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When I try to come up with a story, I focus on a central idea that really captures my interest. Maybe its a word, phrase or thought. I then try to fit it into a concept statement, something like "space worms invade the White House" or "magician conjures box full of corpses that move when nobody is looking".

Once you have a concept you like, fit it into a narrative. How will you reach the final part of the story? Is there a scene you're imagining that will really encapsulate what horrible thing or idea you're trying to go for? You probably would want it to be the image everyone associates with your story, like how one might associate the dismembered hand floating in space with the game series Dead Space. One of your goals might be to have the rest of your story be just as interesting as this pivotal scene. Maybe not AS interesting in the beginning, but well-written enough people will want to keep reading.

It's at this point I typically create a 'skeleton' or flexible timeline of the things I want in my story. I think about key events in the story that will tie everything together; how do I want to get from Point A (intro/setting) to Point B (something to kick off the story) to Point E (spooky scary idea I wanted to write about to begin with). These in between segments are arguably just as important as the plot points and should be what you spend maybe 60-70% of your time thinking about. I think anyone can do a good job (if they try) of describing a half-rotted torso plopping out of the attic and attacking the house pet. It's describing how it got there that can be tricky.

Another thing to consider is that the more specific the concept is, the higher chance of alienating your audience can be. Everybody has an idea of how say, an engineer might go into a dark tunnel and fix some wires: you don't need to be specific and people still get the gist and feel invested. It's when you introduce subcultures, media series or hobbies that things get complicated as you have to explain to laymen why the thing is important or can be scary. This is partially the reason why Lost Episode stories are so difficult to pull off, because you simply cannot explain in full detail to a person who doesn't regularly read horror why Spongebob bleeding from the eyes is a scary concept (though thats a topic for a different time).

Overall, making thumbnails and creating outlines for your work is paramount to completing the finished product. And I should clarify that not every idea is good just because you like it; sometimes things sound better in our head before we grab a pen. Even your best ideas won't appeal to everyone too, there will always be critics, angry readers, people with a vendetta against the idea. If you're going to post something online, be aware that you're opening yourself up to a world of criticism and evolution. However making something for your enjoyment is a good mindset to have too: after all, its your soul you're putting on paper.

Make sure you use it to it's full potential.

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