Ojo-style Idea Generation Technique: "Total Affirmation Association Tree" [How to Create a Plot]

■ Consultation: "My hands stop when I get stuck on a plot"

Thank you for the lovely message as well!
Ah~~~ that happens, it really does! Please accept this internet hug of understanding❣

First of all, if you can't think of anything, it's not the right time, soyou don't have to force yourself to squeeze out ideas❣ that is the point🌹

While you are working on other things you want to do or things that excite you at the time, your knowledge and repertoire will increase, and at some point, they will cause a chemical reaction, and the story you want to write will be born...!

However, if you have a necessity to work hard, such as having to meet a deadline, let's give it a good push.

■ A mechanism to generate a large number of ideas anyway

Anyway,ideas are about quantity! Let's come up with 100.

Reference & Goal ↓

...I might have gotten a bit ahead of myself.
Butultimately, aim for about 100.

It might be good to just write down your favorite elements and expand on them by thinking, "If I were to turn this into a story..."

There are various methods, but I recommendthe "method of writing ideas in a notebook and connecting associations"!

The "Memory Tree" introduced in "Dragon Zakura" is similar. I actually used this for my entrance exam studies. Nostalgic~!

The relevant part of the manga (detailed explanation) is posted here, and I thought it was a massive unauthorized reproduction, but it was the official website. Sorry for the screenshot.

This is a method of creating many triggers for memory and memorizing through associations.

This time, as an idea generation technique, I will share what I do when I get stuck under the name"Total Affirmation Association Tree"!

※ At the stage where I talked about it on Twitter, I said it was a "Mind Map" while my memory was still vague🙇💦
My method was correctly a "Spider Diagram" of a "Concept Map"! It's the kind of thing used for brainstorming ideas.

Mind maps have strict rules, and you need a lecturer's qualification to teach them in public places.
They can also be used for free thinking and organizing your heart, so check them out if you are interested❣

◎ Decide on a theme

It's the theme of "what the work is about." Rough is OK!
It's easy to write about your favorite tropes or fetishes, but you can also do it with random words❣

The easiest things to write about are classic tropes or things you personally like.

You can pick a single word at random from your surroundings or a dictionary, or even use prompt websites or idea generation tools, you know!❣

For example, let's borrow a few from the legendary prompt site "It Was Definitely Love".

Like this, write your theme in the center of a piece of paper or somewhere similar.

◎Connect associations no matter what

This time, let's go with "being trapped." Next, draw lines outward and follow your associations as far as they go.

Start like this. Just let it flow. It doesn't have to be neat, it's totally fine!
(I'm imagining a romance involving police or detective professions.)

I've come up with "locker (trapped location)" and "mental confinement (something else associated with 'trapped')."

As much as you can think of, keep going, keep going,expanding both horizontally (parallel ideas) and vertically (details and causal relationships).

Draw lines from "being trapped" and start with whatever comes to mind, like "locker," "elevator," "snowy mountain," "secret room," "kidnapping/confinement," "car submerged in water," etc.

Then, draw lines from each item to deepen the details.
If it's "being trapped - locker," think about why they were trapped and what kind of behavior they would show at that time.

Here,the one thing you must not do is "reject ideas in your brain"!
For now, even if it's a weak idea, write it down. Even if it's a crappy idea, it's fine! Write it on paper!
Seeing the words you've written acts as a stimulus, and it might connect to other unexpected ideas.
So, for any idea that comes to mind,write it all down! The goal here is to gather quantity; you can refine them later!

Don't reject them in your head, just scribble down everything you think of!
While doing that,you'll start to see the difference between ideas that lead to further associations and those that don't.

For example, maybe "baseball tropes" don't come to mind at all, but "camping tropes" bring up tons of ideas! Like, "Character A takes the lead in starting a fire, B silently sets up the tent alone, and C complains about the bugs," or "They're having fun, and then a bear appears when they try to sleep! What do they do!"... These kinds of fun, flowing associations... these are the eggs of a plot, you know!❣

Also, if you're wondering, "Should I go to the mountains or the sea?" regarding "traveling,"there's no need to worry! Don't reject anything in your head; write it all down. Write both routes! You can edit later!

You don't have to think about making it a beautiful story or making it a popular trope at all!
Anyway,immerse yourself in the primitive joy of creative activity where "imagination continues to be fun"❣

For example, in the photo, "locker," "elevator," "snowy mountain," and "secret room" came out in an instant, and they are the kind of lineup that pops up immediately when thinking about tropes in your head.

However, as I deepened each one on paper, more and more associations connected.
Beyond "snowy mountain," it led to "warming each other up" -> "they can talk properly, so they can make up." In other words, I was able to reverse-calculate the causal relationship that "these two were having an argument!"
But then, the question arose, "Why are they together on a snowy mountain if they're fighting?" so to solve that, I was able to make it consistent by saying, "They went with everyone from work, but the two of them got separated."

I created a baby plot that I couldn't have gotten just by vaguely thinking in my head, "Men, closed space, snowy mountain. Something is bound to happen... hehehe..."

Another one that bounced off in an unexpected direction, like a rugby ball, was the "being trapped - kidnapping/confinement" route.
This one extended a tree based on the premise that (if you're going to confine someone, you should hide them in a place where they won't be found), leading to "I put a tracker on them, so I know where they are and can rescue them." ...That's a stalker!!
So, it became a story where a stalker who has a code of not hurting their beloved "oshi" (favorite) gives a "lesson" to a regular stalker who kidnapped and terrified their oshi, showing them "the difference in their class" (??).

It's outrageous! There's no ethics, but it's a somewhat fresh story.
Even I was surprised, as it was a direction I hadn't expected at all.

It is fine if it is a messy, handwritten scribble up to this point.

◎ Edit and organize into a plot to complete

Select one idea that you have associated extensively or that you found most interesting as the seed of your plot. From there, begin the editing process.

Select and discard ideas to some extent, and if you want a climax or a punchline, create them at the beginning.
You can use ideas from different lines or make bold cuts.

You can write it out neatly on a different sheet of paper, or at this stage, you can input it into a PC or smartphone to make it text data.

...The rest is just your usual plot creation. If you are forcing yourself to come up with ideas, this is how you do it‼️


Depending on the consultant's preferences, for example, if it is fan fiction, wouldn't it be fun to try 'thinking through every possible major parody'?
If the original work has a lot of blank space, it is also an option to consider every possible 'between episode X and episode Y' scenario.

When you have exhausted every possible idea you can think of, you will find... the gems of ideas❣

To avoid being satisfied just at the plot stage, you can also do what I wrote about in this consultation: 'Don't decide everything rigidly; save the details for when you are actually writing.'

※ I am currently writing a longer, paid article based on this.

Anyway,with total affirmation and no rejections, keep churning out ideas in a gritty way!This is the only way!

I also take nearly a month for long stories, groaning as I come up with ideas and craft them into a plot.

I am rooting for your fun creative activities~❣

■ Reply received

Wow! Thank you for the reply and for putting it into practice so quickly!
That honest ability to execute is surely a quality that is irreplaceable!

Ah~ I understand, I understand...! I used to do that too, 'rejecting, editing, and carefully selecting ideas in my brain like crazy'! That is why I would get stuck and stop writing...
Once I switched to 'doing every possibility first' at some point, my hands started moving immediately.

Exactly! Sometimes it turns into an unexpected idea, and even ideas that you would reject on their own can bloom when connected to others.

It might be a bit of a hassle, but the association tree in the photo was written in about 5 minutes. Once you get used to it, you can write it quickly, so it is very convenient. I want to spread this excitement...!

I am truly happy to have been of help!
Thank you for your lovely message!!

■ Recommendations

A site where you can draw random tarot cards to help with your plot

A site where you can draw random words

A clear stream of words standing in the forest of the internet. Please take a look♡

ChatGPT can also be used for gacha-style brainstorming.

↓ In the column added today (9/5/24), I explain how to use ChatGPT for search assistance and brainstorming, covering what is likely safe to use and what is risky and should be avoided. From the perspective of a creator who wants to protect copyright while incorporating the viewpoint of the engineering field where copy-pasting is standard, the content emphasizes that 'commonplace idea assistance is fine, but you should write the main text yourself.'