That's a really cool method I'm gonna try out soon! Thank you for sharing.
Another method that has helped me a lot is the "and why?" method. You start by stating what situation your character is in and ask "and why?", then follow your answer up with the same question until you cannot answer the "why" anymore. Usually that shows you where you need to rework something, haven't figured an internal motivation out just right yet, or you stumble into inconsistencies or missing information. It can get quite annoying to dig this deep, but it helps so so much!
Love both of these ways to get things going. I have recently started using a lot of "Because of this, that happened..." to try to create a chain of causality. The protagonist in my most recent (I've lost count) draft was a bit too passive, so the next rewrite is going to be major, and it's going to involve thinking hard about what actions lead to which consequences.
I think I'd better start using Yes/No. At the moment my writing is taking lots of inspirations from things around me and stories just come that want to be combined and told, a certain element of divination. The more I research histories and mythologies the more little aha moments I have.
That "Yes/No" strategy sounds like a great way to avoid flat "And then" plotting ("and then this happens and then this happens and then this...").
Among the Pixar rules of storytelling, one I've especially liked is to not settle on the first idea that comes to mind -- think of several possibilities to dig deeper and find a truly compelling approach.
Have you played around with the AI language models for prompting ideas? I don't write, but my wife is a Sped teacher and uses them to help formulate goals when she's writing education plans for students.
That's a really cool method I'm gonna try out soon! Thank you for sharing.
Another method that has helped me a lot is the "and why?" method. You start by stating what situation your character is in and ask "and why?", then follow your answer up with the same question until you cannot answer the "why" anymore. Usually that shows you where you need to rework something, haven't figured an internal motivation out just right yet, or you stumble into inconsistencies or missing information. It can get quite annoying to dig this deep, but it helps so so much!
Love both of these ways to get things going. I have recently started using a lot of "Because of this, that happened..." to try to create a chain of causality. The protagonist in my most recent (I've lost count) draft was a bit too passive, so the next rewrite is going to be major, and it's going to involve thinking hard about what actions lead to which consequences.
I think I'd better start using Yes/No. At the moment my writing is taking lots of inspirations from things around me and stories just come that want to be combined and told, a certain element of divination. The more I research histories and mythologies the more little aha moments I have.
And now I understand why your writing works so well in the High Republic. Even when the heroes win, there is a cost.
That "Yes/No" strategy sounds like a great way to avoid flat "And then" plotting ("and then this happens and then this happens and then this...").
Among the Pixar rules of storytelling, one I've especially liked is to not settle on the first idea that comes to mind -- think of several possibilities to dig deeper and find a truly compelling approach.
Have you played around with the AI language models for prompting ideas? I don't write, but my wife is a Sped teacher and uses them to help formulate goals when she's writing education plans for students.