Thread: This is possibly a silly question…

I need to pad out my novel, make it longer. Many people have said that using the ‘what if’ facility will help do this.

But when I look at a block of my text, no ‘what ifs’ occur to me. (What I have so far written has been done without ever once asking myself, "What comes next?") Incidentally, this same 'lack of ideas' becomes apparent when I read others’ stories; I never say, “Why didn’t he do so-and-so?”

This inability might seem to indicate my imagination is deficient.

So, the silly question is, how do I develop my imagination?

If this doesn't come naturally to you, what about partnering with a friend who's willing to brainstorm with you?

you know what helps me.{hopefully it will you}. daydreaming. I got all my ideas that way and it really helps because it's no workk to do that. just let yourself daydream about your srory and not even care if you place anything in. it will at least allow you to destress and thats a good thing for any story all around...

my experience.

Originally Posted by Foxee

If this doesn't come naturally to you, what about partnering with a friend who's willing to brainstorm with you?

Sorry. I just couldn't help it. It doesn't work. Can't work. Maybe a couple of giggling teenagers, it might work, but anyone else....?

Originally Posted by kunox

you know what helps me.{hopefully it will you}. daydreaming. I got all my ideas that way and it really helps because it's no workk to do that. just let yourself daydream about your srory and not even care if you place anything in. it will at least allow you to destress and thats a good thing for any story all around...

my experience.

You might have something there. Since starting the thread I've heard about using mandalas, and they're similar. Thanks.

It's certainly not a silly question. I've not enough imagination to fill a teacup. A lady's teacup, not that ceramic bucket I fill with Red Rose every morning. That lack of imagination is why I've stuck with non-fiction till now, and why I'm having such a tough time trying to learn to write fiction in my old age.

fiction comes easily to me. all I have to do is get excited watchin or reading something I like till I start to daydream. then I take everything I don't plagerize and write it down. basically sticking with my own creations.

Here's something just crazy enough to work. Why are you looking to fire up your imagination? Why not take a few things—unique things—from your own real life and change them as much as you need to fit them into your story? Like the bathtub fish pond, maybe, or... well, you get the idea.

I tend to have this problem too. But lately I have noticed that when I am really upset about something I just sit there and think and ideas start popping up everywhere. I usually "write" the story in my head when I am lying in bed with the lights off, that way I can mentally criticize it and I can tell if certain words sound weird like they would if I read it outloud.

I'm not sure where you came up with the idea that brainstorming is for 'giggly teenagers', Ox, that's far from true. If you just don't want to do it...don't. *shrugs*

Originally Posted by Foxee

I'm not sure where you came up with the idea that brainstorming is for 'giggly teenagers', Ox, that's far from true. If you just don't want to do it...don't. *shrugs*

I have to agree, not everything in a well-structured brainstorm is useful, but even the 'wrong' ideas help you disprove one option/ possibility so that you can put more energy into investigating other directions.

You have just asked a question related to a topic in which we are all- for professional reasons or otherwise- interested in, and we are all providing different ideas and advice based on our own experiences. At the end of the day you will collate, evaluate, select and implement the ideas that work the best for you, given your situation and your needs.

So.... looks to me like you're already involved in a pretty good brainstorm

Maybe instead of just writing, you could plan where the story is going? I come up with more ideas while I am digging into the things behind the story than thinking about the plot. It is different for different types of stories, but when I'm building a world, and I am trying to determine the past and how things came about to be a certain way, I find thousands of ideas that are considered, rejected, and the few really good ones I think might add to the story are kept. Everything needs depth, and even though we might not add all those details to the story itself, the way we write is reflected in the familiarity we have with the environment we write in. So even if you are writing in modern day, there are many things to spur more ideas. The place someone lives (unless it is new) has a past, in any city there are so many things that have changed it over the years, and just thinking through some of those will bring out new possibilities. It isn't always just 'what if', but what parts of your story could be deeper, more defined, and what events related to those areas might effect it.

As an example, in the novel I'm working on, one of the characters is traveling through an area that humans don't really occupy. While humans have lived on this plant for many thousands of years, this area isn't a place the main character, or anyone in the society would likely live. So while thinking about the place, I realized that an entire group of people could have lived there for a thousand years before dying off, moving on, or maybe still there, and the character would have never know it. The buildings, or remains of them, would still be there. A completely different culture that the character would be thrust upon. While I may or may not use it, it does open the door to other things. So if I were to use it in the context of ruins, then the question is what happened to the people? Maybe creatures came and ate them all. A bit too cliche for me, but maybe a plague? Or they just all moved, because the area got flooded in the past....or maybe a fire. You see, while my premise is pretty much a 'what if' in a way, it's more of a what was. How did something come to be that will change the events of my character. What our characters do is dependent on the situations they have to deal with. Environment is just one area that is useful to explore. Relationships are another that can be used to add, or change events without killing the plot. A past girlfriend, or an old school mate...the idea is to look for things that could be in the characters life and see which ones might be something that adds to the story and preferably can contribute to the plot at the same time.

It's nao at all silly - I have turned off several detective shows as soon as I realised they could have saved several hours of my life if someone had phoned the police in the first 10 minutes...

You have to avoid making a "What if" a gratuitous red herring - The what if must be a genuine direction in which the protagonist feels he must go. In Inspector Morse stories there were usually one or two characters who were a waste of time before Morse got his man, but it has to be done in such a way that the reader is just as surprised when it proves to be a false trail.

Ox,
I find myself in a similar situation as my novel is not long enough. I remedied this by adding a secondary plot line with separate characters that do meet at the end. By introducing this different perspective I am hoping to add depth to my novel while also making it longer. I am also working on reviewing my detail. Do I have enough sensory bits to keep the reader engaged and thinking/feeling in the moment? What does the air smell like? Are there sensory details or visual elements that remind the character of something or maybe even a past memory, if you're into that sort of thing.

Anyway, these might all be horrible ideas that you've already considered, but I figured it worth a shot. Are there pieces of this novel for review on the forum? Would love to take a look-see if you're interested in sharing.

Cheers,
Lindsay

Originally Posted by kunox

you know what helps me.{hopefully it will you}. daydreaming. I got all my ideas that way and it really helps because it's no workk to do that. just let yourself daydream about your srory and not even care if you place anything in. it will at least allow you to destress and thats a good thing for any story all around...

my experience.

I daydream a lot and often end up with a decent story or plot. Also, OP, keep a dream diary in which you scribble your dreams down every morning. You'll come up with something in no time.

Also, I find that the best time to write is late afternoon/early evening as the day is, by then, over and you've hopefully done something.