I Needed This In My Life A Long Time Ago!
I needed this in my life a long time ago!
Hi ! Im sorry, my question is going to be very vague and I'll understand if you do not want to answer it. Here it is : I always have beginnings, or very basic concepts, but I never know how the story will go between the beginning and the end (when I have one...). Like, I've been writing for nearly ten years and I came up with hundred of idea but I only found what happens in the middle only two times. Can something help me ? Sorry again for this vague question but I'm like... Desesperate.
I think that this is probably a pretty common problem, and one that I deal with myself a lot of the time. It’s easy to start off with a great idea, it’s harder to persevere through the middle of it and get it done, right?
To me, it seems like there are a few different factors that can make it really difficult to get through the middle part of a story (aside from the difficulty in itself of just sitting down and writing the whole thing, of course), so I’ll go through a few of the main sticking points in writing that I’ve come up against.
I have a beginning, but then what?
Figuring out how to continue a story once you’ve gotten past the ‘brainwave’ section of the idea can be really hard. If the first part of the story came to you so naturally and easily, shouldn’t the rest of it just fall into place?
Well, not really. At this point you’ve probably got to look at what you have so far, look at where you want to get to in the end (if you know that) and figure out the most satisfying path to take to get there. The middle part of a story is often the hardest part, you have to expand on all the great little concepts that you’ve thrown together and you’ve got to figure out how to make them all make sense.
Sometimes brainstorming ideas will help get through this, just to figure out what could possibly happen:
What is the protagonist trying to achieve?
What is the antagonist trying to achieve?
What would be the simplest solution for these things?
What is the biggest mistake the protagonist could make?
What happens if the antagonist succeeds?
What outside forces does the protagonist have to contend with in addition to the events of the main plot?
What could tempt or force the protagonist away from achieving their goals?
Figure out the simplest path from start to end, and then throw a big old roadblock in your protagonist’s path. Make them question their own motives, their own goals, make them question whether they’re the hero that’s really needed here.
Essentially, lay out all the possible things that could happen, and then pick the ones that make the best story/ the highest drama.
Too many great possibilities?
While having too many ideas is often more of a ‘good’ problem to have, it can also wind up getting you stuck just as badly as not having ideas, because when you get right in there in the middle of the story and you realise that of the two or three or five GREAT concepts that you’ve got on your hands, only one or two of them can possibly fit in and have the story make sense, it can be heartbreaking to have to pick and choose.
If you’ve got too many ideas on hand, don’t stress. Pick the one or two that are the MOST exciting/ dramatic/ fun/ heartbreaking and go with them. Don’t throw away the other ideas – put them in a ‘for later’ folder and use them in the sequel, or in another story altogether.
It doesn’t feel ‘natural’, or I want the rest of the story to flow like the start did:
Sadly, most of the time there are going to be sections of every story that are difficult to just sit down and write. It’s going to feel like pulling teeth, but the only way is to figure out what you need to happen, and how you’re going to do it, and then sit there and type until it’s on the page. Maybe it won’t be pretty, it won’t be as fun as the start of the story was, but once it’s done it can be edited until it shines.
You can’t edit a blank page, and you can’t finish a story with only a beautiful opening.
Can’t think of what might happen next?
It happens, doesn’t it, you write out a fantastic starter and you’re just as excited as anyone to see where it goes and then it just … doesn’t. You’ve stalled out in your own story and it’s horrible.
Go back and look at your characters, at your world building, look at the direction that it was all going in before you stalled and work on fleshing things out – a lot of the time in this situation you’ve gotten ahead of yourself and the reason that you don’t know what happens next is that you’ve dived in headfirst without really getting familiar with what you’re creating. That’s okay, it just means you have to go back and do the work that you skipped in the beginning.
Other tips:
If you’re attempting to jump right into longform stories, like novels or full length scripts or comic scripts etc, and finding that you just can’t get through the whole thing, why not scale it back?
Try writing short stories, ten minute films, single page comics, to hone your craft and exercise yourself in being able to go through the beginning/ middle/ end stages of your form.
As well as that, the feeling of finishing something, even if it isn’t a ‘full’ length work, is very rewarding, and as well as the practice, it can give you the motivation to get back into the slog of working on a longer piece.
I hope that this helps, and please feel free to ask if you have a more specific question.
Some other posts that might help you are:
Post about plotting [HERE]
Post about speed plotting [HERE]
Post about three act structure [HERE]
More Posts from The-writing-marksman and Others
If you wouldn’t mind @studiogible2016, I would love to help with the fic. I’m primarily doing editing at the moment so if you need help in that department, I could lend a hand.
Design process so far
I’m up for any of the prompts! I need to write some stuff to get out of the writer’s block I’m in.
nearly 200 writing prompts // feel free to reblog
Angst:
1: “ Give me a chance. ” 2: “ Not you again.. ” 3: “ Leave me alone. ” 4: “ I don’t love you anymore. ” 5: “ Why do you hate me? ” 6: “ I lost the baby. ” 7: “ I thought you loved me. ” 8: “ I don’t need you anymore. ” 9:“ I can’t believe you! ” 10: “ We cant keep this up forever. ” 11: “ You’re a monster. ” 12: “ I hate you. ” 13: “ Don’t leave me… ” 14: “ You’re a disappointment. ” 15: “ Don’t die on me– Please. ” 16: “ I never meant to hurt you. ” 17: “ Are you upset with me? ” 18: “ I wish i’d never met you. ” 19: “ I’m going to kill you! ” 20: “ Please don’t hurt me like this. ” 21: “ Thanks for nothing. ” 22: “ Dont call this number again. “ 23: “ Why did you spare me? ” 24: “ You need to leave. ” 25: “ I’m sick. ” 26: “ I’m dying. ” 27: “ I wish i’d never met you. ” 28: “ I thought we were family!” 29: “ There was never an us. ” 30: “ So that’s it? It’s over? ” 31: “ I fucked up. ” 32: “ I came to say goodbye. ” 33:“ He’s dead because of you. ” 34: “ I don’t deserve to be loved. ” 35: “ About the baby… Its yours. ”
Love:
36: “ I’m so in love with you. ” 37: “ Dance with me! ” 38: “ Isn’t this amazing? ” 39: “ I wish we could stay like this forever. ” 40: “ Will you marry me? ” 41: “ I’m pregnant. ” 42: “ I need a hug. ” 43: “ You’re special to me. ” 44: “ I’m going to keep you safe. ” 45: “ Do you trust me? ” 46: “ Can I kiss you right now? ” 47: “ You’re cute when you’re angry. ” 48: “ I’ve liked you for awhile now. ” 49: “ Lets have a baby. ” 50: “ We’d make such a cute couple. ” 51: “ I want to take care of you. ” 52: “ Can we cuddle? ” 53: “ It’s lonely here without you. ” 54: “ I can’t stand the thought of loosing you. ” 55: “ Shut up and kiss me already. ” 56: “ Are you flirting with me? ” 57: “ Is that my shirt? ” 58: “ How did we get here? ” 59: “ You own my heart. ” 60: “ You’d be a great dad. ” 61: “ You’d be a great mom. ” 62: “ I want to protect you. ” 63: “ Whats the matter? ” 64: “ You’re so beautiful. ” 65: “ Did you do something different with your hair? ” 66: “ Is that a new perfume? ” 67: “ Stop being so cute. ” 68: “ You’re making me blush! ” 69: “ You’re teasing me again… ” 70: “ This is why I fell in love with you. ” 71: “ You’re the best! ” 72: “ They’re going to love you, don’t worry! ” 73: “ Oh, Are you ticklish? ” 74: “ Of course I remembered! ” 75: “ You’re one hell of a girl. ” 76: “ You’re one hell of a guy. ” 77: “ Are you jealous? ” 78: “ Hold me and never let me go. ” 79: “ Stop hogging all the blankets! ” 80: “ Lets run away together. ”
General:
90: “ Catch me if you can! ” 91: “ I’m fine. ” 92: “ Are you drunk? ” 93: “ Are you high? ” 94: “ We cant go in there… ” 95: “ Give it back! ” 96: “ Well this is just great. ” 97: “ Don’t touch me. ” 98: “ Not sure if you could tell, but I’m not exactly a people person. ” 99: “ This was fun— Lets do it again sometime!” 100: “ I didn’t do it! ” 101: “ I did it… ” 102: “ I don’t remember that! ” 103: “ Well that’s pretty rude of you to say. ” 104: “ Get that thing away from me! ” 105: “ You owe me. ” 106: “ Do you believe in aliens? ” 107: “ Do you believe in ghosts? ” 108: “ Are you hitting on me? ” 109: “ Why are you naked? ” 110: “ You did what?! ” 111: “ You have… Superpowers? ” 112: “ Why are you bleeding? ” 113: “ Where did all these puppies come from?” 114: “ Don’t make me come over there myself! ” 115: “ That wasn’t funny. ” 116: “ This tastes horrible. ” 117: “ This is delicious! ” 118: “ Are you mad at me? ” 119: “ Stop ignoring me… ” 120: “ I love that show too! ” 121: “ Can I borrow that book of yours?” 122: “ Lets blow this joint. ” 123: “ Let me help you with that. ” 124: “ Take that back! ” 125: “ Wanna go see a movie with me? ” 126: “ No way, that’s so lame. ” 127: “ What are you listening to? ” 128: “ I brought you your coffee. ” 129: “ Don’t fuck this up. ” 130: “ Run! ” 131: “ Lets run away together. ” 132: “ I haven’t slept in four days… ” 133: “ Your turn to do the dishes. ” 134: “ Was I really that drunk? ” 135: “ Was I really that stoned? ” 136: “Give me back my phone! ” 137: “ You’re an asshole. ” 138: “ Are you cold? ” 139: “ This place gives me the creeps. ” 140: “ I swear my house is haunted. ” 141: “ Did you hear that? ” 142: “ It’s just your imagination. ” 143: “ Just how stupid do you think I am? ” 144: “ Stop being such a baby. ” 145: “ Go back to bed. ” 146: “ Are you okay? ” 147: “ I can take care of myself just fine.” 148: “ Thanks for helping me back there. ” 149: “ Since when have we ever been friends? ” 150: “ What on earth are you wearing? ” 151: “ I can’t feel my legs! ” 152: “ Stop texting me weird stuff so late at night. ” 153: “ Put me down! ” 154: “ There’s only one bed… ” 155: “ It isn’t what it looks like! Okay.. Maybe it is… ” 156: “ How did I loose it? ” 157: “ I read your diary. ” 158: “ This is awkward. ” 159: “ Didn’t you read the sign? ” 160: “ Do you think you can teach me that? ”
Below is NSFW prompts. Please if you’re rebloggling tell your followers if you’re interested or not in taking these sorts of requests.
Sexual: 161: “ Bite me. ” 162: “ Make me. ” 163: “ Fuck me. ” 164: “ Stop teasing me so much… ” 165: “ Do you like it when I touch you like that?” 166: “ Okay.. This is new. ” 167: “ Want to head back to my place and have a little fun? ” 168: “ You’re in trouble now. ” 169: “ What a pretty sight. ” 170: “ Bend over. ” 171: “ On your knees. ” 172: “ The food looks great but.. There’s something much more delicious i’d like to eat right now. ” 173: “ Lay back. ” 174: “ Take off your clothes. ” 175: “ Well, fine; just this once. ” 176: “ I’m waiting. ” 177: “ You’re so beautiful. ” 178:“ As you wish. ” 179: “ First one to make a noise looses.” 180: “ You have no idea what you do to me. ” 181: “ If you’re bored; Wanna have sex? ” 182: “ Ive wanted this for so long. ” 183: “ Car sex looks so much more easier in the movies. ” 184: “ Can I touch you? ” 185: “ Open up. ” 186: “ No strings attached. ” 187: “ Already? Do I really have that much of an effect on you? ” 188: “ Mine. ” 189: “ The nights still young. ” 190: “ We cant do that here! ” 191: “ Behave. ” 192:“ What did you just say? ” 193: “ Good girl. ” 194: “ Good boy. ” 195: “ Come here. ”
Sup
REBLOG IF YOU ARE A WRITER ON TUMBLR
IT DOES NOT MATTER WHAT KIND OF WRITER YOU ARE YOU CAN BE WRITING: POEMS, FANFICS, IDK NORMAL FICS, NOVELS, SHORT STORIES, IDK ANYTHING!! JUST REBLOG!!!
Don’t like AO3′s content policies or the AO3 team’s decisions?
Go support eFiction. It’s an open-source community that has been working since 2003 to let fans create and run their own fanfiction archives, where they can set their own policies and create their own experiences.
AO3 is open source, but its architecture is so elaborate and intense that running even a small version of it would be pretty difficult and expensive for a hobbyist. It’s not realistic to say, “Just take the AO3 code and make your own!”
But you can say that about eFiction. When I was a teenager with a $5/mo webhosting plan, I could install and run my own eFiction archive to use with my friends. If a really dedicated fan, or a handful of fans, wanted to create their own website that they could moderate how they wanted, they could read up on coding, pool money for webhosting, and get their own eFiction site underway.
As a project, eFiction needs volunteers to help update the code (it started in 2003, remember; the internet has moved on) and to provide support to people who want to create and run their own archives. If you’re willing to show up and learn some new skills, you could make a difference.
What about Lionheart? The token straight character they killed off? Get with it CRWBY
let’s start some discourse. there’s something we as a fandom have refused to acknowledge for far too long and it’s that rwby is inherently heterophobic. think of how many gay characters there are (yang, blake, weiss, ruby, sun, neptune, pyrrha, qrow, jaune’s sister, ilia, coco, velvet, etc) in comparison to the straight ones? this is classic reverse homophobia. discuss
I have had these ready for years now
Consider my bases fully covered 👌
@texanredrose You made me cry with this one, great work as always!
Losing Sleep Anthology
Part VII
Yang’s eyes shot open as a cry split the night, attempting to roll away from the warm embrace of her wife before strong arms pulled her back in, much to her protest. “Snowdrift-”
“It’s my turn,” Winter replied firmly, rubbing at the sleep in her eyes as she sat up, the wailing from down the hall pushing her to fully alert. “Stay in bed. I’ll attend to her.”
She watched as the woman got out of bed, grabbing a robe they kept at the ready just for situations like these. Winter had returned the day before from an arduous mission in the remote Atlesian north, bereft of the most basic comforts, so Yang had reacted to their child’s cry without a second thought.
“Are you sure?” She fidgeted with the sheet, pulling it up to cover her chest. Her breasts ached a bit, already almost full again despite her using the pump just before bed, and she felt a maternal twinge as the cries continued. “You need your sleep-”
“What I need is to spend some quality time with our daughter.” Winter smiled softly, pride evident in her eyes. The past two months away had worn on her, as evidenced by the enthusiasm with which they’d celebrated her return- though gently, considering Yang still hadn’t fully recovered. Her wife had taken up every duty pertaining to their daughter since she returned, so she really shouldn’t be surprised. “Stay in bed and rest. I’ll warm up a bottle from the fridge.”
Reluctantly, Yang settled back into the sheets- relieved, to some extent, because caring for a four month old alone seemed so much easier in theory- but sleep eluded her as Winter slipped out of the room and down the hall. Zephyr’s cries calmed some and receded as she was carried downstairs to await a warm bottle, which should’ve eased the new mother, but relief turned to restlessness. With her wife and baby not in the room, she found it difficult to remain there herself, tossing and turning as she tried to get comfortable.
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Formerly tech-blr, going to try and start posting my writing stuffs from AO3 and FF.net. Primarily RWBY, but other fandoms when/if I get into them. 26 they/them
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