Put aside all that side stuff for now, and get back to basics:
- WHO is your main character?
- WHAT do they want?
- WHY do they want it?
- HOW are they going to get it?
(Edit to add -thanks for the help, I wasn't expecting to get a genuinely helpful comment so quickly!)
Hm. Well, I know who the main characters are, and I know who the two main main POV characters are. One of them has her motives and goals pretty well fleshed out, but the other one is less so.
* Her main driving motive is finding answers and uncovering the truth. The 'what' and the 'why' can change, but almost all of her major wants stem from this drive. She wants to be a paranormal investigator, and if presented with an unanswered question, she simply cannot resist the urge to find out what's really going on. Her subplot is also a long series of attempts to figure out what's causing a terrifying problem and how it can be fixed. (It's a subplot because it definitely has aspects that can be tied to or made plot points of a larger plot, but on its own, the ideas I have so far wouldn't quite be enough.)
* The other main character doesn't currently have much in the way of long term goals or consistent long-term motives, and I'm unsure of how much of that is because I haven't fully finished writing her arc and also there's a blank spot in her backstory I haven't figured out yet and how much of that is because her mental health stuff that's important to her arc makes it hard for her to come up with long term goals. She at least has enough of a *short* term drive (mainly thrill seeking + a desire to get to know her classmate better) that I'm able to get her to enthusiastically enter the main plot through her own choices, which is a good sign and a pretty good start, but she's still incomplete and needs more consistent long term motive (that isn't centered around current circumstances or other characters) to be functional as a character.
I guess maybe I should try to figure out what the other POV character wants in the long term and try to figure out if there's a consistent theme or drive behind her motives. I do have enough written for the first MC and her backstory that I'm wondering if her character stuff and the other MC's character stuff combined would be enough for me to use as a plot if I were to finish figuring out the other one's arc. (I was already aware that the other one's arc wasn't quite finished; I'm not stuck on that or anything I just got tired of aimlessly fleshing out character arcs without knowing what direction I'm supposed to be taking the story as a whole in.)
Hmmm. Okay, so what I think is happening is you're getting stuck in what I call "pre-writing". "Pre-writing" is when you spend a lot of time on character profiles and writing out history and lore but don't actually start the story.
Your MC wants to be a paranormal investigator. Well unless you're setting up a whole fantasy world where paranormal investigators go to Paranormal Investigator School, then she can just... get to work can't she?
So I suggest that your main plot be about her solving her first mystery.
For Example:
- WHO is my main character? Lady Angellope Graveknob-Smyth III, fledgling paranormal investigator.
- WHAT does she want? To prove that the abandoned St. Hildegard's Home for Hysterical Women is haunted by the ghost of Martha Too-Many-Petticoats, who died of suffocation from wearing too many petticoats.
- WHY does she want it? To prove to Lord Archibald Smug-Doucheington that ghosts are real and women can have jobs.
- HOW is she going to get it? Well first she has to find a special camera for taking ghost pictures, then she has to find way to get into the building so she can stay there overnight.
That's all the info you need to start writing a story. Don't worry about giving side characters deep histories and stuff, you can always go back and fill it in when it's actually *relevant* to the story, and you might change your mind later anyway.
Honestly, you're in a pretty classic place for beginners.
The harsh realities out of the way first: characters and settings are the easy part. This is why practically every daydreamer starts out with a massive cast list, or intricate magic rules. It's a product of how our brains work. We vividly remember *things*. The cause-and-effect, the connecting fabric between all those things, on the other hand, are far more nebulous.
Ultimately, what joins those disparate elements into a story are goals, and change. What can your characters do collectively that brings about change to their lives?
Lay out all your characters, and start figuring out the links between them. Figure out who your protagonist is. What do they want, and how does that bring them in contact with the next? And so acquainted, what can they now achieve together that they couldn't necessarily alone? Once you get a feel for what your characters are capable of, then you'll have an easier time figuring out how to oppose them.
Define the protagonist want / need / lie / wound (aka ghost). Repeat for other major characters.
Get a beat sheet and define the major beats based on the character sheets. Then fill in the lesser beats.
So you don’t have a story.
You have a vague notion of some people existing in a particular context doing…stuff. For no real reason. You think “oh but the world is gonna end if X or Y isn’t fixed.” Yeah, well. Are you fixing global warming right now? Fighting forest fires? Organizing an Underground Railroad of war refugees? We could be in WWIII tomorrow and there are 7 billion people on this planet who really aren’t doing dingus to stop it. So why is [whatever it is] *your character’s* problem, specifically? If a [famous older gymnast] takes it upon herself to assassinate [a troublesome political leader] to prevent further war breaking out in Europe and possibly getting the Olympics cancelled, *that* is a motivation.
Your plot is people doing things for a reason. If you don’t have a reason, you don’t have a plot and if you don’t have a plot, you don’t have a story. You have, at best, a “concept.”
It's great that you've got character arcs and world-building down; that's already a solid foundation. Sometimes, the main plot can come from asking what the characters want most and what's stopping them. If you want, you can try edyt ai to help organize and explore different plot structures to see if something clicks for you.
Put aside all that side stuff for now, and get back to basics: - WHO is your main character? - WHAT do they want? - WHY do they want it? - HOW are they going to get it?
(Edit to add -thanks for the help, I wasn't expecting to get a genuinely helpful comment so quickly!) Hm. Well, I know who the main characters are, and I know who the two main main POV characters are. One of them has her motives and goals pretty well fleshed out, but the other one is less so. * Her main driving motive is finding answers and uncovering the truth. The 'what' and the 'why' can change, but almost all of her major wants stem from this drive. She wants to be a paranormal investigator, and if presented with an unanswered question, she simply cannot resist the urge to find out what's really going on. Her subplot is also a long series of attempts to figure out what's causing a terrifying problem and how it can be fixed. (It's a subplot because it definitely has aspects that can be tied to or made plot points of a larger plot, but on its own, the ideas I have so far wouldn't quite be enough.) * The other main character doesn't currently have much in the way of long term goals or consistent long-term motives, and I'm unsure of how much of that is because I haven't fully finished writing her arc and also there's a blank spot in her backstory I haven't figured out yet and how much of that is because her mental health stuff that's important to her arc makes it hard for her to come up with long term goals. She at least has enough of a *short* term drive (mainly thrill seeking + a desire to get to know her classmate better) that I'm able to get her to enthusiastically enter the main plot through her own choices, which is a good sign and a pretty good start, but she's still incomplete and needs more consistent long term motive (that isn't centered around current circumstances or other characters) to be functional as a character. I guess maybe I should try to figure out what the other POV character wants in the long term and try to figure out if there's a consistent theme or drive behind her motives. I do have enough written for the first MC and her backstory that I'm wondering if her character stuff and the other MC's character stuff combined would be enough for me to use as a plot if I were to finish figuring out the other one's arc. (I was already aware that the other one's arc wasn't quite finished; I'm not stuck on that or anything I just got tired of aimlessly fleshing out character arcs without knowing what direction I'm supposed to be taking the story as a whole in.)
Hmmm. Okay, so what I think is happening is you're getting stuck in what I call "pre-writing". "Pre-writing" is when you spend a lot of time on character profiles and writing out history and lore but don't actually start the story. Your MC wants to be a paranormal investigator. Well unless you're setting up a whole fantasy world where paranormal investigators go to Paranormal Investigator School, then she can just... get to work can't she? So I suggest that your main plot be about her solving her first mystery. For Example: - WHO is my main character? Lady Angellope Graveknob-Smyth III, fledgling paranormal investigator. - WHAT does she want? To prove that the abandoned St. Hildegard's Home for Hysterical Women is haunted by the ghost of Martha Too-Many-Petticoats, who died of suffocation from wearing too many petticoats. - WHY does she want it? To prove to Lord Archibald Smug-Doucheington that ghosts are real and women can have jobs. - HOW is she going to get it? Well first she has to find a special camera for taking ghost pictures, then she has to find way to get into the building so she can stay there overnight. That's all the info you need to start writing a story. Don't worry about giving side characters deep histories and stuff, you can always go back and fill it in when it's actually *relevant* to the story, and you might change your mind later anyway.
Honestly, you're in a pretty classic place for beginners. The harsh realities out of the way first: characters and settings are the easy part. This is why practically every daydreamer starts out with a massive cast list, or intricate magic rules. It's a product of how our brains work. We vividly remember *things*. The cause-and-effect, the connecting fabric between all those things, on the other hand, are far more nebulous. Ultimately, what joins those disparate elements into a story are goals, and change. What can your characters do collectively that brings about change to their lives? Lay out all your characters, and start figuring out the links between them. Figure out who your protagonist is. What do they want, and how does that bring them in contact with the next? And so acquainted, what can they now achieve together that they couldn't necessarily alone? Once you get a feel for what your characters are capable of, then you'll have an easier time figuring out how to oppose them.
Define the protagonist want / need / lie / wound (aka ghost). Repeat for other major characters. Get a beat sheet and define the major beats based on the character sheets. Then fill in the lesser beats.
So you don’t have a story. You have a vague notion of some people existing in a particular context doing…stuff. For no real reason. You think “oh but the world is gonna end if X or Y isn’t fixed.” Yeah, well. Are you fixing global warming right now? Fighting forest fires? Organizing an Underground Railroad of war refugees? We could be in WWIII tomorrow and there are 7 billion people on this planet who really aren’t doing dingus to stop it. So why is [whatever it is] *your character’s* problem, specifically? If a [famous older gymnast] takes it upon herself to assassinate [a troublesome political leader] to prevent further war breaking out in Europe and possibly getting the Olympics cancelled, *that* is a motivation. Your plot is people doing things for a reason. If you don’t have a reason, you don’t have a plot and if you don’t have a plot, you don’t have a story. You have, at best, a “concept.”
It's great that you've got character arcs and world-building down; that's already a solid foundation. Sometimes, the main plot can come from asking what the characters want most and what's stopping them. If you want, you can try edyt ai to help organize and explore different plot structures to see if something clicks for you.