writing efforts

[rone]

So what do you do when you have a few really cool settings, some interesting characters, but no actual story to tell?

Comments

[nothings.livejournal.com]

So what do you do when you have a few really cool settings, some interesting characters, but no actual story to tell?

Make up a story.

Ok, I guess it's not that simple for everyone. Let's see. One rule of thumb, for movies at least, is that the story should be about the most important day/experience in the protagonist's life. (Arthur Dent's story starts the day the earth is destroyed.) Conflict of the "put something important to the protagonist in danger" is one way to go--it doesn't have to be family, it could be ideals (the country losing freedom of speech) or it could be a whale needing freeing or an innocent man dying in the electric chair (using cliches for clarity). But I prefer to figure the protagonist has goals--has things she wants to accomplish--and you can create conflict by putting in obstacles to achieving those goals. (Then you simultaneously put in threats to health or family or whatever, and you've got a movie.)