How to Expand an Idea into a Story (Writing Advice) 

6 Tips 1. Combine Two Unrelated Ideas (Romeo and Juliet + Titanic disaster) 2. Connect your idea to other story elements like character, plot, theme, and worldbuilding. (Jurassic Park = dinosaur theme park + park founder + scientists + conflict) 3. Create goals and conflict. 4. Add meaningful subplots in line with your theme. (Rocky, self-respect, + romantic subplot) 5. Active and Passive Research. 6. Shelve under-developed ideas until a new idea comes along to make it more interesting.

Another indication that an idea is good is: if it doesn't let you go, if you keep coming back to it.

Who's here because they want to make their daydream come true?

I've only ever written short stories. When I've tried anything longer I fizzle out, and I think it's because I go in with only half baked ideas, so thank you for this list! It should help next time I have an idea!

Less than 500 words away from 90k for my first book. Almost done. Just wanted to say, your videos have really helped me figure things out.

I really appreciate these tips, especially for me as a just beginning author. Your advice has really pushed me forward on my journey and I don't have the words for quite how much it's helped. Thanks, Brandon!

I've established 18 chapters in my book, a project that I've written on and off since I was 14. I'm 23 now. It is my only book, and unfortunately I made it way more complicated than an amateur author can normally handle. It started with one main character, and now has five, all with individual subplots after splitting up in chapter 9. While I believe it's necessary in order to make the story the most compelling, it also left me stumped in how I can develop those subplots. Currently, my characters are in the following scenario: 1. Zoran: recovering from torture after getting caught by the enemy in chapter 7. His story will be focused on learning who their true enemy is, and how to kill them, as well as challenging his nihilistic perception of mortality and human nature. He will eventually take the place of an immortal being, and save the villain who was corrupted by the true villain - in death. 2. Theodren: after losing his brother, Zoran, he struggles to see purpose outside one day finding him. He ends up kidnapped by a group of rebels, is by circumstance given the chance to lead the group despite opposition, and now is on a mission to expand their army and find a way to weaken the villain (who now controls their kingdom). He is also meant to learn to respect his previous rival (Armand Malrick) whom he battled with words on many occassions when the previous king permitted him to lead armies (a prior part of the story). Lastly, he gains perspective about the rebels, and the nobility. The rebels were once his enemy in the prior war, but not the greedy nobles that fought for their own selfish interests. They were peasants that sought opportunity to improve their lives (think French revolution), a group which he wasn't aware he was fighting against back then. He lost his parents to the rebels from the past, so this helps him explore that trauma and learn to grow from it. He also learns the perspective of the nobles that refuse the villain's reign, having to find a way to make the two groups work together despite opposing interests. 3. Valora: suffering from a condition that was believed cured in a prior chapter, she was sent to her father to address it (who she left due to his controlling nature, and that she wanted to fulfill the goals of her dead mother - to help humans and elves not hate each other). She eventually escapes with the help of a servant girl who displays what she would've been had she stayed: without purpose, isolated from others. They return to the mainland to find her friends, but is caught by the enemy, now leaving her to find a way both to find her friends, but also to ensure the servant girl doesn't die because of her. She also serves to add perspective to the enemy, to their true nature. She also is meant to learn to love her father again, and he to her, much as he remains a source of trauma for much of her story. 4. Carrion: trying to make amends for sending Valora away, and now stopping her from preventing Theodren from leaving them in pursuit of his brother, he sought for them, gaining perspective of how life is after the villain conquered the kingdom, and ends up fighting a shapeshifter (human/dragon), loses, and is now living in a cave with an immortal being who was cursed by (essentially) the devil. His past is also to unravel, showing how he felt he abandoned his mother (she died from an illness and was buried in an unmarked grave at his return). He is a member of Drakon, a group like witchers (but without supernatural enhancements) trained to fight all beasts and man in every circumstance, and adapt to survival regardless of the place and time. The same is true for all three above. Anyways, he is meant to befriend the shapeshifter, learn the true nature of the beasts he once fought. This brings an added layer to the climax that involves dragons working with the villain to take revenge on the humans and return the territory that humans took from them centuries before. He is also meant to develop a romance with a mother surviving in this new kingdom along with her little daughter, learning to accept what happened to his mother and to make up for it through helping this mother survive in this new world, giving a reason to live beyond the needs of his friends. He also is meant to provide perspective to the tortured cursed immortal man, and the true villain. 5. Sven: a basic courier accidentally went on a journey with the group of characters above, leaves them after Drakonstead falls (their home) going north to escape the villain's reign, only to find out that the northern nation is welcoming the villain, seeking alliance in their pursuit of conquest. His story is fairly cliche: the son of the previous king, exiled and never learned of his past, and is weak but must find a way to become a leader to prevent the northern kingdom from falling to the villain's influence, a fall which would ensure the villain couldn't be stopped, but could if he rallies them to HIS side. He is joined by an x secret service-type character that was both a spy, assassin, and diplomat, and must find a way to convince his nation to fight with him. This ultimately leads to a battle involving the opposing sides, with another mentor figure in his story secretly playing both sides and wanting to make Sven his pawn, and if not, to manipulate the villain into serving his needs instead. The mentor betrays him, not convinced his side will win, and thus Sven must find a way to prove them wrong. He wins, though at great cost, and uses his remaining forces to join the rebel cause south against the villain (a nation that was once at war with them, making the two nations find a semblance of peace with each other). Finding a way to develop his story has been the greatest challenge of the five. Any tips for all five would be amazing.

My 2nd book was 738 pages; a quarter of a million words. At the finishing touches I could not believe I had a quarter of a million words in my head; I pictured them as a great silo in front of me and I could shift things around, pluck an idea from later and insert it in near the beginning.... It was an almost out of body experience. Now, 2 years later, I don't remember much of it, I have to go back and look at what I did. As a self-published author I didn't move nearly as many copies as I wanted to, but my reviews were AWESOME. It was amazing!

What's the longest story you've written (either by page count or word count)? Let us know!

Longest story I've ever written was 249 pages long, around 47000 words, for a game I've been developing for the past 2.5 years. I do have another story idea that I hope to turn into a full TV series someday. Thanks for the advice!

i hate writing but i freaking love watching your videos, i could never lol

I love this channel. I am 15 years old and I am into writing. I found this channel a while ago and it fills all the gaps I have about storytelling and gives me all the answers for my questions. Thank you, you are a big help!

Your Channel is like the Jeremy Jahns of writing channels. Every video is a quick, concise, quality presentation with no filler or fluff. It's easy to understand and easy to like.

I have learned way more about Civil War neurology than I ever expected to...

The longest story I've written was a fanfic that clocked in at over 235k words. It started as a way of coping with a death in the family and giving myself something to focus on. A major overarching theme was loss, grief, and acceptance, as all of the main characters lost someone important to them, and they never came back. Alive, anyway. XP For context, the fandom was Five Nights at Freddy's. My original plan was to have a relative short (read: under 20k words) story that showed Mike Schmidt going through the five nights, with the twist at the end being he was already dead and re-living his last week alive. Note that this was back when there only like four games, so a lot of the newer FNAF lore (like "Mike Schmidt" simply being an alias) didn't apply, and I had a lot more leeway to interpret the lore however I wanted. That changed when I came up with his best friend, Vanna. Her original concept was to be someone who noticed Mike was missing, and would be the *actual* security guard in the office looking for him, but as I wrote her, she basically took on a life of her own and birthed three more subplots. The original idea I had became a subplot for a completely different character, with the main plot shifting focus to Mike trying to solve the mystery of his brother's disappearance, with a subplot of Vanna still providing assistance, but also trying to get closure on losing her sister as a child, another subplot with a mysterious janitor who knew far more than he let on, another one about who the killer was and what his motives were, the animatronics and their roles over the years, and how a lot of this tied to the previous owners of the establishment. I am working on a new original project to top this. One of the core ideas for it is, "a carnival run by the bogeyman." I already had a lot of fun ideas in this ballpark of fun and spooky, with numerous monster characters and their stories, but this concept alone has added a ton of lore to my overall universe, as a lot of the ways this carnival works tie very deeply into other characters and concepts, adds explanations to things I didn't expect, and honestly, a lot of things about the carnival are so deeply entwined with the overall universe that the carnival story is a massive spoiler all on its own. I have a series planned out, and this one would chronologically be the third or fourth book, but a good chunk of it is just foreshadowing for things I have planned (and in some cases, written) for much later down the line, and provides more context for events prior to it. So far, this project alone is ~65k words, and that's not counting what I wrote for the rest of this universe. I know I've surpassed my FNAF fic in terms of word count overall, from short stories, to partially-done novels, to segments I don't know where to put yet. I jump around, but all I care about right now is getting ideas down and just having fun with it.

Nearing 100k subs! Premature congratulations Brandon, every Thursday night (my time) I look forward to watching your videos, may you continue to have great ideas for videos and keep putting out this quality!

I got a simple idea after watching a Film Theory video. I have decided to turn it into an eight trilogy series.

At 27K into a draft I realised i had changed my mind about so much I had to restart. Longest thing I'd ever written and it did discourage me a bit. But the story still lives.

Im considering making a story driven video game about death but I wasn't sure how to evolve my idea into a story. Thanks to you ive decided to take a step back and write a story about death before importing it to a video game form.

The longest story so far is a 120k word first ddraft of a fantasy time travel mystery. Drafting was pretty fun, but making this monstrosity work is a whole other animal *laughs*. Plus, given I tend to underwrite severly in my first drafts (they are just a little bit meatier than stage dramas) the word count will probably double in the end.

Loving these videos. I'm more of an academic writer, but I use a lot of metaphors when I think about how to create a meaningful research paper. For example, I teach students to never forget their "main character" (i.e. core topic/concept) and to make sure all "supporting characters" (i.e. sub topics) interact with and have a clear relationship with the main character. It's funny how well certain "creative" writing tips transfer to dry, academic writing.

I just started writing the second season of my podcast/radio drama and right now I'm looking for the cast to get the first season underway! Eleven hour long episodes so far and still going strong. Many thanks to you and your channel as it has helped me a great deal in making a dream get much closer to being a reality!

I really only have experience writing short stories. The one that excited and inspired me the most was one I put aside for later due to a technical issue where I had lost my files, and everything I had written on it and had to start over. When I came back to it, I was even more inspired and excited and ended up with 10,000 words, which is about double what my short stories tend to be. It involved a large scale space battle and I had fun with one particular scene where the gravity control was hit and pilots were floating around the launch bay and trying to find a way to get to their fighters.

Here’s my idea for a story thanks to you. Hope you like it. Main idea: crazed lunatic who’s disguised as a dog and goes on a murderous rampage just to make his owner happy. Combined ideas: (I don’t have any ideas) Other story elements connected: when there’s a dog, there’s an owner, and the owner can get the dog because he’s trying to recover the loss of a previous dog, and the owner can live at an apartment so the dog could kill a lot of people nearby, and those deaths get the alert of the police, who think it’s the owner since how the deaths are tied to him, which could mean the deaths are people that are close to the owner, like a best friend or girlfriend or family member. Goals and conflicts: The dog wants their owner to be happy even if the way they do it is the main problem, the owner wants to get with a girl, but the events that are happening are driving him insane, further dragging them apart, the best friend wants to be a horrible friend and steal the owner’s belongings, but there’s a killer dog in the house. Meaningful subplots: The main theme is things aren’t as they appear, like since the dog is a guy in a suit, or his best friend isn’t actually a good person. Lets have some creepy scenes where some guy is creepily stalking the owner and his dog, with him even stalking them at night. But the truth is, the man isn’t a creep, but the dog’s previous owner, who knows the dog’s background, and is trying to look out for the owner, making sure he doesn’t end up dying. Active & passive research: research about dogs. So overall, the story’s about a man who wants to overcome the loss of his dog, so he gets a new one, but isn’t aware that this dog is actually a man in a dog suit who is thirsty for murder, and would kill anyone who stands in the owner’s way. He kills people, like his best friend, who likes to steal some of the owner’s items, neighbours, and the landlord. The owner goes out with this one girl he found on Tinder, and the two are getting along, but the deaths that are occurring are driving him insane, and it makes the girl less attracted to him. Will the owner find out the truth, or will he be taken away by the police since the deaths all tie into him.

The longest story I've written is the novel I've been working on. I started writing a short story a while ago, something involving money laundering inspired by things I had read on the news and a conversation I had heard in a bar in Montreal between two drug users. I had combined the two to write a pretty solid story, which I found out had one serious flaw: once I finish it I found it was way too long for a short story. So I'm now working on it and developing it into a novel.

Thanks for the great videos as always. I really hope you cover the topic of alternate routes. Basically, what if this happened instead of that. I've recently discovered that manga is the only form of literature that contain alternate routes, where readers choose which route they prefer. Of course, it doesn't have to be a full-fledged branching narratives with endings. They can still have the same ending, just with a minor difference.

Awesome job explaining this, Brandon! I believe that a great novel starts with a great story. Your characters, location, era, and circumstances are somewhat interchangeable, but you MUST have a riveting plot. You MUST have conflict, motivations and challenges. My first novel was a whopping 170,000 words. It should have been 2 separate projects but no one told me LESS IS MORE. My second book (which I am now submitting to publishers) is a mere 80,254.

Sempai is right. Imagine yourself an empty jar with your idea sitting at the bottom, then just fill the jar, give it time until it fills up and overflows, the overflow is when you start writing. It will happen eventually, my own experience is, about ten years ago I formed the idea to write a power fantasy, but i was just not able, so i started absorbing, and here i am, ten years later, a world built around it, a timeline set, ten stories conceptualised, five of them have full character set, three have main plot ready, two are being developed in details, fueling the rest in the line as their story expands, now I'm just doing the same game on cyberpunk... no ready yet, but I absorb until i can... give it a try, and I believe you be sharper than me not needing a decade to figure it out 😅 good luck. PS. I have a trilogy collectively 1.5 million words in length... i would sell ot as space adventure military soft scifi... but it is kinda a first person shooter too...😉

Thank you for each and every video you make I sometimes get my creative juice drying, and most of the time your videos help me go back to writing

I love Dexter, I gained so much respect for you after learning you do too

My longest story, to date is around 62,000 words.

You may have noticed a bump up in views. I believe I've watched your entire video catalog twice. You shaved months off of my writing, and these videos are outstanding. Subscribed, shared and got myself Entry Wounds to enjoy.

These are indeed a help. Writing a series of short stories needs elements running through both the individual stories and some overarching and reoccurring as the stories unfold. I’ve found some good inspirations in things like the original Scooby Doo series, books I have read and other subjects I have studied. As for excellent writing, I am deep into Entry Wounds (chapter 28, book 46% complete) and I am seeing and understanding a lot of your writing tips as I continue reading. I’m seeing a few “Chekhov’s Gun” (pun not intended but works) plot points rolling along, and mentally made notes/bets. Am looking forward to seeing the climaxes and resolves of all this. Wondering if my ideas will be the end results. Have certainly mentally drafted a few outcomes.

I wrote a book during middle school that spanned over 300 pages long, I planned for it to go even further but my inexperience middle school self lead to poor structuring of the story overtime and I eventually dropped it. Some decent ideas came from it though, which is something I’ve learned throughout writing in my childhood, though there were of course bad story structuring, the ideas themselves were either decent to good

This was really helpful. Thank you. Biggest story I've written is a novella of 28k words

Glad this popped up on my feed. Now I know what I need to do to flesh out my story. I already had the main plot and two subplots that would connect the story. Thanks.

This is LITERALLY the most helpful video on the entire RU-vid 😮

I just want to say that "its okay to put your story aside and come back later" is very good advice. As someone who got into the idea of creative writing a little over a year ago, my initial idea excited me and I did a ton of learning and research and stuff, and began trying to expand the idea into a full plot. And then I hit a wall. I had a lot of ideas I liked, but I couldn't seem to bring them together into one cohesive narrative that felt satisfying. I kept changing my mind in a variety of ways, from fiddling with small details to considering scrapping entire broad concepts. And there didn't seem any real logical reason to go in one direction or another. I put the idea aside as I got frustrated with it, and didn't even look much at anything creative writing related for several months. Then recently I came across a video about Theme (not the one on this channel, but the one on this channel is good too!) and suddenly everything clicked. The video described exactly the situation I was in; having an interesting *topic* to write about, and lots of ideas for scenes, characters, plot points, but nothing to guide you on understanding which of those ideas are actually worth including. The answer turned out to be Theme. The Theme of the story helps you understand which ideas are actually relevant and which aren't. After watching the video and looking back at my story ideas, I realised I had absolutely no clue what my Theme was. And so I had no foundation on which to decide what ideas were relevant and what were fluff, or indeed what ideas my story was yet missing. Now that I (think) I have settled on a central theme for my story, I feel like I actually have a proper foundation to work from and suddenly my motivation for getting started on it is returning.

I love this channel so darn much. I don’t always agree, and I have a very different process and philosophy regarding storytelling, yet I still learn something and take in new perspectives everytime. Looking forward to checking out your novels

Longest I wrote was 80something pages i think. I write short horror/weird fiction stories, so I usually don't develop much subplot to not water down emotions.

I've forgotten countless ideas that could have served as a story or poem's premise because I failed to preserve the moment's magic by jotting it in a safe, immutable form. Documenting what comes to mind and a thought process helps keep ideas straight, structured, and stratified, especially when they need to be revisited or revised. I have an idea journal at home, and I always keep a small handbook and pencil with me to stay prepared for a spontaneous observation, learning new details, nagging curiosity, or burst of whims (it's easier than typing on a phone).

A friend and I are working on a light novel series based off of Mushokou Tensei, GOT, RWBY, and Cyberpunk. We've got the first volume done and already starting on the first chapter of volume 2. My friend and I have so many ideas flowing in our heads. These videos have been helping me a lot, so thanks!

Great as always Brandon. thank you for the tips.

I always love how helpful and concise your vids are and this vid came to me at the right time, as I’m currently conceptualizing a fantasy novel I want to write. Also the longest story I’ve ever written is a screenplay with 203 pages and 45,000+ words and it’s still ongoing hahahaha (it’s meant to be the length of a TV series). I’m not ashamed to admit that it’s a Star Wars fanfic either but one that I’m very proud of and hoping to post online in the future, maybe send it to Disney and Lucasfilm if I’m feeling ballsy hehe.

My longest was 24 pages about a timid, routine-attached vampire in a world where vampires went public in the 1950s, blood is sold in grocery stores, and direct feeding is illegal (although common). She accidentally ends up first on the scene of a brutal attack on a young woman. I didn't like how I ended it, and AU exposition was harder than I expected.

I once wrote an epic fantasy story that was approximately 333,000 words and 850 pages. Only to find out I don't like writing epic fantasy and scrapped it. The novel I'm writing is a crime thriller that'll be about the same length page & word count-wise.

Hahahahah “…gun stuck to his hand and there was a lot of shootouts but nothing else” this was so funny for some reason. I love the point when a story is just one single idea and eventually becomes a living journey. I can imagine your process, “okay he has this gun and goes to a coffee shop and there is a misunderstanding and then the barista accidentally gets shot…naw that’s not it. Okay maybe he’s a hard criminal trying to go straight and the cops rush him and he defends himself…naw….ummmm” then the light comes on “haunted gun has to kill 6 people to put it down, BOOM!” This channel is helping me refine a lot of my script and other story.

My first book was just short of 700 pages, and is about a dream inducing device that has been invented, with which people can select and compose the content and nature of their dreams. Someone starts hacking this device, turning the users' dreams into personalised nightmares made out of their deepest fears. People start dying of unexplained heart attacks and busted aneurysm, police are trying to find the culprit, yadda yadda. Just starting the second chapter of my new novel now, and I have to say, Brandon, your tips are spot on. Even if they are about something I already know or do, your cohesive way of presenting them makes me be more aware of them and utilising them more selectively, like tools. And of course they are confidence - boosters. Thank you very much for your videos, keep up thee good work. Also I have to say that entry wounds is smashing it. Bad parts is next on my list

I have a lot of ideas that end up being variants of, “What if X, but Y” with two different ideas I just don’t have enough meat on to make into an interesting idea. I like sort of writing one genre, as if it’s another genre… especially when one of them isn’t really my thing.

Longest story I’ve written is a fantasy novel I’ve been working on. 460 pages and 190,000 words. Hopefully I can share it once I finish doing personal edits

My longest story is 0, because I’ve spent so much time over-researching, over-planning, overthinking my story for so long during lockdown, that not only did I forget the most important step - to just start - but also I literally went insane cuz of it. My main characters haunted my mind for years. And calling me a perfectionist would have been a massive understatement. The sad part is that i couldn’t even start if i wanted to cuz ofc…burnout. And I’d argue it still lingers to this day. But it’s been a while, I’ve come up with other ideas since, and now my mind is more clear, I wanna try again. I KNOW i have that creativity, guess i just need something new/refreshing, be it a tip, skill or an idea.

The longest story I've written is a screenplay called the Serpent and the Hand. It came out at 138 pages.

So helpful. The way you teach makes things really easy to digest and understand, thank you!! :) ❤️

I actually have a serial fanfic that has more words than Lord of the Rings (847,630) and counting. I don’t think I could have managed that with anything but a serial. I can do your smaller drawing room style stories and even a slightly grander multi-chapter plot but I struggle with large scale, complex story making. Fortunately, this channel is helping and I hope to be able to flesh out more of my original stories in time. Fan fiction, meanwhile, is a good way to practice writing and it’s helped me get past my fear of just jumping in and writing, as well as made me more easy with the editing process. I can also comfortably enter into a full re-write of a chapter or section and throw out useless material that isn’t helping the story. So don’t let people piss on your writing hobbies. That’s how you sharpen skills in a safe (or at least not money related) environment. Just cover your tracks if you decide to write raunchy stuff. I don’t do that myself.

This makes me feel so much relief. I’m trying to write my first book and I feel I hit every single point in the video.

Personally, sometimes when I have issues with an idea and can’t come up with story for it, I ask a friend what they think. Pass it by them to see if they have any insight or ideas.

The last tip was so good. Thank you!

100,000 words. Doing the rewrite now. Love these videos.

Hey Brandon, thanks for another great video. I'm really looking forward to your video on Theme. I'm hoping you include some advice on how to avoid becoming preachy and how to blend theme into the background so it's not so in-your-face. I struggle with that. With regard to the question of the day, I have a novel that's around 80K-90K words (first draft was 130K!) and a series of short stories that average about 30K words apiece -- 3 so far in the series.

I always wondered. I will appreciate a comment or video. You don't have to respond at all though. My question is,how does killing a main character work in a 1st person story? Do they announce their own death? Idk

Not sure if this counts but the longest thing I’ve written is at 61K words and still ongoing. It’s a Persona 4 crackfic where it’s main goal is to be as insane as possible to make a name for itself.

A fellow Dexter fan. Nice! That's still my favorite show I've ever watched, despite the botched endings, lol.

The best advice for me is, in most cases, not caring much about word count. In the past, I blew some stories away because I wanted them to fit the general novel word count mark, 45k to 50k. This lead to a lot of filler moments and dialogue and it makes me cringe just to think about it. But then, in my last one, I looked at the word counter and said "screw you!" I hid it and just worked on it until the end, writing what I wanted to tell. After I finished my second draft and the third polishing, I finally stopped and looked at the word counter again: a few words away from 62k. That was amazing! Not saying that word counting shouldn't be considered, but not focus on it more than the actual story.

Can't thank you enough for all those tips, I can really tell you know what you are talking about just by the quality of each one of them. Great video.

I’m compiling world building details for a sci fi fantasy story. Between digital and physical mediums I think there’s about 10,000-20,000 words so far!

Fantastic advice. Also CONGRATS ON 100k!

I wrote a story called Black, it's yet to be published but it's a three part story, with the final installment having about 507pages

I wrote a graphic novel that was about 125 pages long. I’m writing the story to an indie video game right now. It’s a totally different experience. because the story has to be supported by game mechanics and vice versa. Your videos are really helping me recognize what the important sections are and how to create better flow!

I just finished the skeleton of my story thanks to this video, infinite gratitude for you!

Longest written is a Rise of the Guardians fanfic that I have yet to finish. Some concepts, like my original characters in that story I plan to use I another comic when I finish Page by Page.

Thanks for all the great advice in this video and others! Glad to see that putting an idea on the back burner is something seasoned writers do as well. I had an idea for a short story a few years back and it took me revisiting it a couple of winters in a row to end up knowing what to do with it. May not be the most efficient route, but it still worked!

Thanks for this awesome video, Brandon! I love how you get right to the point, and you relay information with such clarity that it is a pleasure to hear your voice. I'm a new subscriber. Thanks again..!

I’m currently working on the third draft of my first book. We’ll see if anything comes of it. Anyways, my second draft was over 100,000 words, a bit of that being unnecessary babble. If all goes well, this will go into a second book in the story, and these are preparing me for a story I really want to write, but is a little too big for my abilities just yet. Love your videos; helping me a lot.

Whenever I listen to music, I always get fragments of the supposed plot that I come up with, but never the full idea.

yesss. YESSSS!! When you said Yellow Wallpaper, were we thinking about the same story?

Very informative. Thank you, Brandon!

Had this question for years. THANK YOU! Haven't even watched it and I know it will be a banger , thanks again

Ty for the tips. They have helped me with developing my novels.

I had a dream last week. I forgot everything that happened, but it was a happy dream

Another question, how do you structure your story if you know it’s going to span multiple books?

I'm at 105k words with my first, but it's sequel is also 100k. There's a plan for it to be 6 books long, and I'm now 20k into rewriting the first one after some great advice from my partner that there is something missing from the start 😪 but I feel like I'll get the first book to 150k this time! I hope I get this rewrite more on the mark cause editing sucks 😂

i learn so much from your videos!

QOTD: I wrote a first draft of a novel a good few years back and got up to over 90,000 words. I had a few friends read it and was basically told it was far too ambitious and I needed to strip it back to the basic idea. I never took it further though because I realised I didn't have any consistent ideas or themes to it, I just had a storm of ideas that jumbled together and really didn't work. A couple years later I started writing a different novel with a more focus theme and idea with about 20,000 less words and I'm very pleased with this one

Fun fact: I think I got a really good story idea when I tried think of the most banal and overdone possible plot that I could imagine.

440 pages using 92,000 words. It was a little long because it was the third novel of a trilogy and had some additional lose ends to clear up. The main character nit only came full circle from the start of the novel, but the family had come full circle from the start of the trilogy.

I feel like this video held the answers I've always been looking for. Thank you!

I wrote a fantasy (fairy tale with greed as the theme) story of 10k words- not sure what to do with it. Love your videos! Well crafted and scripted!

Both of your books sound really good.

Storytelling is one of my favorite topics. And some of my favorite shows about that topic are Pinky Dinky Doo and Tinga Tinga Tales.

Bro your videos and tips are so amazing and encouraging. I'm so glad to find out I'm not doing nearly as horribly as I thought I was. 😂 Thanks so much for sharing your expertise. My longest I've been working on for a while now is 400 pages of nothing but plot skeletons, concepts and small excerpts I write down whenever I get ideas I don't want to lose. I know the beginning middle and end but I'm taking a lot more time to figure out how I want the meat and potatoes to be. 😅 I'm really hoping I'll be able to put it all together in an engaging manner cuz right now it's kind of a mess. LOL

I have these 2 characters i had worked on in a bare bones story but recently lost the mojo to keep working on it. Hard to get started with an almost one year old running around.

Finished my first novel a year ago, it's 143K words. Originally 170K but I've edited it down, trying to get it closer to 100K without losing too much of the story.

Enjoyed this video as always but I do have an interesting dilemma to pose. Currently I'm thinking about writing a comic/manga style story, I have the premise and even ideas for arcs, characters and subplots, my main issue is I'm still learning how to draw and it might take me a while, would you say its better to write it in another way or wait until I can draw well enough to make my ideas come to life?

I'd say there's at least one more type of research, which in respect to the example given would be going out to climb a mountain myself. Thanks for the advice!

How to expand "AND" idea?

"The Man Who Invented Christmas" with Dan Stevens depicts the sort of writing process Charles Dickens may have gone through when writing "A Christmas Carol." He takes inspiration at the beginning of the story from a few people he comes across while going about his day, fleshes out characters by imagining conversations with them, etc. It is a brilliant and heart-warming movie if you have not seen it yet.

The longest story I've written was 82 pages of screenplay adaptation of a short story (10000 words). It wasn't easy for me to reach that page count. I had to explore what else happens in the world that I built and add a large subplot to the story.

Bro I can write a story can someone rate it 0/10 Once upon a time in a dark and gritty city, there was a renowned detective named Ravi Singh. Known for his sharp mind and relentless pursuit of justice, Ravi found himself entangled in a web of crime and mystery. It all began with a series of brutal murders that shook the city to its core. The victims were seemingly unrelated, but there was a distinct pattern in the way they were killed. As the body count continued to rise, Ravi realized he was dealing with a cunning and calculating serial killer. Driven by his determination to catch the perpetrator and bring them to justice, Ravi delved deep into the seedy underbelly of the city. He followed leads, interrogated suspects, and pieced together a complex puzzle of clues, slowly unraveling the twisted mind of the killer. As Ravi got closer to the truth, he discovered that the killer had a personal vendetta against him. The cat-and-mouse chase intensified, with the killer leaving a trail of cryptic messages and riddles for Ravi to decipher. Each step closer to the truth brought danger and suspense, pushing Ravi to his limits. Meanwhile, Ravi's personal life began to unravel as well. The stress of the case took a toll on his relationships, and he found himself questioning his own sanity. Yet, he couldn't give up. The lives of innocent people were at stake, and he knew he was the only one who could stop the killer. In a heart-stopping climax, Ravi finally confronted the killer in a thrilling showdown. The stakes were high, and every move had to be precise. With his quick thinking and years of experience, Ravi outsmarted the killer and brought them to justice. The case was solved, but the journey had taken its toll on Ravi. He realized that the darkness of the criminal world had permeated his soul. Yet, he remained committed to his duty, vowing to protect the innocent and ensure that justice prevailed. And so, Detective Ravi Singh continued his fight against crime and injustice, forever haunted by the memories of the twisted minds he encountered in his pursuit of truth.

Tamisan is the longest book that I've written (under Susan McKenzie). It is 420 pages.

Good video. For me personally, one of the hardest lessons for me is: don't be afraid to steal from other writers. This is obviously just an opinion, so feel free to disagree. But the point is the creative process. Believe in you. You have the story abd you can write it.