Germs of ideas

[Djmac1031]

I'm kinda going through writers block again lol.

Well, not so much a BLOCK as being unable to fully flesh out a story.

I have germs of ideas, fragments. But none fully formed.

A man meets his high school crush 20 years later after being crushed by her rejection. Is it a love story? Or a revenge fantasy? Can't decide.

A man gets a mysterious new female neighbor living in the apartment next door. The way their apartments align, he can see through her windows from his balcony. She may be a prostitute, may not.

A maintenance worker on a college campus repairs a lighting fixture in the dorm room of a young woman who seems far too comfortable lounging around in her underwear while he works.

A man rescues a woman from being raped by thugs during the zombie apocalypse.

But I can't seem to find the full story in any of them. Just the concepts.

It makes me wish I was a better writer. Someone who could flesh out an idea start to finish, fill it with rich fleshed out characters and detailed settings.

I guess all I can do is plug away at them bit by bit and see what happens.

Not looking for advice or anything per say, although of course it's always welcome.

Just venting a bit. But hey, I also wish I was a rock star, but can't play one note on a guitar lol.

 

[Voboy]

Just write.

It usually works.

 

[MsNatalie99]

I'm kinda going through writers block again lol.

Well, not so much a BLOCK as being unable to fully flesh out a story.

I have germs of ideas, fragments. But none fully formed.

A man meets his high school crush 20 years later after being crushed by her rejection. Is it a love story? Or a revenge fantasy? Can't decide.

A man gets a mysterious new female neighbor living in the apartment next door. The way their apartments align, he can see through her windows from his balcony. She may be a prostitute, may not.

A maintenance worker on a college campus repairs a lighting fixture in the dorm room of a young woman who seems far too comfortable lounging around in her underwear while he works.

A man rescues a woman from being raped by thugs during the zombie apocalypse.

But I can't seem to find the full story in any of them. Just the concepts.

It makes me wish I was a better writer. Someone who could flesh out an idea start to finish, fill it with rich fleshed out characters and detailed settings.

I guess all I can do is plug away at them bit by bit and see what happens.

Not looking for advice or anything per say, although of course it's always welcome.

Just venting a bit. But hey, I also wish I was a rock star, but can't play one note on a guitar lol.

Something I've done is look up stories with similar themes for inspiration. Not so much to do what they've done, but to get a sense of how the author handled the idea.

 

[Djmac1031]

Something I've done is look up stories with similar themes for inspiration. Not so much to do what they've done, but to get a sense of how the author handled the idea.

Yeah. And it's not like the ideas I've posted above have never been written lol. I'm sure there's a version of them all here somewhere.

Maybe that's what I need. Take a break from writing and read more.

 

[Rustyoznail]

I'm with you. Ideas are easy, fleshing them out is hard.

I ask questions to help - Why does this guy think his neighbour is a prostitute? Why does he care? Does she remind him of someone - his High School crush? If she is/isn't, what does he do?

It may take a while, but give that a try.

 

[NotWise]

Those are plot bunnies. I think TxRad has a plot bunny sanctuary out behind the coffee shop.

If I have an idea that I think has legs, then I'll start working on it without really knowing where it's going. I've done something for the last year+ that's worked fairly well. First I'll rough out the locations and some character descriptions, including conflicts. The characters take off and point to where the story goes. If they don't then the story might be dead. Then I'll sketch out a timeline, and merge the location, characters and timeline into a synopsis.

I write the story from the synopsis, and it usually goes pretty quickly.

 

[Djmac1031]

I'm with you. Ideas are easy, fleshing them out is hard.

I ask questions to help - Why does this guy think his neighbour is a prostitute? Why does he care? Does she remind him of someone - his High School crush? If she is/isn't, what does he do?

It may take a while, but give that a try.

Good idea. I'm trying to decide things like: does he interact with her at all? Or is it strictly voyeur?

What can he logistically SEE through her windows? How much detail?

Does he get caught spying? Does she know? Does she care? Is she purposely giving him a show?

Those choices affect the direction, but I just can't make them.

 

[Djmac1031]

Those are plot bunnies. I think TxRad has a plot bunny sanctuary out behind the coffee shop.

Lol. Never heard that one before.

Yeah I have plenty of plot bunnies. Just no rabbits.

 

[Voboy]

Good idea. I'm trying to decide things like: does he interact with her at all? Or is it strictly voyeur?

What can he logistically SEE through her windows? How much detail?

Does he get caught spying? Does she know? Does she care? Is she purposely giving him a show?

Those choices affect the direction, but I just can't make them.

These are generally not things I usually worry about in advance. I know many writers do so, but I don't.

Seriously: just write. What I mean by that is, take your idea and get started. Let the characters tell you where they want the story to go. The "does he interact with her" question you have is the sort of thing your character will decide on for himself, if he's a character worthy of the name.

And her? As she grows on the page, the nature of the sort of home she'd pick will become apparent to you. So that will tell you about your peeping Tom logistics: she'll have a certain kind of windows, at a certain height, near which she does or does not feel comfortable dressing.

Things like that.

 

[Djmac1031]

Seriously: just write.

You're right, of course. Maybe I'm just over thinking things. My focus lately has been shit.

Most times I do simply WRITE. Just fucking run with it, let it flow. No direction, no real end game in mind.

Maybe I'm just second guessing too much. Pick a direction and just go, right?

 

[NotWise]

You're right, of course. Maybe I'm just over thinking things. My focus lately has been shit.

Most times I do simply WRITE. Just fucking run with it, let it flow. No direction, no real end game in mind.

Maybe I'm just second guessing too much. Pick a direction and just go, right?

Or get to know your characters and let them pick a direction.

 

[Lovecraft_Lore]

I like to map out a story. Then come up with a few scenes. Then bullet point what I want to happen in those scenes. Then start writing/fleshing out one of the scenes.

The problem when I just start writing is I end up with a back story or what angst that character must have in their mind.

Like the power goes out everywhere in town, the 18 year old goes to check on his cougar neighbor. They start drinking wine then end up having sex. There does not need to be another two pages on how the cougar broke up with her boyfriend last month and divorced her ex-husband three years ago after his dick fell off.


Write the scene, not the story, then the scenes will start flowing into each other.

 

[TheRedChamber]

Lot of people saying just write - and it might work, but I always like to have a clear view of the path through a story before beginning - characters often drag me off the path and into the woods, but it's reassuring knowing that path is there in case we get completely lost.

First, keep a list of all your story ideas around and come back to cogitate on them every so often. Delete them only once they're written or if you're certain there's nothing worth developing in them. You've got mulitple ideas so it's no problem if one takes years to write or indeed never gets written.

An important thing to think about is that any story needs a 'point' - for erotica you can also say it needs a reason why it's 'hot'. If you can find the hottess you can build the story around it.

So in the story that everyone seems to be looking at, the main hotness apart from the voyeurism is knowing someone who may or may not be a prositute, or at least it seems so to me. So I'd start from there and try to work out the logic that might raise the temperature on the hotness.

- He must at some level want to pay to sleep with her, otherwise there's no tension, but he probably doesn't regularly sleep with prostitutes otherwise she's nothing special. Alternatively he's a politician/pastor whose morally opposed to to the whole concept.
- How expensive are her services. If she's high class then it probably means that he's going to struggle to pay for a session with her. He can think about saving money up and maybe not buying something he really needs. If she's at the lower end then maybe the story becomes more about him 'rescuing' her - which she may or may not need.
- Who are the men she's seeing? Is there a scene in him trying to get information from one of them about her.
- How does prostitution work in this story? Where does one go looking for a sex worker in this city? Is she findable on the Internet? He should go looking, although he probably won't find her. Alternatively, she should be in an area where prostitutes are known to gather, although it might still be ambigous why she's there.
- How does the evidence end up stacking up - there should be about equal amounts of yes and no right up until that plot point is resolved.
- If she's not a prostitute, what then? To keep the hotness of the story, does she have to find out that he thought she was a prostitute? Does this happen before or after the sex scene (assuming there is one)? If it happens afterwards, has he just blown the relationship? If it happens before, does the idea of sleeping with someone for money suddenly appeal to her.

More than anything have an end point in mind. There are a few basic cheesy ones that spring to mind.
"That's was great honey, now here's the money." - "What you think I'm a prositute, f- you, you're never seeing me again."
or
"I'm usually very expensive, but for you I'm free."
or
"I'm not going to give up my job, but I feel safer knowing your always watching..."

 

[elizaloo]

Maybe an unorthodox method, but a lot of times I will think about a story line right before I go to sleep and essentially let it unfold as a dream. Play it out in my head this way one night, that way another - let my imagination take in the various directions possible. If it really gets going, I'll go hide in the bathroom and voice record what's playing out in my head rather than try to remember it in the morning!


"A man meets his high school crush 20 years later after being crushed by her rejection. Is it a love story? Or a revenge fantasy? Can't decide."

This made me think of the Doobie Brother's song, 'What a Fool Believes'. I once, long ago, wrote an entire novel based on this concept. My characters decided it was a love story.

 

[SimonDoom]

I have a pretty good imagination at coming up with story ideas and plot outlines. It's the discipline of sitting down and actually writing that fails me often.

I think where people get tripped up, is they get an idea, but not a story. Like the mysterious female neighbor. It's an idea, but it's not a story. Not yet.

Think about her, or about the man watching her. Who are they? What are their needs? Maybe the story becomes a cat and mouse game, where they both know one is watching the other but they pretend it's not happening.

I remember something happening in real life, decades ago. I lived in an apartment, on the second floor, and the window, which had blinds, faced an apartment building that was the exact mirror of mine. I was walking to my apartment and I saw cute girl in a swimsuit across the fence at the other apartment building (over 18 disclaimer here, I'm confident of that). Sexy figure and face. I walked up to my apartment, and when I got inside I pulled the blinds open just a tiny crack to get another look at her. And she was looking right at me. She knew I was going to do that when I went up to my room, and she watched and waited to see me open my blinds. She had a smirk on her face. Totally busted. I've thought about that incident since then and thought there's the kernel of a good story there. But the key is to imagine what she is like and how she responds to the voyeurism, and WHY. You can narrate the story, but make it about her and what she's doing and how she slowly reveals it to you. I may write a story based on that incident some day.

Also, to follow up on what TheRedChamber wrote: I understand the "just write" philosophy, but that's not my way. I like to work on the concept and have it worked into at least a basic story idea with a plot and character arc before I get started. I want to know what the erotic idea, or belief, or tone is before I start.

 

[KeithD]

I gotta say I hold that generating and writing up the ideas is basic to being a writer at all.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I may write a story based on that incident some day.

Edited that post for you, Simon. I know you've banged some stuff out this year, but I do detect an overall theme in your posts - you really must get on and write, not just have the ideas!

I'm sure it's all this planning that you do that gets in the way. Try what I do just one time - start writing without an end in mind. You might surprise yourself.

On the other hand, I acknowledge that I failed in the challenge you set me, but that was for other reasons.

 

[lovecraft68]

My sticking point seems to be POV. I'll come up with a decent idea, then get stuck on, is it the female POV, the Male? Maybe bounce from each from chapter to chapter? I weigh the pros and cons of each, and if I cant decide I try to move on to something else.

The other area is where does it open? Again, good idea, but I start...where. The just write principle is one I adhere to, but when the opening isn't there for me, I have stories I've restarted or tweaked the opening multiple times.

I'd envision them in your head like you're looking at a vending machine to decide what you want. Picture each one and see how strong the urge is....nah....no...hmm, maybe...no....yeah, that's what I want

I actually do this at night because I'm weird

 

[Kumquatqueen]

There's a difference between a scene and a story. I come with ideas frequently, generally an image in my mind, and write about it. All very well, but it's not a story unless something happens - there's some motivation and plot and resolution.

Sometimes I chew over ideas until said plot and resolution come to me, sometimes I don't bother and figure 'having sex' is sufficient motivation and satisfaction is sufficient resolution. Though if the characters are reasonably developed, the latter becomes a story in itself.

 

[SimonDoom]

Edited that post for you, Simon. I know you've banged some stuff out this year, but I do detect an overall theme in your posts - you really must get on and write, not just have the ideas!

I'm sure it's all this planning that you do that gets in the way. Try what I do just one time - start writing without an end in mind. You might surprise yourself.

On the other hand, I acknowledge that I failed in the challenge you set me, but that was for other reasons.

I've written a lot this year. Three regular length stories and five 750 word stories. I'd estimate I've written about 30,000 additional words of stories so far this year that I haven't finished. I jabber here because I enjoy it, but I'm also writing and publishing stories at what is, for me, a decent pace.

 

[Priscilla_June]

Free writing is a great tool. I often stress myself out as if writing is part of work or school, when it should be a relaxing escape. So i try to take a deep breath and just put myself into the world and write away without trying to worry too much about punctuation, spelling, or overthinking yhe plot/structure. All of those can come later.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

Create an "idea tree".

Start with your basic premise, such as "A man meets his high school crush 20 years later after being crushed by her rejection." How many possible branches can come off that? You listed a couple, so add those. Now, how many limbs could each of those branches produce? For example, the "love story" branch could have things like "they live happily ever after", and "their current relationships present them with challenges", and maybe another "how can trust be rebuilt"...

Keep adding branches and limbs until you are so far out onto one that you can't go back and can't jump off.

 

[8letters]

Two words - Bikini Contest

A man meets his high school crush 20 years later after being crushed by her rejection. Is it a love story? Or a revenge fantasy? Can't decide.

A man meets his high school crush 20 years later at a bikini contest, which is she is managing. He starts talking to her as a way of getting a better look at the contestants. She's divorced and struggling in general. She seems very interested in him now. Does he ask her out or does he walk away when the contestants leave?

A man gets a mysterious new female neighbor living in the apartment next door. The way their apartments align, he can see through her windows from his balcony. She may be a prostitute, may not.

A man gets a mysterious new female neighbor living in the apartment next door. The way their apartments align, he can see through her windows from his balcony. She spends a huge amount of time strutting around her apartment in a bikini and high heels. He wonders constantly, "What the hell?" She catches him watching her one day. The next time they run into each other on the stairs, she explains that she competes in bikini contests and invites him to the next one she's going to be in.

A maintenance worker on a college campus repairs a lighting fixture in the dorm room of a young woman who seems far too comfortable lounging around in her underwear while he works.

When he's done, she invites him to the bikini contest she'll be participating in that weekend.

A man rescues a woman from being raped by thugs during the zombie apocalypse.

A man rescues a woman from being raped by thugs during the zombie apocalypse. Once the thugs are driven off, she explains that she's on her way to the one surviving city to participate in a bikini contest. She hopes to win, so she can use the prize money to buy medicine for her small village. He offers to escort her to the city as that's where he's going too.

 

[Lovecraft_Lore]

I tend to write the stories that make me laugh.

Like writing a werewolf romance but make it a comedy. Like find some other werewolf story on here and change every mention wolves to Jewish. "It's our family curse, every full moon we become Jewish."

 

[MsNatalie99]

I tend to write the stories that make me laugh.

Like writing a werewolf romance but make it a comedy. Like find some other werewolf story on here and change every mention wolves to Jewish. "It's our family curse, every full moon we become Jewish."

Oy Vey ✡