Will Story Breakdowns In These Genres: Conan, Crime, Post-Apocalyptic, Inspire Your Solo Gaming?
The Skinny: Let me know what genres you're into, and I'll post some o'dem breakdowns for ya.
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The Fat: I've collected over 400 pages of plots and villains in three big genres. After The End covers everything post-apocalyptic, Conan Edition covers everything Conan, and Crime Edition is for modern crime from both the law enforcement and criminal perspectives.
How did I get into this mess? It started when I wanted to write stories plotted like Howard's Conan fiction, and expanded to other genres I write in rather quickly. Nowadays, it seems I can't stop taking notes on most everything I watch, read or listen to. Books, comics, movies, TV shows, RPG actual plays, you name it. I really hate plot holes nowadays!
How I use them. I figure out what genre I'd like to write in, I choose a rules-lite RPG game like 24XX, Cairn, Ironsworn, and I go through my lists as I imagine what my characters will story through. This, plus what I've already put together, like characters and setting, is enough to get me started. If I start getting stuck, or the story starts to slog, I'll use the game mechanics or random tables to prod things along, or go read a few more plots and villains descriptions, and take a short time to ruminate on what happens next. Taking these steps keeps me away from the dreaded Writer's Block... usually.
What's in it for you? Maybe you have a starting idea of how your game or story will go. You might have a character, or you just watched a cool movie, or you'd like to re-live a favorite story, but you don't have a strong starting point, or your setting needs work, or you can't think of a good villain or monster. The story breakdowns will help you add pieces to this puzzle, that you can tighten up as you go along to create a more complete story.
One of the coolest things for me, is when I take in a story, watch a documentary, or browse through world-building forums, and I think, wow, that idea sounds really cool. It would be awesome if I added that idea to my story! That is what I'm hoping to do here, for people that solo like I do, where you might be playing / journaling / writing in one of these genres, and you come across one of these story breakdowns here, and discover an idea or twist you hadn't thought of before.
If this sounds helpful, let me know which genres you'd like to read.