#slitheringinkasks

Sounds to me like you you haven’t fleshed out your characters and setting enough to to come up with a conflict to drive your plot. You may want to spend some time figuring out what your characters goals are, and what they’ll do to achieve those goals. Also, you’ll want to decide what impact the setting will have on those characters. Once you know those things, you’ll find it easier to pin-point a conflict.

This is regurgitated from an old post, but here are the different kinds of conflict in stories:

Man vs. Society – Characters fighting against corrupt institutions (governments), traditions or other cultural aspects go here. Examples are characters fighting against racism, sexism, bullying, etc.

Man vs. Man – A character vs. another character. Think of a superhero fighting a supervillain as an example.

Man vs. Self – An internal conflict. The character struggles against his own personal flaws. He often has to make a tough decision between good and evil.

Man vs. Nature – Generally survival stories. A character has to fight for his life against a blizzard, hurricane, tornado of sharks or whatever else Mother Nature can conjure up.

Man vs. God – A character struggling against actual gods, whether it be going to head to head with one of them or just fighting against their will. A character fighting against the tenants of his religion can also be used here, or one fighting against his predetermined fate or destiny.

Man vs. Supernatural – When a character is fighting forces not of this world. These forces may possess fantastic powers. A character struggling against angels, vampires, werewolves, etc can be put here.

Man vs. Technology – A character fights against an evil of his own making. Technology, initially intended for good, has been warped and twisted for the purposes of evil. It could be used to control a society or start a war.

Once you’ve decided on a source of conflict, I wrote an article on plotting your story that you may find useful here.

Hope that helps. If you have any more questions, let me know.

Magic systems can get incredibly complex, so I get where you’re coming from. Like with any other bit of world building, it’s best to plan out all of the little details of your system so you know it, then while writing only express the important bits to the reader. The goal is to make sure you’re not confusing people while at the same time keeping your system balanced within the story. 

It’s good that your system has grown from where it started, and it’s perfectly fine that it doesn’t really resemble the initial product. That just means you’ve built on whatever you had started with to make something that (hopefully) works better for you.

I’m going to leave you with the best articles ever on magic system creation by Brandon Sanderson specifically because the magic system in his Mistborn Trilogy is really complex but also really well-written and easy to understand. I always suggest learning by example.

Sanderson’s 1st Law

Sanderson’s 2nd Law

Sanderson’s 3rd Law

Enjoy.

I’ll tell you, figuring out where to start a story is one of the hardest things I’ve had to do as a writer. Know that whatever you decide on for the time being, you’ll probably end up changing further down the line, and that’s fine. As opposed to me telling you where to begin, here are a few example of where not to (but, be aware that any of these can be broken if the writing is good enough):

With Dialogue - Starting your novel with a conversation generally doesn’t work because the reader has literally no idea who the characters are, what the context for the conversation is, and why they should care. When writers do this, it can sometimes be confusing because the reader is lacking necessary information.

In a Fight Scene - This doesn’t mean you can’t start with action or something exciting (like an explosion, a murder, etc), but like the dialogue example, the reader has no idea why they should care about the characters who are fighting or what the stakes are. There’s no investment. No build up.

Mundane Tasks - Waking up, looking in a mirror, eating breakfast, etc. Things a normal person does everyday don’t usually make for the best openings unless there’s something strange about said task (like maybe they’re eating glass for breakfast). Putting the weird into the mundane is interesting. Keeping things ordinary is just boring.

False Beginnings - An example of one of these would be spending the entire first chapter with one character (and being led to believe they’re the protagonist) only to have them die at the end of chapter one, and then the rest of the book focuses on the real protagonist. That kind of stuff, especially if that first character has significant plot relevance, can be handled later in a flashback or in a reflective conversation or thought process with the real protagonist later down the line.

Information Overload - Don’t spend the beginning of your book meticulously describing the setting and every little inner-working of how your world operates. Always sprinkle those details throughout the story instead of hurling them in the reader’s face. A bit of world building information in the beginning to orient the reader and/or introduce a specific important aspect of the world is fine though.

Now as far as what to include goes, try to have: a strong voice, an inciting event (the thing that gets the plot moving and puts your main character outside of their comfort zone), a bit of world building, and an interesting character (note I didn’t say a main character people can connect with right off the bat; you can do that through their development as the story goes), and a question (or several) to keep the reader wanting to turn the page.

It’s not easy, I know. Take a look at some of the books you really enjoy and see how they open. Observe and apply what you’ve seen to your own work. Have others read over what you’ve done and give feedback. Don’t get frustrated. You’ll do fine.

If you need anything else, let me know.

So you want to give up because you can’t come up with any ideas for your story, but you really like the concept and want to continue, yet not matter how hard you try, you can’t shake that nagging voice that whispers, “you can’t handle this”? Well, guess what? You absolutely can.

You’ve already admitted to yourself that you really want to write your story, so, write it. Every writer, no matter who they are, gets stuck. Sometimes the ideas don’t flow. Sometimes you hit a wall. Sometimes you come up with an idea that just doesn’t work out. All of that is okay.

Here are few things that might help you out:

Find a sounding board, whether that be a beta reader or a buddy to bounce concepts off of. Find someone who’s interested in what you’re working on and use them as a resource.

Outline. It can be as detailed or as general as you want. An outline is just a guide that may help you discover the path you want your story to take. I wrote up an article on them here.

Get inspired. Read another book in your genre. Watch a movie. Sit down with a TV show. Play a video game. Find something that’ll get those creative juices flowing. A lot of works we see today are inspired by those that came before them. There isn’t really anything that’s entirely original anymore. It’s not about the idea, but what you can do with it.

Write fan fiction. Working with another person’s ideas in their world is a good way to start developing your own.

Take a break. If you really can’t come up with something, it’s possible you may later after you let your mind rest. You’re not a machine. Sometimes great ideas hit you in the weirdest places. Trust me on that one.

Anyway, don’t give up on something you want to do. I hope that helped at least a little.

Beat it over the head with a shovel. :D If that doesn’t work, you could always try these:

Do writing prompts.

Go outside and observe. Write what you see.

Write a journal.

Write a letter to someone you haven’t spoken to in a long time, even if you’re not going to send it.

Write a letter to your past or future self.

Write fanfiction.

Create random characters or plot ideas, even if you think they’re stupid or cliche.

Read a book.

Watch a movie.

Play a video game.

Take a mental break. Sometimes forcing yourself to write isn’t enough, and everyone needs to relax. Don’t beat yourself up if it takes you a while to get back to writing. It’s okay.

Listen to some music.

Go socialize with some cool people.

Think about what inspired you to write before you got the block. Do that.

Ask yourself what you’re really passionate about. Write about that.

Offer to help someone out with their creative project. Maybe their work will inspire you.

Good luck.

I went with both realistic and fictional for this list. You can literally have an apocalypse with anything:

Other humans. If you’ve ever seen any post-apocalyptic show, movie, or read a book we’re usually the top enemy when it comes down to it. This includes: the military, roaming gangs, makeshift governments/settlements, etc.

Humans with superpowers.

Wild animals.

Genetically modified animals.

Normal diseases, including the animals that spread it (mosquitos, flies, rats, etc).

Genetically modified diseases.

Yourself, especially if you’re alone.

Nuclear fallout/winter. May also bring radioactive creatures into being.

The environment.

Monsters/animal hybrids.

Mutants.

Aliens.

Dragons.

Robots.

Celestial beings (angels, demons, God, gods, etc).

The standard creatures (vampires, werewolves, etc, though I’d love to see something like a Kelpie apocalypse).

Some sort of supernatural disaster with possible magic-based consequences (use your imagination).

Constructs (energy, elements, etc).

Nature.

Failing technology.

As for some things that are common, well, the post-apocalyptic story itself has been done to death, yet it keeps coming back because people keep finding new ways to make it fresh, and it’s often a strong commentary on humanity and our social constructs.

Rather than give you my own list, here’s one Writing Questions Answered did that covers a lot of what I thought of.

For examples on post-apocalyptic works without zombies (or at least ones that aren’t mainly zombies) try:

The Terminator series.

Mad Max.

Planet of the Apes series.

9.

Blue Submarine No. 6.

Appleseed.

The Book of Eli.

Tank Girl.

Reign of Fire.

12 Monkeys (SyFy is making this into a series).

City of Ember.

Stephen King’s The Stand.

Akira.

The Hunger Games series.

The Divergent series.

Happy writing.

An unreliable narrator is someone who we as readers can’t fully trust, usually because of their personality, obvious bias, untreated mental illness, or any other reason that would cause us to question the validity of their opinion within the context of the story. We take what these narrators tell us with a grain of salt because we know their view of the world is influenced by something else. 

Some examples of unreliable narrators in fiction include:

Alex in A Clockwork Orange (violent and manipulative sociopath who takes joy in the pain of others; novel also opens with him drunk).

Holden Caulfield in A Catcher in the Rye (flat out tells us in the beginning of the book that he’s a great liar).

Patrick Bateman in American Psycho (is a psychopath).

The unnamed narrator in Fight Club (questions the meaning of his very existence to the point where he doubts himself, severely depressed, engages in illegal activities as his personal therapy, etc).

Nick Carraway in The Great Gatsby (only knows what Gatsby reveals to him about himself, as well as the second-hand stories from neighbors and friends).

Some film examples include:

Big Fish

Memento

Forrest Gump

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Sucker Punch

Hope that helped.

I assume you’re asking about whether you should write your story in first person or in third person point of view? Narrative voice is used in both, as it is how your narrator sounds (speech patterns, dialect, word choice, tone, etc). You’re ultimately going to have to make the choice for yourself, as there are benefits and downsides to each. Also note that some of the bullets can apply to both.

1st Person PoV

Uses “I”.

Easier to develop a voice, and convey thoughts and feelings, though you can also get close to a character in third person while also having the option to draw back and take a more objective view.

Your story is focused in the head of one character, and while this is great for development, it sometimes limits how a story can be told. You’re only getting the thoughts and feelings of one person, and as such your narrator can be unreliable.

Narrator is usually a character in the story.

Narrator doesn’t have to be the protagonist. Narrator could be telling someone else’s story. Narrator could also be telling a story in a journal, diary, through thoughts, etc.

3rd Person PoV

There are several different styles including: limited, objective, and omniscient. 

Uses “he”, “she”, and other pronouns.

Narrator is not a character in the story.

You can stay inside the head of one person (limited), or jump into the heads of many. Narrator can know everything; all of the thoughts and feelings of every character, though this sometimes can be confusing (omniscient).

The narrator can also only relate to the reader what is seen and heard, and it’s up to the readers to infer thoughts and feelings of the characters just through action and dialogue (objective).

Keep in mind that you can use multiple characters for each point of view if you feel it necessary. 

For the Horror genre, I think first person or third person limited with one or two narrators would be the most effective, as both will zoom the reader into the minds of those characters. Keeping the scope narrow (the less the protagonist knows the better) will keep the readers focused on the thoughts and feelings of the characters, and keep them questioning what’s going on during scary situations.

Happy writing.