Jan 2021
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Jan 2021
Jan 2021
akitsukino
Jan '21

Probably the most annoying a thing about a having a good idea is not knowing how to move forward with it. I’ll have all these great settings, world ideas, and characters and then realize I have nothing for them to do. I feel like the weirdest mix of pantser and plotter in the sense that I might have some cool places and things I want to add, but I end up making it up as I go to make semi logical reasons that would happen in the story.

Any tips on giving your characters good reasons to do things in their stories?

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    Jan '21

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Penni
Jan '21

Here are something to possibly think about!

  • Do they want something? Take it away from them

  • What are their fears? Make it happen

  • What are their weaknesses? Put them in a situation where they have to deal with that

  • What is the MS working towards? Put obstacles in their path

  • Does the MC have someone they love? Kill them
    (jk you don't have to kill them, but love, in whatever form, is a good tool for conflict)

  • MC vs nature, society, self, technology

cherrystark
Jan '21

There is nothing wrong with jotting down ideas as part of pantsing. No matter your writing style, it's most important to do what feel's right.

As for creating conflict - I don't think you'll ever find a "good" reason for characters to do what they do, because as humans, how often do we say "I dunno" when asked why we did something. We just did it. My advise for creating conflict is to think of your characters as people and make logical jumps from what you already know about them. Such as, I have a character who is constantly, Shaggy Rogers style hungry. A logical jump was that he never cleans up his messes when he makes snacks in the kitchen. The same character also has a sibling-like relationship with a couple other characters, so the natural jump for conflict is sibling rivalry.

@Penni also has some great points.

elyss
Jan '21

I make conflicts based on the equation: Character wants ___, but ____, therefore/so ____. It's very important that your characters have a desire.

For example in my story, Kirril wants to help a kind stranger by returning their lost journal, but he promised to look after someone in his village, therefore he must find a way to achieve both.
My antagonist example in my story is, Leland wants to live a nice easygoing life, but his current maid has found love and his friend is obsessed with marriage, so he has to find a way to restore his status quo before he loses both of them.

HippieGhost
Jan '21

Creating characters with conflicting motivations can really help the plot as well. I treat my villains and antagonists as "MC's" even though they don't appear often like one. I understand their motivations and what they want, and I give conflicting motivations to side characters as well to help create a bit of conflict. I also look at even the small, real conflicts I see and experience in daily life, and use those moments for inspiration.

For example, my MC in The Shopkeeper often deals with customers that are trying to tell them their life stories when all Arin wants to do is get them to pay for their crap and leave. They becomes a minor hostage in this way because the customers feel the need to share those stories with somone, and Arin can't really leave or tell them to go away. Even minor conflicts of interest can lead to fun and interesting scenarios.

Another good method: Think about how your world/city/etc would go if everything continued perfectly, and how things could go wrong, then put someone in the wrong place at the right time to make exactly that happen.

Freemints30
Jan '21

"but"

Yeah that's general how to create conflict. Internal or external

My MC of my comic is a curious child who wants to know what's going on BUT (No one believes her, cares, able to do anything, ect)

All can create conflict

A character could just want their life to remain the same BUT ___ (Something makes it really difficult, death, disaster, maybe they lost a friend, made and enemy)

State what they want and the current situation and add that BUT

therosesword
Jan '21
cherrystark

This!

I can't tell you how many times I scream at the TV... "Just TELL him what happened!" But noooooo, they don't and every one gets mad and then a fight... arrrrghghghgh

AmazementComicsThe Best Fruit Smoothies
Jan '21

The goal of conflict is for your characters to experience something in order to get a desired result. So if plot A requires your characters to go somewhere, meet someone, get into trouble, then it should serve a purpose to the greater narrative. Even if your ideas don't really make sense, one you put it down on paper, try outlining possible outcomes as to where the plot could go. There's nothing wrong about being stumped on an idea that you don't where to take you.

cortezlord96
Jan '21

Look at the Dan Harmon story well and videos on youtube, THEY ARE EYE OPENING and have an inherent way to keep conflict perpetually going. Its a brillant innovation on the story telling model.

AmysGames
Jan '21

I think every story requires an end goal for the main character(s), whether that be defeating an evil villain, finding true love, or founding a world-class bakery. Something for the story to build up to, and for the characters to eventually achieve... or not achieve, in some cases.

At any rate, in most cases, the conflict in your story is going to come from something or another getting in the way of that end goal. Maybe the villain is someone your character doesn't really want to fight, like a former lover, and the character has to come to terms with what they have to do. Maybe your character suffers through a bad relationship while searching for love, and struggles to find someone they can trust because of that. Maybe your baker character accidentally puts poison in their cakes and has to deal with the consequences of killing half the town. The possibilities are endless!

rajillustration
Jan '21

My characters themselves are just always kind of in conflict with eachother, so it's easy to make em fight as they work towards their endgoal.

indagold
Jan '21

Make your main characters suffer. Make sure their lives aren't perfect and have that be what drives them to do something as the goal. Have them be dissatisfied with the status quo and if they aren't, have it destroy them as they pretend it doesn't.

Prometheus
Jan '21

Okay, bare with me. This post might be a little long. I've recently been learning a lot from Neil Gaiman and his Master Class. There's a section where he talks about making the flow of plot and how to get the reader to keep turning the page. These are the notes that I took of what he said. I didn't quote him on everything, but pretty much everything written here is what he said in his video word for word:

The “What’s Going To Happen” game is the game that you play as a writer, with your readers. This is what keeps them turning the pages. Things they don’t know, things they need to find out - things that they care about. And, coming into a story, it can simply be, “Who are these people? What are they doing? Why should I care?” After a little while, it can get a lot deeper:

“And then what happened?”

These are the most important words there are for a storyteller.

Anything you can do to keep people turning the pages, is legitimate.

The main thing you have to do is care. Because if you don’t care what happened, then nobody else will. You need to imbue that care into your writing.

Because then, any time you move from character to character, or the story hesitates, the question will come from the audience: “And then what happened?”

Create Conflict

Do not shy away from conflict. You have to allow the conflict to happen. That is so much of what a plot is.

What Do Your Characters Want?

You have a bunch of blocks when you’re building a story.

What does the voice sound like? What do your characters sound like? Who are they? What do they do? What do they want?

What do the characters want? When you’re building plot, this question is a VERY important one - the one that matters. It’s the only question that opens the door to what you will do next. Because it will dictate what you will do next with the story.

If you get stuck, you can ask yourself what your characters want. It’s like a flashlight: it shines a light on the road ahead.

If you can’t figure out what your plot is when you know your characters: “Just have two of your best characters and have them figure out what they want. And have them want things that are mutually exclusive. And then set them off on their quest.”

Doing this, where only one of them can get what they want - that will give you conflict, that will give you plot.

Asking a character, “What do you want? What do you need?”, and using it as a driver, is one stage below the mechanics of plotting. And it will save your butt over and over if you take that as an important thing. And remember: characters always, for good or for evil, get what they need. They do not get what they want.

What characters want, and what they need, will always be the driving forces of a story.

I suggest taking a look at his Master Class. It's super insightful into the mechanics of stories and what makes them tick, and it's really helped me make my writing a heck of a lot more meaningful.