An ongoing hurdle with most of my stories is finding a plot. Well, not always a plot. But something going on that the characters, themes, and events center around.
For example, I recently did a short story to explain how Joaquin came to live at Evva's farm. I knew basically what would happen. But it wasn't enough to fill out a story. As I was brainstorming, I filled out the setting. The city gets seasonal wetlands, and is a place where migratory birds spend the winter. I'd heard of places that have festivals to welcome the migratory birds. That even fit with the themes of the story.
This is why I keep a big file of random ideas. Sometimes I only need something small like "migratory bird festival" to fill in a gap that makes a story whole. Once I have that, the characters will help me fill in around it.
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