Thoughts of a Mad Man

A trove of story ideas

I was just thinking that practice plots can be a powerful method of self therapy.





Is there something that you're afraid to do? Start a wannasoi.





That's my madlib outline that goes:





I want to...


So I,...


Hoping that...


Fearing that...


Instead...





And you just cycle through until that comes to a conclusion. Even the most boring wannas can come into a story as hopes and fears whiz by. However, what if you drew on your anxiety?





So lets say I need to set up medical insurance and I'm putting off doing it.





I wanna get medical insurance


So I google the number


hoping that I will get a good deal


fearing that I will get refused due to price


instead I get put on hold till I am late for work





So I rush out of my house


Hoping that I will make it


Fearing that I will get fired


instead I get pulled over by Helen, my ex





So I try to talk nice


hoping that she will let me off


fearing that she holds a grudge


instead she is lonely...





Now by this point, my mind has totally gotten off the subject. I haven't plumbed the depths of the worry but I have survived it in my imagination, and that's something.





Some other variations:


Wannasohe: try this in 3rd person; it's easier to think about what Jo or Joe could do than what I could do.





Make it silly. If it's really worrying you, you needn't plan it to victory but only to comedy. What is the stupidest thing that could happen? Applying for medical insurance won't get me stuck in a lame date with my ex (who is many states away and has never been in law enforcement except tangentially as a teacher) but what if my Ex ropes me into running away from mind controlling aliens and we're running out of tinfoil?





Humor is the All-clear for societal stress, so that's something.





One way to do humor is make it slapstick by asking what could go wrong and then what could go wrong befor e that. So I wanna get insured but I drop my phone in the bathroom water. No, before I pick up my phone there's a raccoon in my room dialing my phone. So I now have to explain to my boss why a racoon called him in the middle of the night. and before I can do that the racoon starts to chew on my laptop cable. So I reach for the broom to brush him off.





Before I can do that I slip on some macaroni that the racoon spread on the floor.





And so on, the key being that it should be something that a) you'd need to deal with and b) that happens before you've dealt with the first and c) that somehow follows however improbably from the existing situation.





Eventually your mind gets the idea you're making fun of the problem and now you've got the idea that you've survived and that it was never that big a deal.





So what's the story would you try this? Comedy or Drama plans?