Well hello there, Reader.

We’re often told to focus on the bigger picture. But for some of us—especially neurodivergents like me—that is beyond overwhelming.

How can I write a 50K word story? That’s too big!

How can I possibly create a weekly series? That’s every week!

But if you start thinking like that you’ve defeated yourself before you even start.

So what should you do?

Break a bigger project into small pieces that you can do in one session.

I know I’ve talked about this in past quests. About how to take a simple idea and expand it into a whole story.

But you can also use the same technique I explain in my 5-Day Story Creation Mini-Course to take an idea that seems too big and break it into manageable pieces.

In fact, it’s what I do each week when I sit down to write my Dark Fantasy Boys Love series They Come at Night.

I start with the premise for my series:

Two kingdoms trapped in perpetual war. Two orphans who are lies. And monsters who slither forth from the shadows of night.

The magical war between the Kingdoms of the Dragokin and Unikin has raged for hundreds of years. But the horrors do not end there. For from the blood-drenched soil rises lindwurms who come at night.

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Then take that week’s prompt word—in this case, I’ll use Episode 17’s which was Ominous. Then add the 5 Core Elements of Story I teach in my mini-course. And we get:

Prompt: Ominous

Legendary Character: Korik

Setting: The Wurm Wood on the outskirts of Ditchwater Village

Action: Fleeing through the Wurm Wood from Gunther

Foil: Gunther the village bully who constantly harasses Korik

Outcome: Korik is captured by Gunther and his horde

I then wrote 600+ words of Korik fleeing through the Wurm Wood—the place he fears most and swore he would never return to—from someone he fears even more. Ultimately he is captured by Gunther and his horde.

And this is how I consistently write a 500-900 word episode each week for my series. By taking my large Dark Fantasy saga premise and placing small fragments into these 5 slots. And then expanding those 5 sentences to complete my scene.

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Want another example?

Here’s one for What is Your Desire? A 5K word Boys Love Shrine Story I created for a Wattpad contest back in February.

Legendary Character: Takehiko Fujioka

Setting: A Shinto shrine for Inari

Action: Takehiko makes an ill-advised bargain when he encounters Kazumi a wish-granting kitsune (fox spirit) who resides at the shrine.

Foil: The infamous kitsune Kazumi, Devourer of Hearts

Outcome: Takehiko discovers that Kazumi is not the monster of rumor he was led to believe while on their date. And that losing his heart to a kitsune might have actually been a great bargain after all.

Already you can see a story taking shape.

You can use this same exact technique to write a weekly series. Create scenes for a short story. Or even write a whole book!

And if you do this, Reader, before you know it you’ll have written that 50K story. Or 22 episodes of your weekly series. And you’ll be far less overwhelmed.

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Your cohort in storytelling,

Kat Vancil

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PS👉 I just launched They Come at Night on Tapas and the World Anvil wiki is finally up too! So if you’re looking for cool worldbuilding extras go check it out.

PSS👉 I’ve started a Youtube channel which you can check out here. Right now it’s just a few shorts but there will be more awesome content in the future.

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The Saga Quest

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