#brainstorming story ideas

[uncleasad]

This post came past my desk today, and I thought folks here might find it interesting/helpful, particularly the suggestions (from the academic paper, as summarized by the author of the blog post) for clearing a block—or at least a specific type of block:

Take a break from writing: “Stop writing, decide tomorrow is another day, and walk away from the computer until the next day.” (26%)

Work on a different writing project: “Jump from the work on which I’m currently engaged to another.” (13%)

Keep writing: “Force myself to write to a certain page number” (12%)

Revise or reread current work or skip ahead to work on a later section: “Reread notes or drafts” (10%)

Read a book or watch a movie: “I read the work of authors I admire to become inspired.” (10%)

Take a walk: “I go for a walk” (6%)

Discuss ideas with others: “Ask for advice. See what other people think. While you usually won’t use what they suggest their ideas can kickstart you brain.” (8%)

Change writing location or writing method: “Switch up locations or methods of writing – write using a pen, a typewriter, etc.” (6%)

Exercise: “Exercise/movement” (3%)

Research: “Researching relevant or related topics” (3%)

Eat or drink something: “Drinking coffee or snacking” (2%)

Meditate/do yoga: “Meditate for five minutes” (1%)

Number 2 is responsible for pretty much the entirety of my In-Progress list as well as for the Tales from the Salvatore Kitchen series. I’ve also done a lot of #4 (especially on After Ten Long Years, which currently consists of 5 distinct sections, but I also successfully employed the reread/revise strategy on the final part of the Josie Saltzman’s Final Holidays trilogy), some #6—which is really a specific subset of #9 I think—(often working in the yard/garden or mowing the lawn instead of walking per se), sometimes #7 (looking at you, friends 😀)…and #10 is a good procrastinator 😂

One thing I don’t see mentioned, and the source of all my best ideas (as I’ve mentioned before) is take a shower; the article I linked to in that post explains why that works.

(Sadly, none of these suggestions are relevant for my current case of writer’s “block,” which is entirely a lack of time. Maybe I should stop visiting tumblr 😂)

[uwudonoodle]

[westywallowing]

he's,,, a cat

adrientte fruits basket au ;)

[thestarfishface]

tfw you have a loose collection of ideas for a new story but it's still really early on so most of it's really loose concepts and not anything solid enough to fully brainstorm, but you REALLY REALLY want to get to the point where you can DO something with it

I have essentially planted a mystery seed in the garden and am now staring at the little patch of soil waiting for something to happen and it's driving my CRAZYYYYYYY

[starry-bi-sky]

"Stillborn? No, no, still born." -- DPXDC AU

Based off a comment I saw where Bruce knew about Talia's pregnancy in the earlier comivs, and was ecstatic to be a father. So much so that Talia feared he'd give up being Batman for it, so when she gave birth she put the baby (Damian) on a doorstep and (seemingly) told Bruce that the baby was stillborn.

Instead of Damian, that baby was Danny! Meet Daniel Brown, the 14 year old foster kid whose been living with the Fenton family for the last two years. He's about two years older than Damian.

His last name, "Brown", was a generic surname given to him because the note he came with didn't have one on it. It just had the name "Danyal" on it, but albeit 'Daniel' was the one that had been put into the system for, I'll be totally frank here, racism reasons.

(I looked it up to make sure, and it's generally not permissible for foster parents to change the names of their foster kids even if it's a permanent residency, and for that reason Danny doesn't have the last name "Fenton".)

Danny's got ✨~issues!~✨ He's been through a handful of homes growing up, most of them terrible for a variety of reasons. Which has, as a result, left lasting scars. He's generally a very sweet kid, just very distrustful and jumpy. He's got the signs of a kid suffering from PTSD, and a handful of other issues including attachment and insomnia. His inferiority complex could rival Damian's, and that's going to make for an interesting mutual hatred for when they finally meet.

(something I'll get into later)

He still has the blanket he was found in. It's made of a very high quality material and is a beautiful emerald green with little golden thread accents, it's high quality as a result has Danny clinging onto a desperate hope that his bio family might be out there, and the only reason they gave him up was because of some outside factor. It's been taken a few times in old foster homes, and he's flipped out each time.

While he still calls Jack and Maddie by their names, he likes them well enough. The bar isn't that high though, and while they're some of the better foster parents he's had, "better" doesn't equal "safest". Their laboratory malpractice. Basically, C- Fenton Parents. They're negligent by virtue of being engrossed in their work, but they do care equally about Jazz and Danny. So he doesn't hold it against them that much.

He kinda prefers it that way, their loud affection is overwhelming and Danny doesn't know what to do with their attention, even if he craves it. It's a bit of a complicated situation.

They took in Danny because they genuinely wanted another child, but didn't want a big age gap between them and Jazz. It was actually Jack's idea to foster, and they discussed it with Jazz beforehand. She was all for the idea. Thus, a handful of weeks later, a ton of paperwork, and inspection later, and Daniel Brown entered their household with a trash bag in one hand and eyes like shards of stained glass.

His relationship with Jazz is kinda strained, but that's by virtue of her constant psychoanalyzing and helicoptering. Like with the parents, Danny's overwhelmed by the attention and also just, straight up doesn't like the fact that she's telling him that there's something wrong with him. He knows that, thank you. He pushes her away when she does this.

Other than that though? When Jazz isn't smothering him and is acting like an actual sibling and not a third parent, they're pretty close, and Danny really likes her. They've hung out a few times on their own volition, and Jazz showed him how to take better care of his long hair.

His school situation,, pretty similar to canon with the bullying, albeit with a few more instances of him blowing a fuse and lashing out against his attackers. He's a rather angry kid, but it's quiet. It builds up, piles on top of itself, until eventually, like a volcano, it erupts and burns everyone within radius.

Danny's got a fire core, not an ice core. Phantom's hair is made of white magma; thick and heavy, setting itself on fire when his anger runs hot. When he gets angry, his skin begins to char and split open to reveal pulsating lava underneath, and he crackles and pops like a raging forest fire.

I haven't decided yet on how he meets the batfam -- i've got two ideas but they're both in opposition to each other, and drastically alter how the rest of the plot goes. But I do know that him and Damian hate each other in the beginning. And it has nothing to do with inheritance or "being the blood son" -- although their blood relation absolutely plays the major role in their disdain for each other.

Simply put, they're jealous of each other for the same thing: thinking that the other was wanted.

Damian hates Danny because, unlike Damian, Bruce knew about Danny since conception and wanted him from the moment he heard about him. He had a whole nursery set up, and still does. He never took it down -- just locked the door. Damian was thrust upon Bruce without warning, and he feels like he forced himself into the family. And while on some level Damian knows and understands that Bruce wants him and loves him as much as his other children, that doubt and feeling of inferiority still remains. He looks at Danny and sees him with what Damian always feels he needs reaffirmed.

Meanwhile, Danny hates Damian because he looks at him and sees him with everything Danny's ever wanted. He hates him because Damian grew up knowing both of their parents, with one of them for most of his life, and then moved over to the other. There was never a moment where Damian was (seemingly) left to doubt his place within the family. Damian was raised with the very same woman who left Danny on a doorstep, with no clue to his identity beyond a little green blanket and a note with only a first name. Damian was wanted everywhere, and Danny was wanted nowhere. Damian is Danny's replacement in his eyes.

(It's the little revelation that Damian grew up with their mother that elevates Danny from being quietly envious of Damian to downright despising him. What did Damian do, that Danny didn't? He could live with Damian living with Bruce -- Bruce didn't know Danny was even alive. But him living with their mom? Are you fucking kidding him?)

Damian never outright attacks Danny physically, but it's not like he hides that he didn't like Danny. Meanwhile, Danny, in all his repressive anger, quietly despised him from a distance until finally one wrong snide side-comment has him blowing up and it becomes a screaming match. They're both just enough similar to each other that when they look at each other they really just see a mirror.

They'll work it out together, eventually. But it'll be ugly and cruel and explosive, and they'll start mending the bridge to become brothers in more than just blood relation in the end.

But yeah, stillborn Danny has... a lot going for him.

[thebaldursmouthgazette]

Idk who needs to hear this but in the early game dev process the concept artists and writers come up with a billion different ideas they bounce off of each other, basically all of which sound cool in isolation because that is literally their job, but most of which don’t make it to the game because they don’t fit into it as it grows into a complete story

The stuff you’re complaining about not making it into the game was a random idea someone had before anyone knew much more about the game than that solas was in it. It was never going to be in the game. It was abandoned once they had settled on a story and that’s a good thing. Some of these ideas are from a decade ago.

[fictionadventurer]

This AV Club comment is making me so desperate to write a romcom, you have no idea.

[yourprettylildoe]

Thinking about the concept of two brothers who absolutely adore you. They do everything in their power to win you over and neither wants to back down. A rivalry starts between the two. But oh, they need to decide on which gets your hand or else someone might snatch you away!

So, they find a solution: a battle to death. Yes, that will show you the lengths they're willing to go to. Whoever lives wins you. All you need to do is sit back and watch as chaos erupts. Enjoy!

♡

– what do y'all think? Should I write this into a story (a shorter one) to see who wins? ;)

[bonesandthebees]

I was on my feet working all day I'm so tired and blegh I'm debating if I wanna just curl up in bed with my book and tea and call it a night or if I should try to brainstorm/plot out future fic plans...

[gomzdrawfr]

We are getting words in as I wrestle with my brain

this mtf (points at myself) loves stars and galaxy imageries

also random thought, does any fic writers do the thing when writing from art like this? xD I always like to pick things I've noticed from the piece itself, putting it in bullet points and then expand my ideas from there then try to connect them to paragraphs

[taldigi]

slides onto table

i'm just saying that a piece of jewlery made from a droplet from your persona is an untapped gift potential between persona users

I wonder if different personas make different colored droplets...

[scaredfurryfire]

I have a small dilemma

Im currently building an official dnd sheet for Paprika where I read more into the background that I chose for her.

For context, Paprika is a cursed being who was driven from her home at the age of fifteen, where her panic-induced chase scene transformed into a raging wildfire as she lost control.

So to match her backstory, I chose to develop a Sorcerer stat sheet for a character who was born with wild magic.

But here’s where the backstory takes two different turns;

Paprika lived by her herself for years, struggling to survive, at some point became employed at a brothel or a bar. She would later burn it down.

At some point in her life, she lived on the streets, stealing from markets to survive before she was placed on trial to execution where she burned the whole town down.

The two backgrounds that caught my attention were “Urchin” and “Criminal”, The urchin background gave her more dexterity skills (her dex stat is 15) while the criminal background allowed her free access to deception skill, which is a charisma skill. (Her Charisma stat is 16).

But let me slow down.

Paprika is a cowardly character.

she hides, runs, and is always on the lookout for enemies.

especially bounty hunters.

but I actually don’t think that burning down a whole town helps to affirm her cowardice, it would turn her into a villain.

Instead, ….how about she blows up the execution platform the exact moment her sanity breaks where her flames scorched the crowd of people?

Maybe not the right answer

moraley grey?

ehhhh probably not.

But despite that, I designed her to be a coward and a scaredy-cat… the sorcerer’s source of magic is charisma which isn’t usually full of cowardice.

maybe I’m thinking too much into it

Quick note:

The Urchin background is the closest to Paprika’s personality and upbringing, where it gives two dexterity skills.

However, the Criminal background gives the character three skills from the Sorcerer skill list overall and it provides an interesting opportunity to explore the inconsistency with her design.

The Criminal background gives the character access to a Charisma skill, which is made stronger by the proficiency bonuses of the Sorcerer class. Plus, the Intimidation skill would make much better sense for a character whose clothes are left in inconsistent states of cleanliness and/or disrepair.

“Her cloak is so filthy, like it is ridiculously filthy.”

“yea... And?”

“Whu-how in heave’s name is she keeping her loincloth clean?”

“Beats me”

“Nono, there’s something she’s not telling us.”

“Like what, that she stole another fruit because she was hungry?”

“No! What I’m say is that—*ahem* if you’re not gonna clean you’re own cloak, why keep the fuckin loincloth clean? Especially the jewelry?”

“…A. That’s…specific.”

[ella-norah]

Ahh, these ideas won't leave me alone. But here is the current one. Mook as a mafia daughter, who dislikes her family's line of work so she left and works as Rak's secretary.

Now I'm just debating if this is gonna be a crossover with some other fandom. I could see this as a crossover. But not sure with which story.

[sereonhardware]

more abt Tyr x Freyr please I’m starving I need more of them

(pretend i have a crippled and dehydrated voice while saying this)

Newer doodle page for you and also more that I’m not sure I’ve shown before

Either way look at these cuties

I think Tyr had a sexual awakening after the Lokesenna incident. Something like. “Ah wait. I talked about a guy more than I should. Am i gay.” <— He’s a closeted pansexual

Tyr is the type to not know how to do things romantically meanwhile Freyr has like years of experience. Yeah, Tyr has a wife but he used to just kinda hang out with her and just bring her flowers, thats all he knows how to do. He’s stupid and I love him.

[shinmiyovvi]

My first contribution to the ✨ Sparkle Squad ✨ after just being a bystander in the squad /lh /j

From left to right:

Me, @jamieaiken919, @flowersandbirdsflyingfree, and @avas-snazzical-corner

[cosmic-nebula356]

WRITING THIS DOWN BEFORE I FORGET IT!

an au with the kits plus my Natsu where all of them are the actual yokai’s of their Halloween costumes while Natsu is a human. I have yet to someday draw his Halloween outfit but pretty much I want him to be dressed as a human specifically around in the 80s. (Or a Baskin Robbin’s employee lmao)

Fuyu will be his guardian spirit only he can see thanks to his dad’s bloodline being given a gift to see the undead, Haru is his classmate who’s secretly a tengu(but still a h0e lol), and Aki is a homeless tanuki he found and took him in to care for. ALL SET IN THE 80s ALL STRANGER THINGS STYLE! WOOOOOO!