Finding Inspiration for Your New Story
Finding an idea can take time, When brainstorming ideas, we struggle to come up with a plot, and characters. However, we already have a rough idea in our minds for a movie, anime, manga, or webtoon that has been developing over the years.
Write down keywords related to your story elements you have in mind, even if you're unsure where to start.
Boost Your Writing Efficiency with Advanced AI Technologies
While writing, we can leverage advanced AI technologies like a mobile recorder and AI transcribe tools instead of handwriting or typing. Speaking out loud allows ideas to flow continuously without breaking our rhythm and gives us more time to think.
The Essential Elements of Storytelling: Character, Setting, and Plot
The key elements to focus on are character introduction, setting, and plot. Exposition is the initial phase of the narrative where characters and settings are presented, followed by the rising action which builds tension and leads to the conflict. In a story, the climax is the most intense moment, followed by the falling action, where events lead to the resolution. The resolution is a step towards resolving conflicts, bringing things back to normal. It is where the story concludes, often with a happy ending like the princess meeting her prince or the villain being defeated.
Exploring the Essence of Character Development in Storytelling
There are a few more things we need to consider, like character development. Character development means creating well-rounded characters with motivations, flaws, and arcs throughout the story. A perfect character should have some flaws, something people can relate to. The character unfolds in a normal, ordinary world, then develops, gains more experience, and changes behavior and life accordingly. This leads to some kind of bad or good result. Bad could be getting fired, breaking up, getting into an accident, losing money, or losing something. Good could be getting money, a job, getting lucky, or getting married. These things drive and are driven by their motivations and flaws. We all have motivations and flaws, and we are all driven by these things daily.
Starting Point: Keywords or events
First, we should write the keywords. There are some keywords in our subconscious mind. Somewhere in our mind, there's a message we want to convey to the audience. It stays in our mind—some interest, some motivation. Certain keywords in our subconscious mind shape the theme and messages of our story. Let's start with a few keywords, like 9 keywords: magic, universe, greenery, avatar, supernatural power, perfection, sci-fi, laborious, only mother.
Power of Subconscious Keywords
I have some ideas: there should be different species and magical powers. Using these keywords in my subconscious mind, I came up with ideas. The only mother gives birth to a magical boy, and there should be someone after them, creating tension from the very beginning. Then the ideas started flowing. First, we need to figure out establishing the main characters, the environment they are in, the sequence of events that unfold, and the central problem or challenge.
Is Story Writing Easy?
No, it is not easy. Yes, it's not okay. It's very hard.
How Much Time Does a Story Take to Create?
Everyone is different, whether it's for a film script or a TV series. If someone wants to write a story from scratch, even if they don't know anything, it might take at least a few years. Most writers take anywhere from a few months to a few years to write a story. Some writers are still writing even after 20 years on a single story, like “One Piece.” This series has been ongoing since 1999, and the writer has been working on it every single day since then.
Does That Person Not Get Bored?
Ichiro Oda, the writer of "One Piece," has been writing since 1999 and is still going. Does that person not get bored writing one story? He has gotten quite old, around 60 or so. Bored? No. Some writers get fed up, but not everyone. If the story remains interesting, it's not boring.
Writing by Asking Questions
After this, we need to ask questions. Who is chasing them? Why was someone chasing her? Why did people attack her? From whom was she running? People saw her as an evil monster. We get to know who was chasing her and why they attacked, but it's not clear. It still needs more solidification and that will come as we write more chapters and stories. The next question arises: why was someone chasing her? We get to know the behind-the-scenes details that she was a monster. Then I came up with another idea: maybe she could live in a monster village in the forest, hidden from the world. I don't need to provide that information here, but she is living among the monsters. This idea automatically came up after answering that. Maybe the monsters helped her. When you write, you have to ask questions and you have to answer those questions. So, why was someone chasing her? Why did people attack her? Because they are a treasured species which can boost lifespan and chakras, and their identity somehow got revealed. From whom was she running? What kind of species are they? They are an upgraded and transformed version of the wild spiritual beings originated from ancient times like an elf or dryad. As you keep asking questions and answering them, the plot, characters, and setting will start to get clearer. Now, questions arise, what are chakras? What do they do? Chakras are sources of cultivation that can be increased up to 9 levels. Awakening just one chakra makes someone a spirit master with supernatural powers like fire control.
Story Development
I wanted the main character to have some kind of cheat powers like all those reincarnated manhwas but instead, I adopted our Indian concept of avatar, that a god born again on earth as a child or something. For this, I didn't need to show it, just keep it in suspense. Some powerful being with a big and tall body resembling a tree monster appeared magically like teleportation and took her in and went deep into the forest.
Challenges in Writing
If you just start writing, it might feel like there's nothing in your mind. Feeling stuck. You won't be able to come up with ideas or sentences. Most of the time, when you start, you narrow your vision or get hung up on something specific or single thing. For example, if you want to make something related to nature, then there's a single character in it without much information about setting or plot. If your story is character-driven, you might get stuck on that character being in a space or a forest alone, unable to move the story forward. That's the most struggling part. Have you ever experienced that? Yes? No? What problems did you face when you started writing a story? Can you make stories for a series? How to come up with new characters which blend naturally in the story? So you face those kinds of problems, those kinds of struggles, while trying to create those small details, right? Yes. Each author works at their own pace. Some narratives progress slowly, while others unfold rapidly. Every scene in a movie possesses a unique rhythm and complexity that propels the storyline forward.
Major Problems in Writing
Some say, when I write any story, first I have to think about who will be the characters, what the story is about, and how much time will it take to write the story? How do I make it interesting? The major problem was first I have to think about how to make it interesting. Then, how many characters will there be? This is an issue most people face, even I face it. How to make the story interesting is also a challenge. If someone wants to make a perfect story from the get-go, it's really hard. So, I think it's best to start with a few keywords or a series of events that you really want the story to drive from, like something to start with. In my subconscious, we have a promising but imperfect story that feels uninteresting when written down on a computer. It doesn't mean this story is bad. You just need to improve it further. We are in the beginning phase, just like millions of trashed stories out there. But this is the beginning of every epic story in the world. This is how everyone starts.
Unraveling the Central Problem in the Story
Every character has a conflict, every story has a conflict. The central problem or challenge drives the plot. The central problem is the main issue the character faces. For example, in the movie "Frozen," the central problem is that Elsa is not able to control her power, causing a disaster in their kingdom. The whole kingdom starts to freeze, and that's the central problem. The challenge drives the plot. From the beginning, Elsa's inability to control her power is shown. Something unexpected happens, leading to an accident in her childhood. As they grow up, she lives alone because of her power. The central problem is still her power. Finally, they meet and spend time together. Even on that day, something unexpected happens because she can't control her power. She almost hurts someone and runs away, scared of people. The whole movie revolves around her power, the central problem, and the challenges that drive the plot. At the end, she controls her power because of love for her sister. The emotion of love helps her dissolve the problem. She finds a way to unfreeze the people who have been frozen. True love can resolve that. Her sister's love works, and it actually works. The whole movie revolves around that central problem and the challenges that drive the plot.
Themes and Messages in Stories
Authors have specific themes in mind when writing stories. For instance, some emphasizes the importance of protecting nature due to its scarcity and the destructive actions of people. Do let me know, what is the message in your story? This is how I perceived them:
Highlighting Key Events and Characters in Storytelling
In a story, it's important to skip uninteresting parts and focus on key events to maintain continuity. The introduction of characters and settings sets the stage for the story.
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