Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Q&A

How do I turn a premise into a story?

+0
−0

My brain is probably just broken, but it has a question. It tends to invent odd scenarios that become quite interesting. It also knows that the story will only be interesting to others if it has characters and they do stuff... but it doesn't want to do that work.

For example, it seems like it would be interesting if a guy in jail was confessing to something he did as a kid that got him going down the wrong path, say... tricking Santa Claus into giving him a certain kind of present that he knew would slow Santa Down. This enabled him to catch Santa, which was fun, but also got him into lots of trouble.

Seems like a funny scenario. But my brain doesn't really create characters very well, and even when it creates them, it doesn't have them do interesting things.

In the Santa case, it might be funny if the kid took Santa hostage and made the reindeer do funny things. But then Rudolph (with his nose so bright) pretends to be a police car outside, and the kid surrenders. While my brain can see the scenario, it doesn't do well at inhabiting the scenario and seeing what characters are doing. Don't even get me started on high-level story arcs.

Anyway, if you have any suggestions, I would love to hear them. So would my brain. :)

History
Why does this post require attention from curators or moderators?
You might want to add some details to your flag.
Why should this post be closed?

This post was sourced from https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/26839. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

0 comment threads

2 answers

+1
−0

This scenario seems to be character-based to me. You may not yet have developed your characters "fully", but that could come through actual writing and a bit of outlining.

It seems that you have simply had an idea, but yet to create it. Have you tried turning your "odd scenarios" into actual writing and not just summaries of "a situation"? It may help. For me, the characters create themselves when I write about them (it takes time) even if I "sketched them" somewhat differently.

You may, as you write, naturally stumble upon background information about how/why the guy would end up wanting to hold santa hostage (childhood trauma, bad manners, loneliness?) and this, among other things, may shape your character going forward as well. How was he sentenced to go to prison? what was his trial like? Were there any trouble determining if an actual crime was committed based on the "is santa real?" question?

Depending on the mood you create, this could develop into a comedy or maybe a psychological thriller based on delusions - just brainstorming..

Most likely, none of this will become clear to you until you actually write a part of the story. You can always remove parts of the story that you are unsatisfied with, but almost all writing helps your understanding of your characters and your story.

History
Why does this post require attention from curators or moderators?
You might want to add some details to your flag.

This post was sourced from https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/26840. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

0 comment threads

+1
−0

The part that is most obviously missing from what you describe is "why?" Character provides the why. But equally importantly, the why provides the character. A character is a person who would do this thing in this way.

You can start with the character and then ask yourself, what would this person do, given their character? Or you can start, as you have, with the action, and ask yourself why would someone do this thing in this way. Once you can answer that question, you have the core of your character. Once you have the core, you can fill in whatever detail you think appropriate that are consistent with that character.

History
Why does this post require attention from curators or moderators?
You might want to add some details to your flag.

0 comment threads

Sign up to answer this question »