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Coming Up with Original Ideas

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TT: Coming Up with Original Ideas



Half the reason people steal stories nowadays is because they don’t know how to write their own, or if they even can. If it’s not that, it’s because they want their fifteen minutes of fame, riding the coattails of an author who actually put effort and care into their stories.

The thing is, writing your own stories and coming up with your own ideas is NOT as hard as you think.

Here are a few tips on how to come up with unique, original ideas for short stories/fan fictions that you want to be writing.


So Where Do We Start?


Writing a fan fiction is both a combination of hard work and focus, but it’s also easier than you might think. While it’s simple enough for people to write stories, writing a quality, unique and gripping one is a little harder than people are willing to believe.

But if you know the tricks, then it isn’t nearly as hard as I'm making it out to be.

The simplest one is to pull from your own experiences. Think back to something that happened to you. An experience that you think is unique, you’ve never seen before and you believe would make for an entertaining story.

For example: I was holding my friend’s baby, who’s about four months old. He was congested and having trouble breathing. He kept rolling around on my chest and wiggling, because he was uncomfortable.
I felt horrible for him, and I kept cuddling with the sweet baby in hopes of lifting his spirits while I rocked him back and forth on the swing on my porch. It was hot, and peaceful, and eventually he fell asleep. It was in that lovely silence it dawned on me.

How great of a story would that make? Who has ever read about a mommy comforting a congested four-month-old baby, sitting outside during the summer and living life?

Little moments sometimes make the best stories. Writing about the simple things that give insight into someone’s life, or personal experiences, are wonderful things and are rarely ever captured.

More often than not, writers want to go for the big ticket stuff that’s been done a billion times, before. It’s rare we see anything other than “Reader-chan is sick and is comforted by the hot guy and he cuddles in bed with her”, or “Reader-chan dating hot guy and he’s jealous of other guys talking to her”, etc, etc.

There are a lot of common tropes with writing prompts, too. Pregnancy-based inserts almost always follow the same formula; Reader/character gets pregnant, lots of love cuddles, water breaks, rushed to hospital and BAM! baby. It makes you wonder how much people know about a prompt.

This leads me to my second point.


Research and Break Prompts Down


Do as much research about your prompt as possible. Get creative with it! Explore the tropes and inner workings of the prompt as much as you can.

Don’t just pick a prompt and slap it onto a story, delve into it! Within every prompt, there are sub-prompts you can write about! If you don’t get what I’m saying, let’s get into this a little.

Someone’s sick with something
This prompt usually leads to some generic fluff and cuddles, the reader or character getting sick with something and their significant other taking care of them. More often than not, the S.O. comes and sits in bed with them and may or may not lead to sick day cuddles/smut depending on the writer.

^ ^ ^ Do you see how boring that is? If I had a dollar for how many times I’ve seen this plot summary in a fan fiction, I’d be a registered millionaire.

Everyone uses this prompt! If you want to be original and you want to be creative, don’t copy and paste and then hope you get noticed by someone! Trust me when I tell you that readers have seen everything from this generic little prompt. There isn’t much you can do to spice it up.

But all hope isn’t lost; this is where that magical term “sub-prompt” comes into play. Don’t just let the reader/character be sick. What are they sick with? What are their symptoms, what is the care they need, and what’s going on?

Instead of just writing about a character being sick, write about a character being sick with the flu. Being sick with pneumonia. Being sick with just about any illness or disease you can think of but don’t just make it generic!

There are dozens of opportunities for uniqueness, and all it takes is a little research. If you’re willing to get down into the specifics of a prompt, looking beyond the basic, flat term, then you’ve got a fantastic story on your hands.


Roots of the Plot and Dynamics


It makes it more relatable for an author to write a story that provides a background. The “sick”  prompt is a great example of this, yet again;

How did the reader/character get sick? Did they get stuck out in the rain? Did they fall into a river in the middle of autumn, saving their loved one from a tumble down a cliff (used this plotline recently, believe it or not)?

Or did they just inhale at the perfect time someone sneezed, going to a hospital they didn’t want to go to for fear of getting sick?

It’s small details like this that make the story more believable, and entertaining, if you want to put a more comedic spin on it.

Figuring Out the Dynamics



When coming up with an idea, it’s important to figure out the dynamics of it. What I mean by dynamics is the in and out of what you want to write. For example;

You’ve got to be in tune with what the characters are feeling!

Don’t just summarize how someone is feeling with “he felt bad” or “they felt happy”, you’ve got to build on it. If a character gets shot in the side, and they just wake up from surgery, how in the world are they feeling?

It doesn’t just hurt, does it? It’s white-hot pain, it’s awful, and the character doesn’t want to move. Open up on their thoughts, their emotions and everything else that they feel.

Summarizing everything never makes for a good story. It’s the little details that help make a story more interesting and gripping for others. Establishing these details also help you by coming up with the story’s body and what you actually want to write about.

It sounds like a lot of work, but it’s actually simpler than you might think. You don’t necessarily have to ask yourself a ton of questions, but it always helps to figure out what you plan on doing with a story by deciding what you do and don’t want to include.

The setting, plot and characters you want to add are also very important, too. If you want a fluffier atmosphere, write with fluffier words! Having a dank and dark plotline usually doesn’t make for a fluffy story. As you would assume, an angsty story performs much better in a dark/dank situation.

Story Based Around a Character



If you can’t find a prompt you want, it’s not so hard to come up with one all by yourself, and using the character’s personality to figure something out.

Basically, we’ll be employing the common question you hear all the time: What would Jesus do?

But instead of using the good Lord’s name, we’ll be replacing it with a character you plan on using. Ask yourself; What would _______ do?

Would Steve Rogers fly all the way to Japan to pick up some authentic takoyaki for an SO with a craving? Nope!

But Tony Stark would. And he wouldn’t just pick up the takoyaki, oh no; he’d jet down to the heart of Tokyo in his brand new Mach 3457937 and smile for the cameras while he did.

Would Tsukishima Kei write some cheesy, over-the-top love letter confessing his undying feelings for his S.O. and throw some flowers in their face to top it all of? Nope!

But Nishinoya Yuu would. And he wouldn’t just write it, he’d read it out loud, in his loud loud voice, a huge smile on his face and probably laughing inside because he knows it’s cheesy and he did it on purpose, just to sneak a laugh out of his love.

The point is, you’ve got to think up situations where a character would do something that nobody else would, and more often than not would do it in a heartbeat. That, or they do it and they’re going to be ashamed of it.

The point is, it’s always entertaining to read a story that focuses on the character and how they act or react to situations that are based around who and what they are.

Finding prompts based on “Person A and Person B” are good if you’re looking for a challenge. Try to imagine a character in that scenario, and what they would do.

If you can’t imagine it, I guess you’ve got some research to do.

You can never learn enough about a character.

Always look for scenes, stories or comics the characters show up in. Learn how they act, how they talk, how they respond and how they feel in as many situations as you can. The more you get to know them, the better the story will be.

While there’s that one pocket of people who live in their own fantasy land and they love to read stories about their dream characters as OOC as possible, always showering them with unreal amounts of love and affection that would never happen, there are plenty more who appreciate decent writing.

Coming up with your own ideas isn’t hard; it’s easier than you might think. Hopefully these tips will help you figure those things out and you’ll move forward as a writer!

Don’t steal stories when you’ve got plenty to tell, all in your own imagination!

~

That's all I have for now. If you have other tips you want to add, or questions about these, let me know! I'm happy to listen and help out wherever I can.

Good luck, and happy writing!

~Emma
Picture found on www.lifehack.org/

It's a mouthful for this one, huh? xD
This Tuesday I'd like to give some of my personal tricks and tips for
writing original stories, or inventing your own!

Remember, no experience is too small! <3

I hope you enjoyed reading!! ^^

Previous TT: Grammar and Punctuation
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FlaxFlame's avatar
I'm currently writing a reader-insert songfic. I think song lyrics are great prompts as you can interpret them however you like. I found this really helpful for making it unique - thanks!