Writing Excuses Season 3 Episode 22: Idea to Story
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Oct 25, 2009
In this episode, the hosts brainstorm turning a bug idea into a story, emphasizing conflict development. They discuss crafting magical bug abilities and setting boundaries, emphasizing early character depth. The creative process is explored, highlighting organizing plot ideas and generating story concepts. Different approaches to starting a story are discussed, focusing on fulfilling promises to readers and a writing prompt on bugs evolving magical defenses.
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insights INSIGHT
Use Conflict to Build Stories
Conflict is a key element in developing a story from an idea.
Starvation and its economic impacts create strong conflict for characters and plot.
insights INSIGHT
Define Story Boundaries and Genre
Exploring the boundaries and implications of the story idea helps define the genre and depth.
Deciding if the insects' resistance is scientific or magical sets the story's tone: sci-fi or urban fantasy.
question_answer ANECDOTE
The Green Brain Inspiration
Brandon referred to Frank Herbert's The Green Brain as a similar concept, where bugs develop hive intelligence to save the planet.
It illustrates how prior works inspire new stories and the challenge of making ideas fresh.
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You are going to love this episode. Seriously. Brandon throws an idea at Dan and Howard, and then we spend 15 minutes expanding on that idea as if we were going to base a story around it. You people who keep asking where we get our ideas? You're asking the wrong question. Ideas are easy to come by -- everybody has them. The right question is "how do you turn an idea into a story?" This podcast skips to the important part of answering the question: demonstration. Enjoy! This episode of Writing Excuses has been brought to you by Audible. Visit http://AudiblePodcast.com/excuse for a free trial membership*. Your writing prompt: Bugs are now magical. Ohcrap. *Note: From the Audible website, here are the terms of the free membership. Read the fine print, please! Audible® Free Trial Details Get your first 14 days of the AudibleListener® Gold membership plan free, which includes one audiobook credit. After your 14 day trial, your membership will renew each month for just $14.95 per month so you can continue to receive one audiobook credit per month plus members-only discounts on all audio purchases. A very small number of titles are more than one credit. Cancel your membership before your free trial period is up and you will not be charged. Thereafter, cancel anytime, effective the next billing cycle. Any unused audiobook credits will be lost at cancellation.
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