Where Could this Premise Lead?

[SaberFan22]

First of all, sorry about all the posts lately! I have numerous projects on the go and you guys are really good at giving feedback and offering help.

So, here goes...

I've had the idea to write a story about a writer who doesn't enjoys his own life nor himself as a person, so creates a character who has everything he wishes he had. Money, looks, success etc. He begins to get obsessed and live vicariously through this character.

The problem I have with this is that it's a premise, not a story. If anyone could help me with this in terms of where the story could end up that would be fantastic.


Thanks a lot in advance

[Jev Moldara]

First of all, sorry about all the posts lately! I have numerous projects on the go and you guys are really good at giving feedback and offering help.

So, here goes...

I've had the idea to write a story about a writer who doesn't enjoys his own life nor himself as a person, so creates a character who has everything he wishes he had. Money, looks, success etc. He begins to get obsessed and live vicariously through this character.

The problem I have with this is that it's a premise, not a story. If anyone could help me with this in terms of where the story could end up that would be fantastic.


Thanks a lot in advance

The logical endgame of a story like this is typically that the writer starts, as you say, vicariously living though this character and, as such, starts to take on the stereotypical psychological traits of his fantasy self. It starts off as him being more confident in his life, where he starts to stand up for himself, goes after The Dream Girl (probably while The Soulmate is right there without him even realizing it), and even writing better, but that confidence starts morphing into cockiness and eventually narcissism, with him starting to alienate his friends and/or family. It comes to a head where he has a real Come To Jesus moment where he starts to lose everything. His friends abandon him, his publisher cancels their contract, and/or he severely hurts The Soulmate on a deeply personal level. He eventually realizes that despite his own rich fantasy life where he has it all, he still isn't happy. Eventually he learns that life is not about having external riches, but internal ones, and he starts on the slow road to redemption.

[Darth Knox]

I would suggest trying to decide which genre you want the story to be in (comedy, rom-com, drama etc). Once you have that sorted that will inform to some degree the direction the story will take and how it could end.

Having written various scripts myself, may I also say that you should try not to put too much pressure on yourself as to "where" the story will go. Most writers will tell you that every story begins with a simple premise or idea and they never figure out the end until much later into the process. In the early stages of writing, just brainstom; let your mind wander and jot down ideas. There are no bad ideas, just ideas. Even an idea you don't use now you may use at a later date in another story.

Also decide whether you want it to be a long or short story. Finally, is this just a story or a film script? If it's a film script there are a number of really useful videos on Youtube about scripts and the writing process. Most are under 10 mins so you can breeze through a lot of them really quickly (channels I suggest are Darious Britt, Film Riot, Channel Crisswell, Cinefix, Filmmaker IQ, Rocket Jump Film School).

Hope that helps