Story authors

Basically, I've been working on this story and I've made some pretty good progress. Though it feels more like a character arc than a full story on its own. As in, it feels like it should lead to something and from something.

The story feels like it just suddenly starts and suddenly finishes, as if you walked in halfway through a movie and then left before the credits. Though it does make sense and seems like a good story in my opinion it just feels like there's something missing.

First of all, there's the issue of who these characters are. I have about 7 or so in the story so far, the lead and her ex and 3 new people vying for her affections, as well as a teacher and students from this baking school/class which sort of give a reason for the 3 people to know about our lead.

The plot is somewhat typical with the baking students getting fattened up whilst trying to fatten up our lead, to greater success than they ever could have hoped. Of course, things take a surreal and abstract turn real quick, so I'll just say the story isn't quite as typical as one might expect.

Though the catch is, I only know where the students (and by extension the 3 lovers) and teacher come from, the lead and her ex is where I have no idea.

Secondly, there's the ending which feels as if it's leading to something more. Our lead finds her true love amongst the 3 suitors and our lead learns to love her body, which sounds good on paper except for a few things:

She never really had issues loving her body, the actual ending seems more like "and she stopped gaining weight because she found a size she was happy with", which again seems fine. Though around the ending she's also learned how her body is empowering and gives her strength but I never go anywhere with it except for one scene.

Finding true love is nice, but this is the part where it seems like a subplot more than anything. The romance theme doesn't show up in the story until many scenes after it starts, so why does she suddenly care here?

It seems like our lead was doing something else and then suddenly was distracted by the idea of love and then at the end is ready to return fully to whatever else she was doing. So what was she doing?

Looking for inspiration in my own life or about anything I've gone through is no solution to this as some have suggested before. I tried various ways of accomplishing that, all ruining the story by taking into a dark place where it doesn't belong.

So my question is where else (other than just waiting for "the fish to bite" ) do I get ideas for this? How can I figure this out from what I already have?

Funny I don't remember dreaming up a blonde woman named Emily who lives in Canada, but okay.

Dear thoughtform henceforth named Emily,

Weight gain stories do indeed suffer this problem as you have mentioned, I wanted to make a story that didn't have them to show it was indeed possible, this was my goal. A story where the weight gain is one conflict that serves the purpose of solving the other conflict.

So like you said, it's a sort of romance story, but most romance stories that aren't about weight gain have another the problem the lead solves by hooking up with the love interest.

Take for example most Hallmark Xmas movies: dreamboat boyfriend comes from the big city to a small town where the female lead's family has worked for years running a small business, then after the two meet and after they've sort of dated a while chaos ensues, it is revealed the boyfriend was from the company trying to buy out the small business her family runs, infuriated she storms off but then thinks it over and only by dreamboat boyfriend showing he has true feelings for the female lead that the two get back together and this is usually also accompanied by him telling corporate the deal is off.

By falling in love, the boyfriend saves the small business from corporate takeover. The romance conflict solves the other conflict. This is the formula I'm trying to replicate here, but I don't have any idea what that other conflict would be.

I have gotten closer by figuring out that the lead should be a rich woman who is used to being fat already and then she is made skinny and has to gain all of her weight back (and then some). So this narrows things down but doesn't give me exactly what to do.

I've considered many options, perhaps she's bought a house and is looking for treasure in its walls and instead finds more ways to gain weight until she eventually finds out that perhaps the gift of getting to gain weight all over again was the treasure or something like that.

Perhaps she's part of a scavenger hunt game that she is able to win almost by doing nothing due to her weight gaining. During this it is revealed the game master was up to no good in the first place and she has foiled his scheme.

These are some of many I've thrown out because alas they don't quite work.

I've also struggled with what medium this should be presented in which also makes the goal harder to find. This could be just a linear story or an interactive story, but I can't quite decide which best fits or which I'd rather have.

I only know that it has to be a visual medium, I just know better how to convey feelings through visuals. I can describe these visual but they aren't as impactful. If I describe the Red Room from Twin Peaks (room draped in curtains, chairs, floor with zing-zagged zebra lines) it doesn't leave the impression seeing it in the show does.

Not to mention the whole talking in reverse, how do you convey that without sound? ti t'nsi ,daer ot gnitairufnI? This doesn't work to give the same feeling.

Perhaps that is all a topic for another day, but hopefully this helps explain the issue. You're very much correct, the ending will need to be discerned first and then the rest will fall into place.

- Lydia

PS: Do you know any other thoughtforms and are we your first to talk to?

Honestly, this has been very inspirational. I think I will try making just what I want and then just releasing it anyway.

If they don't like it, they signed up for knowing what they were getting into so it's not my problem.

I've also managed to figure out that I have indeed been looking at this backwards. if I want the character to have a goal then I need the goal first (it seems so obvious now, I don't know why I didn't see it sooner, possibly something to do with stress and not thinking clearly).

Thank you, I hopefully can post a demo soon, somewhere.

Hey if its melts then you can drink it, maybe make them into milkshakes perhaps?

I can't be held responsible for any growing of the ass that may caused by the consumption of mentally created ice cream, I wrote down how many calories per serving there are in those tubs, it's not my fault it's so high.

I also can't be held responsible for the overdoing of the ice cream, go big or go home they say.

Best of wishes, Lydia