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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/7873
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

If you really don't care what you write, it's easy to come up with ideas.

Lately this is all I need to get started: **Character + setting + problem.** This is from an old "seven-point plot outline" that Algis Budrys taught to a zillion writers you've heard of.

Start by writing about some character in some setting with some problem. That's all you need for an opening. Then write about how the character tries to solve the problem, what goes wrong along the way, and what happens when the character eventually puts everything on the line to make one final attempt.

If a story doesn't go anywhere, set it aside and try another character in another setting with another problem. But before you give up on a story, just try to write one more sentence. You don't need to know anything beyond that. Just one more sentence.

If you honestly don't care what you write about, then any character in any setting with any problem will do. Put a character in a setting with a problem, then write the next sentence. _Something_ will happen. It might even be a good story.

Original score: 2