Any advice for this story idea of mine?

[Western42]

I hit a writer's block for my other stories and, one day, I came up with an idea. The story I am making is called Candy Pop! It is about a psychopathic hitman with a skewed view of the world. Each chapter is a short story with someone ending up hiring Candy Pop. It is similar to the anime Hell Girl.

That is the main gist of the story but that isn't the main plot. The main plot is about a girl named Rachel who somehow keeps finding herself running into Candy Pop and Detective Robert who is trying to bring Candy Pop in.

I want to know if adding those two plot points will make the story better. I don't just want each chapter to be a short story with the same plot and no other main plot moving the story along. But, is this the right way to do it?

 

[RepresentingWrath]

Yes.

 

[LordAstrea]

I don't know if it is the 'right' way to do it, but I like the way you plan on doing it. :D I like when stories follow multiple perspectives like that.

 

[SpiraSpira]

It depends, but probably yes. It is not "wrong" to write a story that is extremely "episodic" but the best way to look at that kind of writing is to look at each episode as an individual short story of their own, like you're planning. Consider the TV shows Sliders or Quantum Leap (or even Rick & Morty) -- these are all episodic stories, everything is (uSuALLY) completed by the episode's end. An example of written fiction like this is the Hardy Boys or similar style novels. It's fine to write stories like this.

What you're suggesting is a way to tie each episode into an overarching element of serialized drama. That's a pretty good idea, but it can be easy to screw up by either overemphasizing it and it becoming hacky or underemphasizing it and it become confusing. You'll have to play around with it but it's definitely not a "bad" idea.

That said I personally cannot write a short story in less than 10,000 words, and often it takes more than that. That may be just a personal failing of mine, though.

Many web novels are written in exactly the fashion you are contemplating if you think about it, except their "short stories" are quite long and are better described as "arcs."

 

[RepresentingCaution]

Write the story you want to read, and someone else will also love it.

 

[Schultz_von]

I think that's a good idea. There are a lot of shows that do that kind of stuff.


if you want you can make a plot A: This story follows Candy Pop. like Candy Pop is doing its job, suddenly things go awry, Rachel "suddenly" shows up, then they "somehow" make it. She thought this would only happen once so she let her go, only to run into her again on the next mission. We see her go from "the next won't be so lucky" to "did I know you?" to "you again!" to "are you a stalker?!" to "I'm keeping you (like a pet)" and so on. each episode contains Candy pop's life and work.

plot B: plot twist, no coincidence this is all Rachel's plan. Because of (insert reason)

 

[greyblob]

sounds like a good idea for a comedy. and the best thing in comedy is that you can be as absurd as you want.

 

[ElijahRyne]

What genera is it?
This could easily be a thriller, horror, comedy, and/or slice of life.

 

[Western42]

What genera is it?
This could easily be a thriller, horror, comedy, and/or slice of life.

It is psychological, action, and comedy, though the comedy comes more of self-awareness and, for most of the comedy, dark.

 

[trinitys_gadget]

sounds good, but you'll probably want a really good outline so you don't lose the thread of the main plot.

 

[RepresentingThree]

I always like using a random idea generator. Even if I don't use the idea it jump starts my brain.

 

[Jemini]

Sounds like a good idea. I have advise on another subject though. You mentioned having writers block in your OP. I wanted to say something about that.

One of the best pieces of advice I have ever gotten on "writer's block" is that writer's block is not a condition, it is a symptom.

In other words, if you are experiencing what you are calling "writer's block," the proper course of action is to try to identify why you are having such a hard time writing. Normally, the most frequent cause is that you are sleep deprived. Keeping a better sleep schedule is often a good solution to banish writer's block. It could also be diet and exercise, or it can be distracting social problems you are dealing with in your personal life.

Bottom line, the cause of writer's block is almost never related to the writing itself. It is usually caused by an imbalance in your life somewhere.

I've managed to get most of those things pretty well sorted out in my life, and I almost never experience writer's block. So, I can attest to the best-case conditions checking out on this advice. I can't really speak from the perspective of someone dealing with those problems and then getting better at writing after getting over them. Actually, the entire reason I started writing in the 1st place was because my therapist suggested I keep a diary in order to process my personal issues. So, after I got over all my issues, it was only then that I started writing.

 

[BearlyAlive]

That is the main gist of the story but that isn't the main plot. The main plot is about a girl named Rachel who somehow keeps finding herself running into Candy Pop and Detective Robert who is trying to bring Candy Pop in.

I want to know if adding those two plot points will make the story better. I don't just want each chapter to be a short story with the same plot and no other main plot moving the story along. But, is this the right way to do it?

Your overarching plot looks still a bit barebone, but yeah. Having a central plot is almost always better than having no plot (unless your plot is shite).

If you currently don't want/can't write just plan things out. Or do everything else but writing