Does anyone else have trouble coming up with SIMPLE story ideas?
By "simple," I guess I mean it's ONE basic idea, not too broad or over the top. An example would be Mare's story "The Importance of Fly Fishing." The idea is that Kevin and Nick bond during a fishing trip together. The premise is simple, but that's the beauty of that story, because it leaves so much room for good conversation and character development between those two.
Pretty much everything I've ever read or learned about writing says that it's best to pick ONE idea, one basic premise, and stick with that, but I have such a hard time doing that. Most of my novel ideas tend to be big and "epic" and over the top. And a lot of the time, I'll think they have the potential to be good ideas, but because they're so big, they overwhelm me so much that I never get much further than the planning stages on them. I have a whole folder full of notes and bits of outlines for ideas, some of which I've been sitting on for YEARS, hoping for the right time to come along for me to write them.
Anyone else feel the same way?
As a writer, do you tend to write simple stories with just one or two main characters, one storyline, etc., or do you tend to write more complex stories with more characters, subplots tangled within the main story arc, etc.?
As a reader, which do you prefer to read, simple plots or more complex ones? Does your writing preference mimic what you usually read?
And lastly, especially for those who are good at finding those smaller storylines, do you have any tips for simplifying your ideas?
