What do I want?

As I've said in another thread, I am having the hardest time getting anything started with my characters. Every time I think I've uncovered something, I still feel like nothing's come out of it. I get a lot of conversations like this when brainstorming with others:

Friend: Just do it how you want.

Me: Okay… what do I want?

or

Me: Is X a good way to do this, or should I go with Y or Z instead?

Friend: X could be good if you want A, but if you're looking for B, then Y or Z would be better.

Me: Okay. Do I want A or B?

Friend: That's YOUR decision.

Me: …

or

Me: Now how does X work in this setting?

Friend: Okay, you know what Y is? It's kinda like that.

Me: …the hell is Y?

Friend: Y is A, B, and C.

Me: …the hell is C?

Friend: C is D, E, and F.

Me: …the hell is F?

or

Friend: Here, watch this show/watch this movie/read this book. It'll help you get a better understanding of X.

Me: I had to give up 15 minutes in. I couldn't understand A, B, C, D, or E, and I didn't see anything pertaining to X.

The maddening indecision gets me the most. I just don't have a feel in the slightest for what works, or what I even want out of what I have. And when I try to seek inspiration or look for something that does something similar, I just hit a dead end, or get so bogged down in trying to comprehend it that nothing works. (For instance, I want to expand my sci-fi knowledge, so a friend recently threw Warehouse 13 at me. I managed to slog through the whole episode, but I was beyond confused at nearly every turn.)

edited 7th Nov '13 2:37:44 AM by Twentington

Try watching it twice. You could watch it the first time for enjoyment and the second for analysis, or note things that catch your eye at the pace of the story over two watchthroughs. Utilize synopses as well. But, the point is that all good stories should raise at least a few questions and make you think about the answers before answering them later on or at the end. If you think you're getting bogged down, speculate while it's paused, during commercial breaks, or after the show.

There's also the other problem in this post — why do I not know what I want?

What exactly do you mean 'want'? You don't know what sort of story/themes/whatnot that you want your characters to partake in?

I seem to recall you saying that you were looking at Slice of Life set in a futuristic setting. Maybe they don't have to partake in too much.

I'm wondering if ARIA (the anime, not the manga) might be what you're looking for. It technically fits that description. Pretty much all it is is characterization (of a cast of characters whose names all begin with A, confusingly enough), pretty music, Scenery Porn, and so little science fiction you forget it takes place in 24th century Mars. A far cry from Warehouse13 and Firefly, I suppose.

edited 11th Nov '13 9:04:22 PM by CrystalGlacia

I still have that vague frame though, and no idea what to put in it, is the problem.

Character Type X does what? What should his job be? What should he act like in this situation? What should he wear? Etc.

It's future-y, but how future-y? It's slice of life, but what are they doing in their lives? That kinda thing.

Well, let's see if I can lend a hand here. No guarantees, but it's worth a shot. (Get ready for a long one...)

So the question here is "What do I want", right? I don't think that's a bad question to ask; the issue is that maybe that question is too simple for what you need. Instead of "What do I want", maybe it should be "What do I want at the end?"

I've heard that in some cases, writers think of the ending first and work their way backwards from there, so maybe that's something you should consider. In my case, I'm always gunning for a happy ending, so it's a matter of making the journey to that ending full of struggles, laughs, and triumphs. How I get to that ending depends on the characters, their natures/skill sets, who/what's in their way, and the world they're in.

Admittedly I start by thinking of what my characters can do first (pretty much all of them are born from what superpowers/skills I think up), but starting from the end might work if you're trying to draw a path from the end goal — your desire realized — to the beginning. "In order to end the story, this has to happen." Or "In order to set up the ending, this event has to happen." Or "In order to get to this event, this character needs to do this." And so on. If you're working on a Slice of Life story as Crystal Glacia said, then you probably can't do what others have done 1:1. But assuming that your story is about relationships and days spent together — with whatever context they might have — then you know that those days have to come to an end. People graduate. People move away. People get new jobs. People die. As the story's mastermind, it's your duty to make the trip to the end worthwhile. That much, I suspect, you already understand.

I'm not going to pretend like I know exactly why you feel so indecisive (or what I'm talking about in general), but I might have a theory. You may be indecisive because you're aware of all the possibilities you can take — things that seem equal and appealing, and can easily lead you to the same ending. Again, I don't think that's a bad mindset to have; if you're aware of the possibilities, you can choose paths that no one else would have considered. But there's a difference between being aware of the possibilities and pursuing them — which is why the most I can say right now to help you is make one decision.

Decide concretely one thing that has to be in your story. Fully define and flesh out a character so you know exactly what he/she can, can't, would, or would not do. Focus on fleshing out your world, so that you know what's great about it (jetpacks) or what's awful about it (Fantastic Racism) and use that to figure out what you can do with it. Imagine a single event that you HAVE to put into the story, and draw lines from it to your other story elements — characters, the world at large, the ending, whatever. Sooner or later you're going to have to throw a rock into the pond — and once you do, you'll find that it can make some big ripples.

But remember this: you can start over. You can step back and draw new lines, explore new possibilities, threw bigger rocks into bigger ponds. I would think you're at a stage where nothing is set in stone, so use that to your advantage. Start, then start again, then start one more time if you have to. Keep going at it until you find something that leads you to the ending you want — the one path that puts a smile on your face.

And so ends the longest(?) reply on TV Tropes. Hope that helped you out at least a little.

That seems to be a fear of mine. That I'll spend months working on an idea only for it to not pan out. Or that, for it to work, I'll have to throw a ton of other things out the window. Or that I'll come up with two ideas I like equally well, but are contradictory and could never coexist.

Pick one.

You will only learn what you want to write by trying something out. If you like it, you won't feel like you're doing too much work as you write and you will be happy. If you don't like it, you will dislike the process so much that you'll switch to the other one.

I think part of what is getting to me is handling the mundanities. Not every moment in the life of a businesswoman, mail carrier, sporting goods store owner, or male escort is going to be entertaining, I get that. But…

Businesswoman probably got to the top by way of the boring office-drone stuff, but that's the key word: boring. Isn't it a fact that nothing exciting ever happens in the office world? And the last thing the world needs is another work cribbing from Dilbert, a work I absolutely loathe.

The mail carriers I've seen almost never interact with anyone — they just drive their little trucks, put envelopes in the mailbox and/or packages on the doorstep, repeat. Again, boring. Sporting goods store owner? I'm extremely non-athletic and would rather run a potato peeler across my eyeballs then own a treadmill. BORING.

Do any of them drink their coffee black? Do any of them collect comic books? Do any of them wear thong underwear? Do any of them like piña coladas and getting caught in the rain? I don't care, that part's boring. Skip to the part where everyone has sex.

Do you research and talk to people and you'll find something interesting, at least about the person if not their jobs. Maybe your mail carrier is also a war veteran and likes the relatively boring routine.

edited 24th Nov '13 9:29:48 AM by Leradny

I find something interesting, yes, but it never works with the concepts I have. Almost all of my characters I imagine to be from about 18-30, and all the "interesting" things I've heard from others are usually only experiences someone well over 30 could have.

Improbable Age is a thing. Giving characters experiences they shouldn't have at their age isn't that much of a problem.

...Okay? Like what, pray tell?

Just by merit of how far back it was. Someone in their 50s or so can reminisce on buying LP albums at Woolworth's, then going to get popcorn and a milkshake at the snack bar, etc. etc.

Of if you grew up in the sticks like my mom did, then having well water and an outhouse, or even living in a school bus for a few months.

Fair enough.

edited 25th Nov '13 9:17:51 AM by Twentington

Then why not write about older people, if that's where you're harvesting your best writing ideas from?

Alternatively, move your setting back a couple of decades.

Honestly, though, you seem not to have that much interest in people, plot, or whatever - why do you want to write a story if not to explore these things?

edited 26th Nov '13 3:17:10 AM by Iaculus

Because the concepts I have so far (sci-fi-ish world, highly sexualized, etc.) don't really seem conducive to older people. And I have just enough defined of some of the characters to believe that they wouldn't work if aged up.

I know that interest is somewhere in me, and I'm trying to find it.

Writing about older people =/= writing for an older audience. Just because a character is older does not mean a younger reader can't relate to them or, at the very least, find their stories interesting.

Also, science fiction is not necessarily a genre exclusive to the young. Some of the genre's biggest, most mainstream players (Star Trek, Doctor Who, Star Wars) originated in the sixties or seventies and have fanbases whose median ages are well into the fifties/sixties.

edited 26th Nov '13 5:52:44 AM by CrystalGlacia

Still, these characters, what little I can make of them in my head, seem youngish.

Also, sex drive is by no means confined to young people.

Thought: If it's a futuristic setting, you can translate "interesting things that existed in the 1940s" into "interesting things that existed in 2040." "That was the year of the Nanoplague, when everyone took to wearing blue eyeglasses to protect themselves from the blue-frequency transmission vectors." "I remember making homemade chocolate with our food lasers."

I don't want them to be older.

I only ever seem to know what I don't want, never what I do. And even eliminating what I don't want still leaves a bajillion choices.

If you can't find the interest, why are you looking? There are things to do in the world apart from write.

You seem to be coming up with a long, long string of excuses not to write stuff.

The interest is there, but I just lock up and don't know where to start.

Then be more open to substandard ideas. Splurge it out. Get used to writing. Stop being so picky and put pen to paper. Writing is a skill you develop through exercise.

Perhaps do some writing challenges. They'll help you stay warmed up while waiting for actual inspiration to arrive. Something easy first, like "describe how Bob gets ready for work in three paragraphs." "Describe what Alice looks like without using any words derived from food or drink." "Tell me about a time you used personal initiative at work or at school." (That last one is also helpful for job interviews.)

I think I found part of the problem.

They say Write What You Know. But I know so little. I still live with my mom at 26, I've never held a "real" job, and I mostly just sit on my ass and do nothing. And most of what I do know, I either don't think is worth writing about (Small Town Boredom), would be too personal and cut too closely for me to want to use (my struggles with Asperger Syndrome), or both (my being a church organist and how it intersects with my beliefs). No one wants to hear about the things I do know, like which hymnals have "Amazing Grace" in F major and which have it in G major, or the previous occupants of my town's Goodwill.

So for that, a friend has suggested I expose myself to more media, to get an idea for what's out there and experience things by proxy. Read more, watch more. But so far, nothing I've tried has clicked.

My webcomic has a workplace setting, so he's suggested I try a couple workplace comedies. Clerks? It was boring as all-get-out to me, and 30 minutes in, I felt like nothing had happened, so I turned it off. Office Space? It probably came closest, since I had an "aha" moment about 25 minutes in that made me go from "this is boring" to "okay, I see where this is going now" — and though I was entertained and fully aware of what the movie was doing, I still had no takeaway from it.

My furry slice-of-life story setting is sci-fi-ish, so he's suggested sci-fi shows. Firefly? I was hopelessly lost 10 seconds in, and gave up after 5 minutes. Warehouse Thirteen? Hopelessly lost 10 seconds in, but at least made it to the end of the episode. That said, I still didn't understand a word of what was going on in the pilot, even with a plot synopsis in front of me.

Other genres that won't necessarily be in line with what I'm trying to make? Highlander — Bored to tears after 20 minutes, turned it off. The Number 23? Hell if I'm touching that one; it has 8% on Rotten Tomatoes, and I've had two friends tell me they hated it.

And even things that are in sync with what I'm already comfortable with don't seem to ever get the juices flowing. I mostly know cartoons, but even the more story-oriented ones (e.g. Avatar: The Last Airbender) just bring me as far as "Okay, that's good, I see where this is going. Next episode!" without ever really stirring anything in me creatively. Or other than that, I just go "this character design is neat" or "hey, she's kinda hot" or "oh cool, I know who that voice actor is!" or "Hey, they referenced Wheel of Fortune."

I know the desire to create is in me. So why is it remaining so hidden?