flow from your fingertips. Let it grow and run from you, set it free to terrify, inspire, and leave people conflicted

In my opinion, King’s endings fail because they over-stay their welcome. Then again, considering how puffy his writing is in general, it’s no surprise that his endings should drag on.

(Misery is a good example of this - it does the Return of the King thing and ends like three or four times when really it would have been fine with any single one of them)

But, yeah. It’s good advice in general: give your characters a problem, make it hard to solve, then send them on their way.

The trick is in finding a way, as writer-god, to solve their insolveable dilemma.