Need a little help from some writers. I'm trying something new...

Da Shins Kelly

Right, so I like to do a bit of creative writing in my spare time. I write short stories mostly, and I usually go with the theme of family. My stories usually centre around families in conflict, and they're always focused on the idea of a typical Irish family. I feel comfortable writing stories like these, and usually take inspiration from events that have happened in my own family life, because I think that's pretty easy to relate to. Everyone has had blazing rows with their parents, and there's always been generational conflicts in families, so it's something that I think most people are familiar with.

However, recently I've been trying to push myself out of my comfort zone to try something new. I'm a big fan of gothic horror, I love stories like Jekyll and Hyde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Dracula, etc. The settings and the atmosphere in these books are particular aspects that I love. I'm also big into Asian horror movies, also because of the atmosphere and lingering creepiness of them. So, I've been testing it out to see if I am able to write something like this, but I'm really having a very hard time getting ideas down. I have some ideas for characters, but I can't think of a good plot. I'm kinda getting a bit of writer's block.

Just wondering if anyone here has tried to write something entirely different to what they're usually comfortable with, and how has it worked out? Also, any suggestions to help me get my thoughts in order and get ideas on the page.

Many thanks!

CD.

I have tried to write outside my comfort zone and it works as long as i have a specific prompt (it was in creative writing class) but i do find it difficult if i say right, i'll write romance, it will inevitable drift away from it. i wrote a short story that began as romance and soon after, the wife found a pair of panties underneath the bed.

One was to start would be to do just that, begin somewhere, anywhere in your story, preferably as close to the action as you can make it.

Maybe, for experimental purposes you could try take ideas that already have been set out, like myths and legends and try to tell them in a gothic style to give you the hang of it so you don't have to worry about plot, but just how its told. then, when you are comfortable with that you'll be able to tell what does and doesn't work in that style and you can refine your ideas so they will work in that style.

cobsie

Why not try to combine what you are already comfortable with and a new style such as gothic? In other words, if your stories are about families in conflict, why not take the same theme and transpose it to an isolated crumbling house with a mad syphilitic son (Fall of the House of Usher)? You might have more success if you stuck to the themes and plots that you are used to, but changed the settings and emphasis slightly to help you explore a new angle. No need to reinvent the wheel