What would happen if you put Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty in the mixer, added coffee to taste, then whipped it into a frenzy? (Pardon the rambling nature, it's still in the very general idea stage)

Here's the setting: Present day New York City (changing up the time can add plot possibilities)

Cinder-Beauty is the step daughter of the best plastic surgeon on 5th ave. Her stepmother and stepsisters are into the Botox, Gossip, and Social Climbing lifestyle while Cinder-Beauty is more into the Upstate NY outdoors scene, with the occasional Manolo thrown into the mix (she does after all have roots on the upper east side.)

Her stepmom and sisters don't understand her lack of interest in landing a rich husband or her interest in anything intellectual. They treat her as a pariah. Her stepmother and her stepmother's lawyer find a loop hole in the dad's will stating that Cinder-Beauty's trust fund can't be accessed by her unless she completes her bachelors degree. The stepmother, trying to keep Cinder-Beauty "poor", refuses to continue funding her college in hopes this will keep her out of the hallowed halls of learning.

Cinder-beauty, not to be deterred from earning her degree (trust fund as an incentive or no) gets a job and barely eeks out enough for tuition.

CB's best friend (who is also the daughter of another high profile MD) invites her to her older brother's birthday party. CB and the brother hit it off at the party. Unfortunately, her stepmother is there to see it all go down since his father is at the top of CB's stepmother's potential husband list.

The stepmom is not pleased with this so she drugs CBs drink. This sends her into a drug induced coma.

How exactly prince charming (her best friend's brother) rescues her and pulls her out of the deep sleep is something that hasn't quite resolved itself in my head yet.

...This is how merging plots can create a completely new story line.

Consider this scenario:

The plot of your current WIP has run out of steam and you've exhausted all the tricks in your bag to get the creative juices flowing again...coffee, take a break/look at it with fresh eyes, brainstorm with a writing buddy. But, *sigh* nothing has worked. You feel helpless as you watch your WIP sink slowly into the quicksand of your mind.

We've all been there. I know I definitely have. But, I was lucky enough to go through a plot crisis during one of the NaNoWriMo Write-Ins. One of my very wise fellow WriMos came to my rescue with this brilliant snippet of a writing tip: "Merge this WIP story line with another WIP you have on the back burner."

What followed those words was a true "AH-HA!" moment. Endless possibilities for where I could now take the story line began bubbling up from the depths of my mind.

So when you have two or more plots that to you look dried up, put both of them in a mixing bowl, add coffee and fold together for a juicier plot.