Literally none of my story ideas come with a plot, ever. WITHOUT FAIL, it’s always just an Aesthetic, like two and a half characters, some very, very vivid settings, and a weird concept. Never plot. Not even an inkling of a plot. My brain tosses me this cool stuff and is like welp i’ll be back in 4-5 business months
Don’t look for plots, look for problems.
Examples:
crippling debt
lonliness
a building is on fire
the world is going to end
failure
a broken heart
guilt
noises they can only hear
seperation
lack of strength
lack of wit
someone has too much pride
forbidden love
encouraged love?
Pick a problem, give it to a character, and let them try and solve it.
Bam: plot.
This is exactly Stephen King’s approach, outlined in “On Writing”. He prefers to start with a “What if?” situation, introduce characters, and then see what they do.
