I’ll probably jinx myself by saying this, but I have more than enough story ideas to keep me busy writing for the rest of my natural life and I haven’t yet suffered from writer’s block. But I know others do struggle and come up blank.
My “seat of my pants” writing style means that I rely on my muse for everything, and so far, he hasn’t let me down. But others need to know every plot point in advance and can get hung up on figuring out the details or might have a too-often-silent muse.
Those issues are nothing to be ashamed of. We all work in different ways, and we all have different strengths and weaknesses.
So even though I don’t suffer with those issues (until now, when I just jinxed myself again *smile*), I was fascinated by the writing process I saw in a forum post and wanted to share. This author’s techniques might be helpful for any writer—no matter our process.
Secrets from a Fast Writer
KBoards is a forum community for all things Kindle. Advice threads in their Writers’ Cafe section frequently link to my site, so I occasionally pop over there to see the conversation.
One KBoards user, known as EelKat (Wendy C. Allen), wrote an in-depth explanation of how she writes a short story a week (scroll down to reply #15). Yes, really! In fact, she’s running a 52 stories in 52 weeks challenge based on her process.
That pace of a 5,000-15,000 word story per week is too crazy-fast for me. However, Wendy’s process includes several great insights about how to keep unknowns from slowing us down during the drafting phase.
In short, she uses my beat sheets for structure and lots of random generators for the details. While I wouldn’t use generators the way she does (filling in the blanks to create a story she publishes without external editing), her method works for her and her readers and meets her goals.
What I took away from her process is that we shouldn’t waste our precious writing time drawing a blank when we could use tools to kickstart our muse. After reading about Wendy’s process, I can see how random generators might be useful for giving our subconscious something to work with or for getting us unstuck.
Meet Your Brainstorming Helper: Random Generators
These sites each contain several random generators. If you can’t find the random generator you want at any of these sites, do a Google search for the specific type you need. Between these four sites, we’d probably find most of what we need:
Drawing a Blank on Plot?
Check out these examples for what we’d see if we use these links to come up with:
- a plot twist
- “Things were looking good until…a critical piece of technology is lost.”
- a quick story idea
- “The theme of this story: romantic adventure. The main characters: neurotic rascal and manipulative explorer. The major event of the story: political conflict.”
- a basic plot idea
- “This is a story about empowerment and things man was not meant to know. The story is about a secretive construction worker with unusual luck. It starts in a mansion. The story climaxes with a spiritual experience. Weapons proliferation plays a major role in this story.”
- a basic plot where you can tweak the each of the details
- “A wise 20 year-old man
A daring 29 year-old woman
The story begins in an abandoned warehouse
Someone loses a fortune at cards
It’s a story about risk-taking
Your character has some tough lessons to learn “
- “A wise 20 year-old man
- a reboot idea
- “The story of Sinbad envisioned as a psychological cyberpunk tale.”
- a “What If…?” idea
- What if… “…the construction of the Panama Canal involved aliens?”
- a “In a world where…” idea
- “In a city of sorcery, in a time of crime and magic, an archer hopes to solve the ultimate crime.”
- a “re-imagine a story from a stripped-down movie logline” idea
- “A skilled extractor is offered a chance to regain his old life as payment for a task considered to be impossible.” (Inception)
- a conspiracy theory idea
- “The prime minister is conspiring with foreigners to ruin the economy.”
- an adventure idea
- “The heroes need to remove the enchantment from the gatehouse without exposing themselves to the contagion or the land will be overrun with beasts.”
- a prophecy idea
- “They will parade after the first frost.”
- an action, fantasy, or romance idea
- “Down on their luck, the main character loses what’s dearest to them when long lost friend returns, asking them for a favour that will eventually ruin their reputation. Unable to refuse, the main character, public enemy number one, vows to get revenge. In the end, after a shocking revelation, the main character is able to put the past behind them and settle down in a peaceful life.”
- a paranormal romance idea
- “The warmhearted, pessimistic heroine has been involved with the supernatural since she discovered she was a shapeshifter. After the violent death of a loved one, she finds herself caught up in an electrifying adventure. Can she resist the brash, salacious fey who is more than he seems?”
- an apocalypse idea
- “Initial Cause: world domination attempt gone wrong and nuclear experiment gone wrong
Threats: pools of acid, giant wolves, diseased animals, and toxic food
Survivors: 37.1% of the population”
- “Initial Cause: world domination attempt gone wrong and nuclear experiment gone wrong
- a symbolic tale idea
- “The action-packed story where the avatars of a god map to the pieces on a chess board.”
Drawing a Blank on Characters?
Check out these examples for what we’d see if we use these links to come up with:
- character names (modern or fantasy or various nationalities)
- “Ashlee Marshall” or “Raem” or “Ciprian Victor” (Romanian)
- basic characters
- “The time-traveler who fights for justice and who has a tragedy in the past.”
- character outline
- “An adventurous 23 year-old woman, who comes from a wealthy background, lives in an eco-friendly home and tends to worry a lot.”
- physical descriptions
- “This woman has tan skin, dark brown eyes and very messy brown hair.
She has thick eyebrows.
She is 4′ 11″ and has a small build.
Her clothes are usually quite fine and she prefers them to be modest.”
- “This woman has tan skin, dark brown eyes and very messy brown hair.
- character attitudes
- “Is somewhat antagonistic towards the character, and feels passionately about it. Their feelings spring from regional stereotypes. Somewhat likely to act on these feelings.”
- basic character motives
- “Driven by hedonism, their goal is to live an easy life.”
- insightful character motives
- “This character is motivated by suspicion and ambition. At least one of these is due to a falsehood they believe.”
- villains
- “This greedy woman of science is motivated by sadism. She employs computers in her plots, usually corrupting commercial software to achieve her goals. She is living on borrowed time.”
- character interactions
- “The oddly dressed, wide-eyed young man who is giving a child a piggy back ride.
“Random Generate” Ourselves Out of a Blank Page
Between those four sites, there are random generators for nearly everything, from weather or cars to worldbuilding settings or magic systems. We don’t have to waste time waiting for inspiration to strike.
Yes, the vast majority of the ideas will be ridiculous or silly. In the examples I posted above, those were usually the best out of about 5-20 ideas. But sometimes we just need something to get our muse-subconscious back in the game.
We can keep clicking the “generate” button until something resonates with the story we’re trying to tell, or until something triggers our brainstorming and we come up with a better idea. The point is to not waste time being stuck because that definitely doesn’t help us reach our goals. *smile*
Do you get stuck in your writing, and if so, what elements do you usually get stuck on? Have you used random generators before? If yes, what ones do you like? Do you have additional tips based on how you make them work for you? If you haven’t used them, do you think they might help you get unstuck?
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