Ask anyone who has ever built or made anything if they could have achieved the same results without their tools. Almost universally, if they are being honest, they will say, "No" or "Not to the same level".
Architecture requires an understanding of how shapes work together. How much of a load materials can carry. The realistic size the structure will need to be in all of is glory to be feasible and roughly the geometry of the area it is built in.
Carpenters need hammers, saws, levels, nails, measuring devices, and plans that have been drafted by an architect or an engineer.
Chefs need sharp knives, good quality pots and pans with the correct density, meat, produce, seasonings, cooking surfaces, and the like.
The lists go on and on. Every job that builds, creates, strengthens, destroys. All of them require tools to function.
What about writers?
Words convey our thoughts, feelings, and beliefs to the rest of the world. Every writer who faces the page whether it be physical or digital have the same method of conveying their thoughts, feelings, and beliefs. Words.
"Well yeah, that's great and all, but what's the point if I can't start?"
There are on average three real places to start writing. The beginning. The middle. And the end.
Some writers just start putting words on page and figure out where their story is at based off of that. Many need additional tools.
Plot mapping, is a useful tool to get you from A to B to C. This is a great route for linear characters and Lego block characters that don't need growth who never really develop a personality and their only real objective is to make sure that things get from one point to another. These are great when writing short stories, where all that matters is how it ends.
There is nothing wrong with that style of writing. That's how many stand alone summer block buster stories get written.
Having said all of that, plot mapping can still be a useful tool for narrative writing, as long as the journey is just as if not more important than the destination.
Another style of writing consists of character based writing. For many this is represented by self insert characters where they tell the story as if they were the character in the world and what they would do within the situation and there is nothing wrong with that either. To keep it from falling flat though other characters need to be presented as well. They can be based off of people the writer knows, or by preexisting characters that others have created.
"Isn't that just fan fiction?"
Sure, it can be, but why does it have to be?
Human beings are flawed. Every single one of them. That also needs to hold true for our characters as well as in our worlds.
Having said all of that, writing characters can still be hard. So, after a lot of self reflection and thought on what elements make a story good for me, I started making lists of elements I like in stories.
Then I asked a friend, if he were placed in a situation where he died (through no fault of his own) and was given the chance to come back to life through wither reincarnation or Transmigration in another world, with three wishes, what would he choose? We discussed it for two hours coming up with rules and consequences.
Then I chose to write it all down. Introducing Random. Omnipotent. Being. 37. You can call him Rob. I further narrowed the scope and limitations of what the R.O.B. would allow us to choose and how it should function.
I then took those elements and further classified them on how I could use them to develop a story from where I like to start. The character.
Well, that started off nicely with me busting out four chapters in less than 4 hours. I was off to the races. Then I encountered my first stumbling block. I didnt know which point to start at. Where does my story start? Arguably the story has already started, but I would disagree. I'm still writing the background and creating the world of the story. I know what elements I would like to have my character encounter in the story. I know how I want the character to encounter them. I even know which characters are doomed to die in the story. Yet, here I still don't know how my story starts.
Alas. That story sits for now as my mind puzzles through and decides on how it will play out, but I can still work on other things.
Introducing R.O.B. 38. A whole new (OC) character generator based off of Dice rolling. A character generator that exists both because I enjoy tabletop gaming, as well as the question of what would I do with a character who is flawed due to my own dice rolls.
R.O.B. 38 has the same power as R.O.B. 37, but doesn't want to see a character that never faces a set back.
Having put to page my thoughts on these Random omnipotent beings, I have also decided to put to page my thoughts on writing itself as well as the process of writing using these elements. I will also further sharpen and develop the tools I use to write.
Every job has it's tools. For writing, words are not our tools. They are our medium. The tools are what we use to shape our medium to create and tell the stories in our minds.
Only through writing can we sharpen our tools and better utilize them to give our words the best chance to show others what we see inside.