How do you come up with the smaller events in your story once you already have the big picture figured out?
I’m not entirely sure how to phrase this question, but I mean situations where you already have the main plot, themes, characters, setting, basically the whole overarching vision of the story.
But let’s say it’s a thriller/horror, and the plot moves forward largely through various smaller events. For example, games like in Squid Game or Alice in Borderland, or traps like in Saw. How do you come up with good ideas specifically for those kinds of elements? I’m wondering how creators come up with every individual round/trap and whether I’m the only one who struggles with thinking of this kind of stuff lol.
In my novel I have these, let's say, “rounds.” For each one, I know what it’s supposed to add to the story, what themes/messages it should convey, and what character conflicts I want to happen during it. But I struggle with coming up with the actual mechanics of the rounds in a way that feels interesting without becoming overly complicated. Which also makes me feel dumber than my villains who are coming up with these.
Theoretically, since I already know what they should contribute/change, I should probably also naturally know how they play out, but apparently my brain just doesn’t work like that.
I kind of feel this way about most events in stories in general. Like, you know certain events are needed for the plot/characters, but there could literally be 50 different events that would all work and push the story in a similar direction - you just have to choose one. Like choosing the next obstacle/battle/quest in some fantasy stories, where there could realistically be countless options.
Usually my ideas are either too abstract and I struggle to turn them into actual physical actions/scenes the characters can participate in, or I have a lot of ideas but all of them feel dumb/cliché/bad. Probably because I always feel like there could be some perfect idea out there that I’ll never think of.