Brainstorming and Exploring a Story

Well well well

It's certainly been a minute

Or more accurately... two months 😮

I swear I wasn't avoiding this blog intentionally..............

Okay, maybe I was a little bit.

But it's only because I realized I was using this blog as a way to avoid doing my own creative writing.

And how can I give writing advice if I'm not doing the craft myself?!

Am I right, ladies?!

(side note, if you're watching Love Island, email me immediately with your thoughts. especially if you also can't stand jeremiah -- just in general, not because of the huda situation 💅)

But guess what?

Focusing on my own writing for a bit gave me plenty of inspiration for this blog!

And let me tell you.... It was an unexpected journey. And it reminded me that the writing process doesn't need to be so structured and linear.

So let's see what came out of that two months, shall we?

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When, Why, and How to Challenge Yourself

While I was away, I did a lot of exploring.

I've been wanting to really expand my limits and try new things for a while now. But I kept going back to the same things I knew: analyzing other people's work, and writing this blog.

If you know anything about me, you know I can't stand monotony.

I need to switch things up.

If I don't, I'll go a little crazy hehe

So basically I was getting annoyed at my routine. I wasn't feeling challenged. I was feeling, honestly, just bored.

That's when you know it's time to step out of your writing comfort zone and challenge yourself!

And that's exactly what I did 💅

As I was discovering my writer voice over the years, I did quite a bit of exploratory writing.

I've written novels, short stories, essays, screenplays (obviously)...

I felt like there wasn't much left for me to try.

That's when I realized --

There's one genre I've been avoiding my whole life

One genre everyone swears I'll love but I've never gotten into it...

Come on, you guys know this already.

Fantasy.

What better way to challenge yourself than to write in a genre you know almost nothing about and have never enjoyed?

Maybe it's all the Baldur's Gate I've been playing, but I just felt it was finally time to give this genre a real try.

I mean, forcing myself to learn more about the crime and sci-fi genres is how I started to enjoy and even prefer writing those kind of stories.

And it changed me as a writer -- for the better!

So if you've been writing the same kind of stories for years, or you're experiencing general writer's block, giving yourself a seemingly impossible challenge will help you grow! 😃

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Overcoming the Obstacles

I'll be honest, when I decided to try writing a fantasy script, I avoided thinking about it at all for a few days.

I can't even begin to express how little I like fantasy.

Every time I've had to read a true fantasy script, I've wanted to cry.

And I don't think if I've ever watched (all the way through) a film where fantasy is the main genre.

It was extremely difficult to convince myself to even start the brainstorming process for this thing.

So instead of continuing to avoid it, and instead of signing myself up for pure torture, I asked myself:

What would I be excited to write right now?

And the answer was: something erotic, body horror, or both.

(i had just re-watched a few Cronenberg films, which may have influenced my feelings here hehe)

That answer opened a whole new world for me.

I could just combine what I don't want to write with what I do want to write!

Then I'd actually start writing!

So, yes.

My conclusion was to write an erotic fantasy body horror script!

Everything started to click, and I wrote down my idea in my usual chaotic, incoherent fashion:

it's always a little embarrassing sharing my insane notes app brainstorming for the whole internet to see 😭

but last time I did it, a lot of you told me how helpful it was. so i'll bite the bullet again 😎

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Trying a New Approach

Usually when I get to the mad-scientist-style brainstorming phase, I'm ready to start writing a coherent outline or even actual draft of the script.

But since I know so little about fantasy, and that's the main genre of this story, I was still struggling to start writing.

I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted to achieve thematically, but my sheer resistance to all things fantasy was still holding me back from figuring this idea out on a story level.

I was feeling a bit like Jax in the lake. Like I was diving straight into something I couldn't really handle.

So I worked with what I knew for sure -- the theme.

I tried to think of ways to explore a deeper theme without needing to craft a full story...

Then I remembered something from my cringe pre-teen years:

I absolutely LOVED writing poetry.

And I hadn't written any since those glory days 🥲

So for the next couple weeks, I set out to write a ton of erotic poetry.

And honestly... It was really freeing!

I put no rules or limits on my writing, and no pressure on myself to make it "good."

I just wrote whatever came to mind.

Oh, you wanna see some of it, you little freak?

hehe okay, but just this once 😉

I wrote about 30 poems over the course of 10 days.

All of them were in some way inspired by my crazy body horror fantasy idea, but these 4 in particular helped shape my concept the most:

And then there's this last one, which was the furthest off-base and not really erotic at all.

and tbh most personal -- i'm definitely feeling vulnerable sharing this one but hey i'm just hoping it helps someone else struggling with their writing process

But it actually ended up being the main one that helped me figure out how to end my story:

And on that darker note, let's look at the final poem I wrote to map out the main theme of my story:

i was born with fangs

that i learned to hide

in my innocent smile

my delicate eyes

i was always venomous

made to strike

but i laid in wait 

masked in disguise

years of confinement

inside this cage

opened just enough

to lure in prey

their curious minds

they step inside

and i love to see

the fear in their eyes

as they see the person

they knew me to be

become so sly, seductive

a serpent beast

charmed by the wild

im a force of nature

will you taste my poison?

succumb to my allure?

when the hunger hits

i dont just crave

i constrict, i consume

i become depraved

the fangs come out

my skin, it glistens

i coil around you

and the dance begins

i taste your pulse

with my slick tongue

my teeth sink in

air leaves our lungs

you cant hold me --

try to handle me

are you a wrangler?

can you catch me?

you sense that youre prey

thats when you flee

just when you've seen

the serpent in me

you close the chamber

"beware of snake"

so i can charm no one else

in my wake

and once again

im forced to hide

the fangs in my smile

the venom inside

when will they learn

i can't be tamed

they fear the beast

so they keep her chained

And I'm gonna be 100% real with you all, I literally finished writing that today.

So at this point, I still don't have an official, full outline for my script hehe

But I figure -- this is my blog, so I'm gonna blog about the writing process as I'm writing!

This is also partially to hold myself accountable so I continue writing this thing that's been so damn hard for me 😭

If I don't post about this story again soon, I give you all permission to fight me on sight

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So as you can see... The exploratory / brainstorming phase can be a bit chaotic.

In this case, it was just me stumbling around, finding what felt exciting, and letting that excitement guide me!

Sometimes your idea is a just vibe at first.

Sometimes you just have concepts of a plan for an outline.

Sometimes your first draft is a poem full of sexy snake metaphors.

guilty! 😏

Brainstorming isn’t about getting everything "right."

It’s about doing whatever keeps your idea flowing -- even if that means taking a completely unexpected route to get there!

Like, did I think I was gonna have to bust out 30 erotic poems in 10 days so I could write my first fantasy script?

All this is to say: if you're feeling stuck in your writing, don't stay there. Try something new!

It doesn't matter if it's not something you'll end up using in the final story, or even if it's "good" in your eyes.

As long as it keeps you curious, keeps you energized, and keeps you writing, keep doing it!

And next time I post about this, I'll hopefully have an actual outline.

But don't be surprised if I write 500 more erotic poems in the meantime 💅