More like WRITING ate my soul... http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/49672 Rushshock So, I'm doing some plotting and I've kinda got the plotting blues. Any tips for someone who is completely stuck on how to ramble and plot? :D Sun, 29 Jan 2012 08:12:09 +0200 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/49672?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1099232 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/49672?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1099232 Red Queen When I hit a critical point (plot sounds stupid, characters are jerks, no more chocolate and it's Sunday morning...), I call my mum and talk to her. It she is the only one who will listen to me rant about my projects for hours, and sometimes she comes up with the most wonderful ideas - apparently, some things are blatantly obvious to anyone but me. But sometimes I just need to talk to someone to sort things out. Oh, and there's always the "Inspirational Movie Night" solution :) For me, that would be The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, or Silent Hill. Bowl of popcorn, good movie, and, most important, no-one around to be annoyed when I stop mid-film and start hammering the final outline of my story into the computer... Sun, 29 Jan 2012 12:10:59 +0200 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/49672?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1099409 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/49672?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1099409 Rushshock Yes, Lord of the Rings is very inspirational to me too! Mostly because I tried to write Lotr fanfiction when I first started writing. It never really worked out, but I had a blast writing it! I completely lol'ed at the last part of your post. Sun, 29 Jan 2012 18:05:47 +0200 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/49672?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1099682 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/49672?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1099682 Red Queen Oh, good old fanfic days :) We used to share them among a couple of people in my class. Most of the stories were parodies, though, we never got around getting some serious writing done... Probably some of the most stupid stories ever saw the light of day during those times^^ Sun, 29 Jan 2012 19:43:40 +0200 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/49672?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1099777 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/49672?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1099777 Rushshock Ah, yes. I always wanted to write something close to LOTR but I've never gotten a chance to sit down and write it. I rather liked the books too, not just the movies (even though they were as epic as the book was long) Mon, 30 Jan 2012 05:40:33 +0200 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/49672?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1101467 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/49672?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1101467 whitedove Well, it took him ten years of working a little bit at a time (not to mention the decades before that working on the background) so, I guess, if you really want to write something like that just start writing a little at a time. You'll get there eventually. Thu, 09 Feb 2012 03:13:46 +0200 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/49672?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1125059 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/49672?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1125059 Red Queen Frankly, the guy was nuts. In a good way. But crazy nonetheless. I don't even know where to start when explaining to someone why I love Tolkien and how he did what he did; I usually end up telling them to go read Humphrey Carpenter's Tolkien biography. It's pretty interesting to read, and helps understand how the whole LotR-related stuff was written. Fri, 10 Feb 2012 16:08:45 +0200 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/49672?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1128743 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/49672?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1128743 Puddles21 I have a whole list of things I do when I hit a block in my plot, some work some of the time but realistically there is no sure fire method. Here are my suggestions: - draw a plan of the main locations, it doesn't need to be art, I have rough floor plans for inside locations and mud maps for outside. It is always useful to have fixed exactly how many doors and windows are in each room and visualising the scene in a different way will help break your mental blocks. - Stop thinking about the plot as a whole and think about one character (not the main one). Write down where they are at each plot point? What are they doing? Why? - If you were writing a play rather than a novel, what direction would you give someone playing your character? This sounds silly but often I have such a clear picture of the character in my mind and it is difficult to figure out what is not being expressed on the page. - Put together a novel playlist - Start writing the scene you really want to write. I often have a scene in my head, but no idea how to get there. I have found that writing that scene helps bring the plot either side of it into focus. - Read something great Mon, 13 Feb 2012 11:21:50 +0200 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/49672?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1136129 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/49672?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1136129