Article: The beauty of animation is that you can come up with the craziest plot imaginable and have it drawn into life. Embrace the possibilities of animation and create a plot that is unique and imaginative. Avoid familiar plot ideas that you've heard before. Challenge yourself to create a plot that puts a unique spin on a familiar idea. For example, rather than start with a familiar plot like boy meets girl and tries to get girl, you may go for a plot like boy meets cyborg girl and tries to win her heart by fighting off killer dinosaurs. Create a main character that has distinct characteristics or personality traits. Give your main character a backstory that makes them particular or strange. You may use a real life person as inspiration for your main character or create a main character from scratch. For example, maybe you have a main character who is a young girl born with a third eye. Or perhaps you have a main character who is a creature from the swamp, half-man, half-animal. You can even have a main character that is not human, such as a walking square or a talking lamp. You can also focus your story on a cast of characters, such as an oddball family or a pair of strange siblings. Make up a setting by combining your hometown with your favorite planet. Or exaggerate a setting, such as your high school, by putting it in a black hole in space. Use the setting as inspiration for your characters and your plot. For example, if you decide to use a setting like your high school in space, you may then come up with characters like teenage aliens who go to the high school. Tossing ideas back and forth with a partner may help you generate a stronger story for the animation. Ask a friend, peer, or family member to brainstorm ideas with you. Try yelling out a character idea and then having your writing partner respond with a different idea or add on to it. You can also try making a mind map with your writing partner to help generate story ideas. Bring your brainstorming ideas to life by drawing storyboards for a few possible scenes in your script. Draw out squares on plain paper and sketch out details like setting, time of day, and scenery for the scene. Include character dialogue and action in the storyboards. See how your ideas work visually in the storyboards. Do storyboarding for a few potential plots or characters you are thinking about. You can then tweak your ideas when you sit down to write the draft of the script. Get a better sense of the genre by watching cartoons that are considered unique and well-written. Listen to the dialogue of the characters. Notice how the plot in each cartoon moves forward in interesting and unexpected ways. Watch a mix of animated television shows and films. You may watch: The Simpsons South Park Rick and Morty BoJack Horseman The Powerpuff Girls Up Steven Universe The Amazing World Of Gumball

What is a summary?
Come up with a unique plot. Focus on an interesting main character or cast of characters. Explore a surreal or strange setting. Brainstorm with a partner. Create storyboards. Watch examples of animated cartoons.