Writing a novel is a solitary activity, but with the advent of the internet the situation improved considerably. Now you can join an online forum or a writers’ group for instance, no matter where you live. But when it comes to finding ideas for your next novel – or your first – you are still pretty much on your own. I can remember the times when I scoured the internet for novel writing tips and novel writing ideas. The novel writing tips you can easily get on the internet; there is too much of that sort of information in fact, and you need to know when to pull away and trust your instincts and intuition – and begin writing! You learn to write by writing, after all. Novel writing ideas is another matter. Normally if I have a good idea for a novel I go ahead and write the book – or I keep it, the idea, somewhere safe! But now there is novel writing software you can use to brainstorm your story idea in case you already have the beginnings of one, or you can get inspiration from the novel writing software program itself.
I will discuss how you can use novel writing software to
develop your story idea, or find novel writing ideas later. The process works
best when you already have an idea of sorts, but first, if you are new to
writing, getting the idea in the first place may not be so easy and you may be
asking “How do writers of fiction get their novel writing ideas?”
For me, reading good fiction still ranks very high as a
source of inspiration for novel writing ideas. This is not to say that you use
the ideas of other novelists wholesale! But as has been said there is nothing new
under the sun. As you read good fiction your mind subconsciously stores the
things that tickle it: maybe it was a snappy character with an engaging
character flaw, or a wonderfully woven plot twist – anyway, something worth
remembering. Use these nuggets for coming up with your own novel writing ideas.
Re-read, if you can, the books that still linger in your mind five, ten, even
twenty years later and you will come away a changed writer!
There are of course other sources of novel writing ideas but
in this article we will be looking at how you can use book writing software to
find ideas for a novel, or develop it if you already have one. For this purpose
I will use Storybase novel writing software.
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| Storybase Novel Software |
How the engine in Storybase novel writing software works is
that you can choose to use only one character, two characters or all four of
them and then select options from two other categories: Mindset and Thrust. Mindset
specifies the protagonist character’s state of mind (aggressive, paranoid, stressed, etc up to 25 options; or you
can choose any). Mindset in turn is
influenced by “what is happening” or the Thrust of the conflict. Thrust is a
list of 35 options like Pursuit, Betrayal, Failure, etc from which you can select up to three, or you can just
go with Any. The writing software
will then generate a long list of interesting “conflicts” or narrative
scenarios in the conflicts tab, from
which you can then select what works for your story idea. A Leads tab
gives you the Lead-ins – or those conflict situations likely to have preceded
the current one – and the Lead-outs, or conflicts that are likely to follow it.
Depending on the specifics of your original idea, in case you started with one,
you can then go back and change your options in Mindset and Thrust for yet more
conflict scenarios.
An example will make it clearer. Let’s say you are starting
out with just an interesting character named Liz. For the time being let’s
assume she’s all you have. Next we assign a mindset to her: she’s guilty in a
big way. You then select only “Guilty: in the Mindset tab. Why does she feel
guilty? In the Thrust tab we will select Failure as the cause of her feelings
of guilt. When we have done this we check the conflicts tab and this is what we
find, a long list of 208 possibilities that the novel writing software has
generated. I will list only five so you can get the picture:
- Liz is filled with self-loathing
- Liz faces consequences for not paying attention
3. Liz pays a price for being sloppy
4. Liz is unable to accomplish a supposedly easy task
5. Liz makes an assertion that turns out to be completely false
Let’s select item
5: “Liz makes an assertion that turns out to be
completely false”. To select you just have to click the item. It will
then be highlighted in blue. The contents of the Leads tab will change to
reflect your choice. Next we will check the Leads tab for possible causes of
Liz’s predicament and this is what we find:
Lead-ins are eight
in number but I will list only 2:
- Trusting intuition, Liz takes a risk and loses big-time
- Liz suddenly thinks Pat might be a pathological liar
Lead-outs are 6 in number. I
will list 2:
- Trying to get away from Pat, Liz discovers that all routes of escape are blocked
2.
While on the run from Pat, Liz tries to track down the truth
You will probably be wondering how come we
now have two characters, and who exactly is Pat?
Well, Pat is one of the default characters
in Storybase novel writing software. You can of course define your own character sets
and add your own names. What has happened is that the writing software’s story
engine is never happy dealing with one character and has assigned an antagonist.
If Liz is guilty it most likely has to do with someone or something else (Pat
or maybe Object X)! But let’s look at what we have now – a premise for a story.
“Newly-wed,
fleeing from her unfaithful husband, decides to track down his alleged ‘conquests’
to find the truth”.
How I got here is that I took liberties with
what the novel software has given me. I want to write a love story; so
out with Pat. I will assign a name for my heroine’s husband later, it does not
matter now. We did not know about a pathological liar but now that he is here,
why not? Or that Liz was married – but here we are. Liz apparently loves the s.o.b
if she is bent on unmasking him. Is he telling the truth where his alleged “affairs”
are concerned or is it just “hot air”. And supposing she finds his affair, or
affairs, is fiction meant to impress her? How did she find out about his
infidelity in the first place: from a friend, or did he confess? Is there any possibility
of a reunion for the two? Maybe, or maybe
not, but this is the beginning and as a writer of fiction this is where you
prove your powers of imagination.
Our story idea may not be all that original
in its present form but I guess you can see how the novel writing software can
help you come up with novel writing ideas for your next novel.
As a side note, I have had Storybase novelwriting software for quite a while now and I never used it for coming up with
story ideas before. But today I decided to check it out because I found that
many people are searching for information how to write a novel and also for
novel writing ideas. And now I’m impressed myself and I think I will give it a
try! For this example I have used version 2.0 which is quite old by now. The new versions of Storybase novel writing software probably have more
features.
Read the article How to Write a Novel with Novel Writing Software that shows you how to develop your story idea
using another novel software tool.
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