I’ve got a loose idea i’ve been thinking of pursuing, i’m just gonna word vomit it out there to get it out of my head
I’ve been thinking a lot about character design and challenging myself, but I’ve also been thinking a lot about writing and original concepts. It’s very important to me that I write a book one day, and I have story ideas that sort of loosely rattle around but have no real substance. I know myself though and I know that my thoughts are very hazy and static like, so I never fully imagine them cause to hold them that clearly in my head is like next to impossible
so i want to come up with an event for the development of story concepts. You know how Nanowrimo is a month of working on and writing your novel with a certain word count in mind? I want to kind of do something (for myself, but hosted in a way that other people can participate too) for the VISUAL development of ideas. It can be character sheets, character redesign, tone designs (is it snowy and cool tones and damp; is it warm and cluttered and active?), environment studies, asset development (bags, bottles, books, brooms; currency, architectural styles, food, etc.). Stuff like that
It would be an ongoing challenge to encourage visual development of an idea, and it can work like Video Game concept art or a thesis project for animation students, just the gradual collection of visual themes for an idea of yours. It applies to comics but also to straight up novels, because i know that books and stories are easier for me to imagine if i can SEE them.
For myself specifically, i have like 3 or 4 book ideas that were never anything past daydreams. I want to develop the character designs and the environments they take place in to better determine whether or not they have any momentum. If one stands out to me I can develop it further, if not then i can transfer to developing a new idea. Maybe i can even subvert a character design ENTIRELY within the same universe, and then see if maybe THAT has any story viability.
Does anyone else think about these kinds of things? would people mind if i started doing that to develop original concepts on my main blog? I’d have to come up with a tag to keep it in, on the assumption that i produce much of anything. But i need SOMETHING to encourage myself to work on my original ideas more.
Would a themed month of like “Week 1: Character Redesigns! Take your original idea and throw it out the window, turn it completely on its head while maintaining key concepts; force yourself to have a different take on it. Do you like what you came up with better or worse? Maybe you had a young goofy protag with a giant key; now try imagining them as a very old, frail man burdened under the weight of a THOSUAND keys, whats that like?
Week 2: Environment Development! Do one imagining of the area, now subvert it entirely. Do it once more, now combine the best aspects of the three, where are you?”
Etc. Etc.
i dunno im just barfing but organizing a concept design event seems like a lot of fun
