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/lit/ - Literature

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4981789 No.4981789[DELETED]  [Reply] [Original]

I want to write, /lit/, but I have a problem. I often come up with good ideas for starting a novel (interesting characters and scenarios) but I struggle with knowing where to go from there. I have very vague ideas of where the plot should go, how the character needs to be challenged by the world, but I don't know how to do it.

My most recent idea is about a social misfit and general piece of shit who isolates himself in a world of his own creation. Obviously, he needs to be challenged and brought out of his own world in order for there to be a story but how do I do that?

How do I plot, /lit/?

>> No.4981834

>>4981789
just write down your ideas for the novel no matter how disconnected they appear at first and as you get more and more youll fill in the gaps

>> No.4981846

How about he gets a social misfit gf and they go on adventures together in this world. Then one day he wakes up and finds her drowned in the sink and that could be his snap back to reality.

>> No.4981849

You need a conflict. You need a problem. I don't think there's an easy way. You just have to come up with one, or steal one from similar stories. If you have a certain point you want to make then it gets somewhat easier because you have something of a goal. From there you draw a roadmap and flesh it out. I usually start with a basic premise and an ending before I start the rest of the roadmap.

>> No.4981855

>>4981789
Try writing short. Really short. 1000 words. Work on doing a dozen of them, polishing them, but really working hard in that word limit. Get prompts here if you need them.

Then go up to 2000 words. It will feel like you have an extra set of lungs. Work work work.

Then pick a good idea and go for 5000. Stay at that 5-8k for a while.

When you really have this length mastered, you'll be able to reach for a novel and it will not seem so unimaginably difficult

>> No.4982550

>>4981855
is it possible to write complete short stories in only a thousand words or do they just end up as vignettes?

>> No.4982638

>>4981789
> I want to write
Yea... no. If you want to write, you do it, simple as that. Just start and see where it goes, write whatever you can come up, no matter how shitty it is. Later you can still go back.

>Obviously, he needs to be challenged and brought out of his own world in order for there to be a story but how do I do that?
So you see what you need, do the next step. Create problems for him. Picture things he wouldn't want to happen and make them happen, Big ones, small ones, everything that would force him to act. You don't even need to know a way to solve them right away, it's part of the fun writers have. Coming up with a fucked up situation and managing to find the solution that surprises yourself. A big advantage you have over your characters is time.

>How do I plot, /lit/?
The way you fucking want. Plot is basically the easiest part, in doubt you can stick to the basic structure and it will hardly hurt the overall work at all.

>> No.4982662

>>4981789

I would suggest you to read some of the books people use at creative writing courses