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Q&A Idea overflow in plotting?

Dreaming up story ideas is like wandering through a farmer's market. Every stall is piled high with wonderful ingredients. Honey! Turnips! Croissants! Pork Chops! Limburger cheese! Brussels Sprouts...

posted 5y ago by Mark Baker‭

Answer
#1: Initial revision by user avatar Mark Baker‭ · 2020-01-20T16:33:57Z (almost 5 years ago)
Dreaming up story ideas is like wandering through a farmer's market. Every stall is piled high with wonderful ingredients. Honey! Turnips! Croissants! Pork Chops! Limburger cheese! Brussels Sprouts! Kale! Peaches!

Writing is like cooking a meal that you know your family will like. Do you go to the cupboard where you put away everything you bought at the market and say to yourself, "I have to come up with a recipe that uses all these things!"

No, you do not. You pick one or two ingredients to build a meal around. You figure out which flavours and textures will harmonize well with your main ingredients. If there is some element missing that you need to make the meal really taste good, you go back to the market and search for that ingredient. 

If you are asking, how do I get all the cool details I have dreamed up into my story you are asking the wrong question, and the result will be an unappetizing mess and a waste of good ingredients.  

So start thinking about the problem differently. Choose the main ingredient of your story. Choose a second ingredient that complements it well. Figure out what other ingredients you need to harmonize the whole dish. If you don't have those ingredients already, go out and get them. 

Save the other stuff in the cupboard for the next meal.