This may be a bit long but here it goes: Originally, I had this idea of writing a werewolf fantasy series. I had characters and backstories and a setting but no plot. I kept toying with different plots but couldn't figure it out. After a while, I realized it was because I could not make a good plot the way I wanted and use werewolves. For years I've been working with different story ideas with different supernatural creatures but have been unable to settle on one. I've also tried making my own but I like using pre-established ones better because my imagination tends to flow better that way. So now I'm just stuck. I don't want to use werewolves or vampires or zombies because they are overused. Faeries, dragons, and ghosts haven't worked for me either and I don't know what to do. I'm thinking now of using nephilim (angel-human hybrids) but don't want to make it a huge religious aspect. I'm not sure how to go about that. I think my main problem is that whenever I watch or read something, then I get influenced by it and end up botching my ideas. Does anyone else have this problem and know what to do about it? How do you develop a plot and conflict and where do you get inspiration?
Sometimes you just have to brainstorm an idea. You can read newspapers or write your ideas from experience. I normally write mines from experience and tweak the plot a little bit to make it fiction. Sometimes I come up with ideas wheenver I am going to school, eating, watching TV, etc. Sometimes an idea comes from a movie or another book. On the other hand, whenever I have established an idea, I think of how my story will end first. That way, I will know what plots will lead up to the ending plot, and it makes it easier to fight against plot corners or unsolvable plots. For instance, if the ending of your story is about the vampire, who turned out to be a Christian (for instance), odds are that your opening story may be that the vampire will be tempted by the werewolf or other people to have him to suck blood, but he cannot, since "thou shall not kill," but he does it anyway. That’s just an example.
maybe do some people watching.....instead of people turn them into werewolves and watch to see what they do.....take notes
Go somewhere else with your mind. Forget supernatural stuff. Just let plots come to you, and write them whatever they are. Don't focus on wanting supernatural stuff too much.
I understand. A lot of times I've decided that my story material wasn't interesting, add a new idea, realize that idea didn't work with the story, start over, bring back my old version at the beginning, etc. What you should really do, is try to incorporate what you can into your story without it losing pace and rhythm. After that, just stick with your story - no matter how much you hate it, you have to stick with it. Don't make new versions all the time - simply stick with a story, revise some things, but keep others. After a while, you might realize things clear up or a beginning makes it more interesting than before. You never know - just keep writing.
One thing that helps me is to write out several pages of each idea. That way I can see how each one may play out. It gives me a good general idea if the story will work. I also see your point of Vampires/Werewolves being over used. Good thing is that human history has a whole bunch of other mythical creatures. Sirens, Banshees, Nymphs, Fairies, Gnomes, all could be good writing material. Other wise I would have to echo a lot of the other people, Get out of your norm, leave your workspace and find somewhere else to be. A change of locations may get your brain working again.
Boy, that's original. That wouldn't make a very good story then. ZOMBIES! Zombies are not overused. That's simply impossible. Ohhh, ghosts would be cool. Tell a story through a ghost's POV. That's stupid. It just happens. Go with your gut. Make a goddam werewolf series if you want. Just make them badass. Or make a ghost story. But make the ghosts super cool. Conflict is easy. Plot is easy. Just start writing in general about what you want. It doesn't have to make sense. Just write about werewolves and eventually something will come to you. Just a warning: stay away from vampires. They are stupid. I mean, anything that has a weakness to garlic is stupid.
OR, you know what you can do? Research some oldschool mythological creatures in all sorts of different cultures. There are so many neat things out there that nobody ever writes about.
Brainstorm forever! Get a notepad and write down everything that comes to mind. Sketch things - places, creatures, characters, whatever. Go for a long walk and just think. Anything and everything you ever wanted to read in a fantasy series is now yours to create.
Nobody writes about them because most of them aren't that interesting. Zombies, werewolves, and vampires all portray elements of the human psyche that, for the most part, we don't want to think about. That's what makes them great.
Nobody writes about them because most of them aren't that interesting. Zombies, werewolves, and vampires all portray elements of the human psyche that, for the most part, we don't want to think about. That's what makes them great.
That's just dumb. Any creature can be interesting if you know how to write well. And pretty much any supernatural creature can be interpreted as portraying aspects of the human psyche. Besides, I don't like zombies, werewolves or vampires because they portray stuff in my psyche (vampires are destructive sexuality, right? well, I'm asexual). I like them because they're nonhuman and therefore have interesting nonhuman perspectives, without being a real creature that could easily be misportrayed by a human author. And every supernatural creature had people to make them up. Those people undoubtedly found some significance in those creatures. If zombies, werewolves and vampires portray stuff about a person's psyche, so would those creatures. Never say that something can't be interesting simply because of what it is. That's just unimaginative.
^^I totally agree with this. Plus, To me it sounds a little backwards starting with the backstory and then work your way towards a plot. Why waste so much time on that before knowing that you even have a story? In this case too, I would refer to what's written in bold above. That is an excellent advice.
