You know that feeling when you sit down to outline your story and suddenly your brain just... freezes? The blank page stares back at you. You know you need some kind of structure—three acts, maybe? The Hero's Journey? Save the Cat?—but the moment you try to map out your story, everything feels rigid and suffocating. Or worse, you spiral into analysis paralysis, comparing different story frameworks until you're more confused than when you started.

Here's the ironic truth: the tools meant to help us organize our stories often become the very things that overwhelm us. But there's a creative problem-solving technique that can break through this structural gridlock, and it comes from an unexpected place—not a famous screenwriting guru or bestselling novelist, but from psychologist James Altucher's approach to breakthrough thinking.

What Is The Twenty Ideas Technique?

The Twenty Ideas Technique is deceptively simple: when you're stuck on a problem, force yourself to generate exactly twenty possible solutions. Not five. Not ten. Exactly twenty.

Why twenty? Because the first five ideas are usually obvious—the things you've already thought of. Ideas six through ten require a bit more effort. By the time you hit eleven through fifteen, you're scraping the bottom of your mental barrel, which is exactly where the magic happens. Those last five ideas (sixteen through twenty) often contain the most creative, unexpected solutions because you've exhausted all the conventional thinking and your brain has no choice but to get weird with it.

The technique works because it removes the pressure of finding the "right" answer and replaces it with a simple mathematical goal: reach twenty. It doesn't matter if idea #13 is ridiculous or if idea #17 contradicts idea #9. You're not committing to anything—you're just filling slots.

Applying It to Story Structure Overwhelm

When story structure feels overwhelming, it's usually because you're trying to solve too many problems at once: "How do I organize this plot? Which framework should I use? What if I choose wrong? What if it ruins my creative vision?"

The Twenty Ideas Technique short-circuits this spiral by giving you one focused task. Here's how to apply it:

Step 1: Define your specific structural problem

Don't just say "I'm overwhelmed by structure." Get specific. Are you struggling with how to arrange your existing scenes? Confused about where your story should start? Uncertain about act breaks? Pick one structural question that's blocking you.

Step 2: Set a timer for 15-20 minutes

This creates urgency and prevents overthinking. You're racing against the clock, not against perfection.

Step 3: Generate exactly twenty possible approaches

These can be frameworks, methods, organizational systems, or completely unconventional approaches. The key is hitting twenty, even if you have to get absurd toward the end.

A Real Example: Breaking Through the Outline Block

Let's say you're stuck on this problem: "How should I organize the sequence of events in my mystery novel?"

Here's what your twenty ideas might look like:

1. Use the traditional three-act structure
2. Follow Save the Cat beat sheet
3. Organize chronologically from beginning to end
4. Start with the crime and work backward
5. Use the seven-point story structure
6. Map it out on index cards and physically rearrange them
7. Create a timeline on a spreadsheet
8. Divide the story by locations instead of acts
9. Structure it around the clues revealed
10. Use Freytag's Pyramid
11. Organize scenes by which character has the POV
12. Structure it like a procedural TV episode
13. Draw it as a mind map with the crime in the center
14. Organize scenes by emotional intensity
15. Use sticky notes on a wall arranged by investigative thread
16. Structure it like a recipe (ingredients/steps/result)
17. Create a playlist and arrange scenes to match song moods
18. Use the Hero's Journey but make the "hero" the mystery itself
19. Organize it as a series of before/after comparisons
20. Arrange scenes in the order you're most excited to write them, then find the logic later

Notice what happened? The first ten ideas are fairly conventional—recognizable frameworks and standard advice. But by idea fifteen, you're getting more specific and personal. By idea twenty, you've stumbled onto something genuinely interesting: what if you organized your outline by emotional energy and enthusiasm rather than trying to force a predetermined structure?

Why This Works for Structural Overwhelm

The beauty of this technique for story planning is that it transforms structure from a decision you make once into a menu of possibilities you explore. You're no longer asking "Which structure is RIGHT?"—you're asking "Which of these twenty approaches interests me?"

The technique also reveals something crucial: you probably know more about story structure than you think. When you hit idea #7 or #8, you're already pulling from your accumulated knowledge. The overwhelm isn't from lack of information—it's from too many options and fear of choosing wrong.

By forcing yourself to twenty, you also give yourself permission to consider non-traditional approaches. Maybe your story doesn't fit neatly into three acts. Maybe structuring by emotional beats makes more sense than plot points. The technique legitimizes experimentation.

Making It Stick

After generating your twenty ideas, don't immediately start outlining. Instead:

- Circle three approaches that intrigue you (not the "correct" ones—the interesting ones)
- Try each one with just the first quarter of your story to see how it feels
- Combine elements from different ideas if that serves your story better

Remember, story structure isn't a test to pass—it's scaffolding to support your storytelling. The Twenty Ideas Technique reminds you that there are always more ways to build that scaffolding than the three or four methods everyone talks about.

Your Turn

The next time story structure feels like a straitjacket rather than a support system, grab a timer and a notebook. Pick your specific structural problem, set twenty minutes on the clock, and don't stop until you've hit idea number twenty.

You might surprise yourself with what emerges when you stop trying to find the "right" framework and simply explore what's possible. Sometimes the best way out of overwhelm isn't to think harder—it's to think wider.