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How do you think a depressed ENTP would deal with an emotionally abusive childhood?

Inferior Si’s have it rough. Whenever their Ne-dom is crushed / blocked / abused / maligned, etc., they retreat into a shivering, lonely, uncertain, and self-loathing inferior Si and relive the trauma or past event again… and again… and again… in an attempt to figure out what went wrong, why it happened, what they should have done. It endlessly repeats, draining them of creative energy, leaving them feeling utterly alone, desolate, and useless. They get “stuck” there until they can break the cycle, pointlessly reliving a single event, conversation, or happenstance, even though their Ne KNOWS that this is impeding them from moving forward, that there’s not a damn thing they can do to change or resolve it, that the past SHOULD BE behind them.

A normal, healthy Ne-dom doesn’t spend much time in the past, except to increase its knowledge base and chalk up mistakes to “life experiences.”

Depression sends the Si-inferior straight into Si, to relive what a worthless person they are (which may or may not be true, since Si’s not exactly objective) and bring up various former events as “proof” of how much they suck as a human being / employee / individual. Anything can trigger this – sometimes even walking down memory lane for an inferior Si can make them sad, because those people are gone (but not forgotten) or dead or aren’t speaking to them now. And maybe if I’d been a better friend… I should have told them how much I cared, because I’ll never get to do it now… why didn’t I…?

But reliving it is pointless. You can’t change it. And yet, you can’t escape the damn loop in your head.

Emotional abuse has a different impact on different people; but it’s likely a Ne-dom might conceal their Ne in an attempt to avoid mockery (you’re useless / impractical / a worthless dreamer / will never amount to anything / don’t live in reality), which might drive them into their lower functions. Fe, as suggested yesterday, wants to please and be liked, so an ENTP might over-compensate with it and become placating, falsely affirming / reassuring / complimentary, but not really be in touch with their own emotions or sincere about avoiding hurting other people’s feelings. It’s likely the Fe might become unstable (violent, prone to meltdowns, or overly sensitive).

I imagine an ENFP would burn up with internal misery and self-blame (since Fi tends to focus on self, and have impossibly high standards for self) and become aggressive with Te, in order to compensate and be seen as “practical” or “efficient” in the eyes of the abuser. Emotional abuse might leave them feeling unworthy, so they might continue that pattern in adulthood of letting other people “use” them / getting caught up in bad relationships, simply because of low self esteem / hating conflict of any kind.

- ENFP Mod

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“So long as you write it away regularly nothing can really hurt you.”

— Shirley Jackson

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#199: How to Start a Story

Story ideas come from weird places that most writers don’t fully understand. That’s why we’re so afraid of talking about it. Do you create new ideas or uncover what was already there in the collective psyche of humanity?

Orson Scott Card has a great quote about story ideas:

“Everybody walks past a thousand story ideas every day. The good writers are the ones who see five or six of them. Most people don’t see any.”

This is the most controllable aspect of the process — learning to recognise a story idea when you see one. In this post, we’ll take a look at five different ways how you can start a story.

A Vivid Image

A story can start from as little as an image in your mind that makes you feel something. It may be something you saw or experienced, something that came to you in a dream or just randomly.

Maybe you’re on your way to the train station in the morning. It’s foggy outside, and when you’re passing through the park, you get an eerie feeling that something or someone is lurking in the mist. Is that a ghost, a thief, a spy, a bear, a murderer? And why is he there? All sorts of ideas can come out of that single image.

Here’s another example: a helicopter wakes you up as it flies low over your house. You’re annoyed but not enough to get out of bed. Then you hear another one. And another one. What’s going on here? The image doesn’t have to be the first scene in the story or even appear in the story at all. But it sets you on a path of discovery.

Here’s a third one: a group of friends are watching the sunset from a rooftop in New York City. Then a creeping shadow from a huge alien spaceship obscures their view. Why is the ship there? And why is Jay the only one not panicking? Is he one of them?

A Unique Character

Another way to start a story is to develop a unique character. Characters can make or break a story. Sometimes, it makes sense to figure out who the protagonist is first. Then you’ll build the plot around them.

A good example of this is House, M.D. The entire series revolves around the personality of the protagonist. The writers very likely developed the character of Gregory House and then wrote the episodes to tell his story. Dexter is another good one.

You may have a specific personality trait in mind, a certain look or lifestyle that you want to write about. That’s when it makes sense to start with a character.

Confluence

Neil Gaiman is a big advocate of this approach. To create a brand new idea, combine two unlikely ideas together. It can work within a genre and across genres as well.

This is where stuff like sci-fi romance or military sci-fi comes from. It works very well for speculative fiction.

Bringing two disparate ideas together is a great way to create something unique. Let’s go back to the first story example — the fog in the park with something lurking in it. That’s literally the most obvious thing you can do. Thousands of stories have been told about innocent people getting ambushed.

What if the fog isn’t pollution? It’s some sort of agent that aliens inject into our atmosphere to learn about us. The aliens were particularly active in Victorian times — hence why London always was so polluted. That’s a very different story…

What If?

The what-if question is the holy grail of story development. You can use it to start a story as well as build on an existing idea.

When you think about it, asking the what-if question means discovering various parts of your story. You start from a tiny seed and keep adding plausible branches to it. When you’re done, the whole thing seems obvious, almost as if it was always there.

It’s a strange feeling, but the what-if question works.

Let’s say your protagonist is walking down the street. What if a scruffy looking man approached her and handed her an ancient spellbook? What if the man then turned around and got hit by a bus? What if the protagonist took the book home, but when she wanted to read it a few days later, she couldn’t find it? And what if someone later came to her place asking for it?

Prompts / Fanfic

Prompts are also a fantastic way to kickstart your writing. A prompt is basically a way to inject an image into your mind. And then it’s up to you what you do with it. Contrary to what people might say, starting from prompts is a completely valid way to work as a writer.

Fan fiction can work as an original story starter too. You might write about your favourite characters at first, but later on, you can edit the copyrighted parts out. Nobody has to know that your story started as fanfic.

Final Thoughts

There are a million ways to start a story. Whichever you use, it’s only the beginning. You will have to fully develop the narrative from there. Asking many what-if questions is a great way to do that.

It’s hard work, but very few things are as rewarding as seeing your idea come to life.

About the Author

Hi, I’m Radek 👋. I’m a writer, software engineer and the founder of Writing Analytics — an editor and writing tracker designed to help you beat writer’s block and create a sustainable writing routine.

I publish a post like this every week. Want to know when the next one comes out? Sign up for my email list below to get it right in your inbox. 

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Past Editions

#198: Can You Write a Story Right Now?, June 2021

#197: Whatever You’re Doing Can Be Fixed, May 2021

#196: The Shiny Object Syndrome, May 2021

#195: Where Do You Get Your Ideas From?, May 2021

#194: Your Inner Critic is Wrong, May 2021

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“I write when I’m inspired, and I see to it that I’m inspired at nine o’clock every morning.”

— Peter De Vries

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- Matthew Kelly

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prompt 1602

Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.

                                               –Pablo Picasso

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This song gives me summer vibes

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Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents which, in prosperous circumstances, would have lain dormant. ~ Horace

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“Every ego wants to be special. If it can’t be special by being superior to others, it’s also quite happy with being especially miserable. Someone will say, ‘I have a headache,’ and another says, ‘I’ve had a headache for weeks.” People actually compete to see who is more miserable!

The ego doing that is just as big as the one that thinks it is superior to someone else.”

~Eckhart Tolle

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You have immense strength within yourself!

Source: positivityiskeytolife

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prompt 1562

Write a dialogue between a deep thinker and a superficial one. Have them disagree about something. Remember to keep their responses consistent with the way they think, in terms of vocabulary and content. This one could end up being funny–the two characters are likely to be unable to understand each other!

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#192: Why Write?

For a long time, writing was pretty much the only way for your ideas to spread. You had to go to a publisher who put your piece inside their magazine or printed an edition of your book.

Then the Internet came along. Computers went from tasteless pieces of humming furniture to become extensions of our brains. These days, your options as a creator are unlimited. You can make TikToks and YouTube videos. You can record podcasts, build apps or design games that have the potential to reach millions of people around the world.

There have never been so many things to do. With the abundance of options, people have less and less time to read. There’s more competition than ever before. So why even bother? Why should you be writing instead of pursuing something more modern?

Writing is Efficient

Despite all the progress in graphics and multimedia, most people still prefer the written word because it’s efficient. A video runs at a certain speed and has to digested in sequence. You can read paragraph slower or faster, depending on how fast a reader you are.

Writing remains the dominant way to communicate online. It’s here to stay.

Writing is Intimate

No other medium allows you to get inside the protagonist’s head quite the same way. Writing a story from the first person POV allows your readers to experience what you did from the same perspective. This makes us recognise and accept the differences between people.

Writing is Simple

You don’t need any fancy tools or equipment. You can write anything by simply showing up and doing the work.

You can make anything by writing.

Writing Makes You a Better Thinker

Writing things down helps you make up your mind and process your thoughts. Many writers say that they often don’t know what they think unless they write it down.

Is It Worth It?

The chances of commercial success may be slim, but that doesn’t mean that all this is a waste of time.

Even if you don’t go on to become the next Stephen King, being able to tell a good story is invaluable no matter what you do. There’s no downside to learning to write well.

The only problem is that you’ll need to learn it yourself. Writing teachers can direct you to the right door, but you’ll have to go through alone. They will teach you about writing, but you’ll have to have the discipline and put the hours in yourself.

So is it worth it? Absolutely.

Want More?

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Past Editions

#191: The Best Writing Quotes From the Past Year, April 2021

#190: Writing and Snow, April 2021

#189: The Importance of Showing Up, April 2021

#188: The Casual Writer, March 2021

#187: Writing For Yourself, March 2021

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prompt 1568

You go to sleep tonight as usual. You wake up as a woman in 1850s England and face your first problem. You don’t know how to get dressed.

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“Writing a novel is an enormous undertaking, and self-doubt will be part of that process. There will be days you just don’t know if you can do it. And on those days what is gonna save you is your process. Your ritual. So if you’re just starting to write a novel, go create that process, go create that ritual.”

— Dan Brown

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“What you want on the first page is something that is going to beckon the reader in.”

— Margaret Atwood

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365 days of exhaustion , fatigue , and anxiety

The last time I felt lively was 5 years ago