Writing Question...?

Question

I love to write, and I started something recently, but I decided not to finish it. I want to start writing a whole new thing, but I don't know how to get a good idea into my head. Any suggestions??

Answer 1

By chance, did you stop when you started to get to the middle of your story? You might want to ask about getting through the middle as a separate question.

But to answer your question and get to the root of finding a topic to tell a meaningful story, there are two things that I believe are important:

1) Controlling Idea (another word for theme)
2) Premise

The controlling idea is the meaning of your story. The premise is what happens.

For example, when you ask someone who just watched or read "Lord of the Rings" what it's about, they'll probably say something like, "it's an epic story about a hobbit who is given a huge responsibility to take a magical ring into a mountain to destroy it and save the world and elves and men unite to....etc..". Okay, that's simple. Bu that's simply the premise. What the story is *really* about is "we are truly free when we risk and sacrifice ourselves." That is the controlling idea of the story. Of course, we can debate if that is the true controlling idea but I'm only giving you my interpretation and illustrating the difference between what a story is really about and what happens in a story.

Now you can apply this understanding to your own idea. But first you need to come up with a premise.

Finding a premise is accomplished through research and asking yourself "what if" for any situation. If you read the news, you can find many ideas if you simply ask yourself "what if" as you read through it.

For example, I randomly selected a news article on Yahoo News:
Survivors recall horror of flu pandemic
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061216/ap_o...

As I'm reading through each line, I'm thinking about story ideas and asking "what if". For example, I read this line:

>> The flu swept through the nation's capital, which had attracted thousands of soldiers and war workers.

Now I'm asking myself, 'what if someone built a virus and orchestrated a large event so they could infect everyone in it to inflict the most damage?'

That's a start, but sounds a bit cliche, but that's okay. Let your mind race and you'll then ask "what if" upon "what if". What if the person accidently released the virus and kept silent while everyone around them died? What if the event was organized by a force where people are called to gather in one location but everyone made excuses for going there without realizing they were being forced -- only a supernatural force could do that -- and the reason is the supernatural force wanted to end the human race? hehe...this gets into some horror or science-fiction if that's your bag. But you can see the magic "what if" at work.

Let's choose the supernatural 'what if' as the premise in this example. We still need the controlling idea. This is what is the heart of your story -- the story you need to tell. Fine stories have deep meaning and make people think.

The controlling idea is found within our story. It's not a single word; it's not going to be about "viruses" nor "aliens". A controlling idea generates itself from your story. As you try to discover your controlling idea, you will also begin to understand the story that you want to tell, that says, "life is like this!"

The controlling idea will be a sentence that tells us how and why life changes from one condition of existence to another. This change will show up in the climax of the last act of your story.

So, how do you know your controlling idea before you've even written your story?

This is where you want to think about what happens in your story and then work up to the last climax. It's going to be rough, but if it's satisfying, you can work with it and develop around it.

Using the premise that people are being supernaturally led to gather in one location, we need to come up with a protagonist. I'm going to use a "what if" and ask 'what if the protagonist is also under this supernatural spell?' That will make it more interesting because it will provide deeper conflict. Not only will he have to try to save the world but also get out the spell himself perhaps.

Some more questions: What is this spell? What is so attractive to force these people to gather without them even knowing they're being forced? Now this is starting to get rich. We know a lot of people do things they don't want because they're manipulated. Cults are famous for doing this. Charismatic leaders and propaganda are also effective. People are manipulated in many ways that many fail to see they're being manipulated. And those who best manipulate do it without you knowing. Life is like that! Now I'm starting to find my controlling idea.

So, how can my protagonist fit into this? My controlling idea is a sentence, it's not simply "manipulation". So, I start with something -- it's better than nothing: "Evil prevails when we fail to examine our conscious and instead follow others" or "Compassion prevails in humans only when we follow our conscious". Whichever we choose, it must be clear in the last-climax of the last act of your story.

As you build your story, you work to that last act. Many writers paste that controlling idea onto the computer monitor and filter everything they write through it. Your characters may go in different directions, but this controlling idea is your guide.

Concerning the setting, you can place this story in a different dimension, in a different time, or on a different planet. That will change the dynamics of the story but it won't change your controlling idea and that is where the power of your story exists.

We've now simply found your idea. Now we need to discuss how to flesh it out and make it into a novel so you don't stop it in the middle.

For the setting let's place this premise 50 years into the future on Earth. All stories are made up of beginnings, middles, and endings. Each scene is also made up of begginings, middles, and endings. Each scene provides conflict and change, and moves the story forward.

Almost every single story is based on a quest where your protagonist chases a desire. So, we need to think about your character's object of desire. In the premise that I've created, the supernatural force is manipulating people to gather in one location so it can infect them with a virus. Because I think this force is intelligent and sly, it's not going to be identical for every peson and is going to feed on the weakness of every individual. I think the best object of desire for the protagonist is going to be his pursuit of power within his sphere of influence. So, let's say he's an oceanographer (I pulled that out of nowhere). He would become famous and influential if he made an important discover -- perhaps a discovery that can save lives such as tsumani detection technology (but in 50 years in the future we could make a more futuristic device). This is what he wants -- power. The force provides him the opportunity to seek this object and eventually he's going to have to go to this one location where the force intends to infect him. Now we have a lot more what ifs' to ask. As you can see, we're starting a great outline of the story and fleshing it out.

But we need to get back to the controlling idea.

I like up-endings so I want him to become redeemed in the end. I think his pride is too great and his pursuit of power is evil. His idea of saving lives is a great idea, but his reasoning is not -- he's doing it to gain influence, not to help people -- this makes him conflicted and provides excellent dimension. This force is going to manipulate his desire. But I am also going to add a subconscious desire to this. I want it so that he really doesn't want power...he simply doesn't recognize that the work he does already helps to save lives by adding to the research of others who are trying to find effective tsunami detection devices. He'll end up realizing this in the end. And this matches my controlling idea: "Evil prevails when we fail to examine our conscious and instead follow others." His pursuit of power only leads him into trouble as he follows others in trying to please them. But we still have to deal with this supernatural force that is manipulating everyone. Do we make our protagonist one who defeats the force, or do we make him lose by it. Either way, we must know the controlling idea clearly at the end no matter what he does.

Although I went off in a science-fiction direction, the controlling idea I discovered can exist in any genre and any setting. So, do lots of "what ifs" and reflect upon your controlling idea and outline your story to flesh it out. I hope my illustration can help.

I believe all this information is related to finding your idea to tell a meaningful story.

Good luck!

Answer 2

Try an idea that no one has ever thought about. What are you looking for, genre I mean? Fantasy, mystery, etc. Who are your targeted audience? Try to be original and the best to me is to work backwards. Think on how it would end and later think on how it will begin. (in my opinion, stick to fantasy because that's famous right now with Harry Potter and Eragon but thinking of an original story well good luck)

Answer 3

Editors will tell you that they never read partial manuscripts. Almost anyone can start a novel, but very few can manage to completely finish one.
Finish one project before you start another....what you learn from the first will help you with the second...and third, fourth...

Answer 4

keep a notebook. just keep on writing ideas, even though you don't finish the story in mind. and when you have time to edit them, go back to the "ideas" you have written down. you might even be able to put them together to make a complete story! :D

Answer 5

what you need is 'inspiration' but do not plagiarized, inspiration happen to ppl at the most unexpected time & place you need to know when it hit you, or you have a nagging thought that never goes away, i have several of these for many years i've started on one but never finished i even have a title for it, it's called "Shifted Loyalty" finished it for me if you can

Answer 6

Go sit on a park bench somewhere and watch the moron's go strolling by and the idiots having fun in the park itself and something profound will happen to your thought processes concerning where you want to go with your writing.

Answer 7

I have that same problem. I completed two books, but I have started atleast 10.

Answer 8

make a rough draft and finish it then re write the wrong