New toys for my BRAIN

[ladyjanelly]

I feel like I"m on the verge of a sudden jump in fic writing quality and quantity.

The thing is, I've always had ideas.  Just 90% of those ideas had no legs--like--yeah, AU J2 are interesting together but I'm sort of lacking anything besides character development.  I end up with two boys loving each other in a vacuum. 

So the hubby has been teaching me some tools that he's learned over the years (seriously, the man works 40 hrs a week and can still turn out 100,000 words of original fic in 5 months). 

I started with making mind-maps to sort of brainstorm the story. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MindMapGuidlines.JPG

But I kept having this little line that didn't go anywhere labeled "Plot" and yeah. That's no good.  So next came wish-list-conflicts, where I write down all the characters' top ten things they need in life and see where those conflict.  Which means I need to have more than just the main pairing as characters, which expands the fic already.  I'm still sort of short on endings--the part where I envision the characters after the conflict is ended, or what exactly the characters' best case scenario is.  But still, it feels like I've got more story before these ideas poop out on me.

So I've been doing those two games on my old dead-ended fics and now I'm having new ideas and mapping and wish-listing those, and yeah.  I need to actually start the writing part of writing now.

Comments

[taniapretender.livejournal.com]

Mhh. I'm intringued: how does this mindmap thing-y work ?

And I know how you feel. I don't like the plot, usually it's where I get the idea, but I suck at character development: I often see my characters at the exact same point in the end than they were in the beginning :/

Maybe I'm stuck writing short stories ...

[ladyjanelly.livejournal.com]

What I do is put the idea of the fic in the center circle and then draw a couple lines off in all directions.

Start general, naming the lines like "Characters" and "Events" and "Setting" and then let the lines branch off into finer and finer details until you run out of page. When you do, you start a new page with a new map with a finer focus, for instance, "Characters" can be its own map.

It really helped fill in the vacant spaces in my ideas. Helped me see the imbalances and where I needed more meat and details.

[taniapretender.livejournal.com]

wow, that's amazing! I think it's gonna be sooo helpful finish my bigbang fic!
Thanks :D

[ladyjanelly.livejournal.com]

I like that it's such a visual representation of the fic in a non-linear form. It really helps me see the gaps.

[epeeblade]

I'm kinda the opposite. I'll get the plot straight off, and then I'll have to sit and think about the emotions and if they're valid and make sense.

*hugs* I'm glad you're finding something that works for you. I found the J's to be extremely amazing muses for my writing. (Didn't write for about 2 years before I discovered the show/fandom)

[ladyjanelly.livejournal.com]

When I have non-fandom people read my work (like the homeless!verse for example) they're like--"Awesome characters but um, where's the story?" for the first 6 chapters or so.

The Js are great to write AUs of. They're a great template to play around with. If that makes sense.

[cucumberstar.livejournal.com]

Ooo I like the mapped out brainstorming. What a neat idea. I have a lot of trouble finishing my fics. sometimes I come up with these complicated plots that never make it out of my head. That's an annoying problem too.

I usually do all my brainstorming in my car while I'm driving. Heh. I talk to myself about my character's motivations. It's kind of fun and insane.

[ladyjanelly.livejournal.com]

I do a lot of brainstorming in the car. I tend to write out detailed scenes in my head and then I gotta get them down when I get home.

I brainstorm when I'm in bed before I sleep too. I have ever since I was like 4.

I had a job once that was pulling staples from papers 40 hrs a week. That was awesome for the writeyness. :)

What I like about the mapping is that I get the bones of the fic visable and strong and then I can build the fic around those. I see my weaknesses earlier, I think.

[lapillus]

I've always thought that Lois McMaster Bujold's dictum that you should figure out what the worst thing that could happen to your protagonist is then make him deal with it is a good way of driving plot organically if you don't come up with them easily. Just remember that you need to satisfactorily resolve all of the problems before the end. Or plan on a sequel.

Also, since you seem good at coming up with heroes with unsolvable problems this essay of Doris Egan's might make something perk.