posted
Hi everyone! I've enjoyed reading all your posts and decided to contribute one of my own.
I've decided to start a writing project. I have some ideas already about characters and the world (its going to be a fantasy). I've fleshed out some very basic and broad plot directions.
My question is, what else should I do? Any advice to guide my humble beginning would be appreciated. Do I need to have more complete plot line? Do I even need to know the ending?!?!?
I would love to hear your advice. Thanks in advance
posted
I've mentioned some of this in passing on other threads, but I'll elaborate.
It seems to me you have everything in place to start.
You may want to buy a notebook or open another file to use as a bible. A place to jot down plot or character developments that take place later. I have a thing where I have to write in order, but I written whole passages in my bible file and then copy and paste when I get to that part. It's also a good place to write down idea fragments, It might not be fully fleshed out but it never will be if you forget it.
Other people have mentioned this and I agree with it. You propably dn't want to write an outline or detailed synopsis. It could take the fun out of writing the story. I mean you already know what's going to happen next.
My advice it just start. Do your research as you go and have fun. You're new (least I haven't seen you around) so I'll give you my gem I beat everyone over the head with. Characters are the key. Plot is character device not vice versa. (my opinion--although I'm right. )
Sounds like you have everything you need. Go for it!
posted
Depending on how you function as a writer, it might help to have decided on major plot points and an ending in a very general sense, just so you know where you are steering the story. Other people prefer to jump in with out such a safety net (or restriction as they see it). Only you can decide what sort of category you fall into. Trial and error seems to be the best way to determine what sort of writer you are.
Even if you do plan, be prepared to change that plan as you go along. You’re going to discover things as you write that will need to be incorporated. So it’s okay if you don’t end up with what you started going for. That first plan just paved the way for the real story that was trying to get out. This last bit I speak from personal experience on.
posted
Everything that John said is excellent advice. I've found that, especially with fantasy, it helps immensely to map out your magic system and world in writing, so that if you forget later, you can refer to your hard copy instead of making up stuff that might be inconsistent. Drawing maps is super fun, too, and it helps me to get comfortable in my world, and to describe more accurately and vividly where and what is happening (especially if characters are traveling). That's my two cents' worth...
Posts: 814 | Registered: Nov 2000
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posted
I am fairly new here as well, but for what it is worth, learn. Take nothing personally, focus on what is important to you and learn all you can. Just remember that advise is not hard and fast, you can choose to take it or leave it, but there is always something you can gather from it. Good luck and have tons of fun with it. Corinna
Posts: 17 | Registered: Jul 2002
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posted
I totally agree with you ladyscribe. I have the same attitude when someone looks over one of my stories and gives me advice. I take the manuscript with their notes and open the file, but I highlight the shit out of all their suggestions before I do.
pink = make the change
green = I'll make the change, but need to think about how to fix it.
blue = F--k off.
A suggestion or advice is just that. You don't have to take it.
JOHN!
[This message has been edited by JOHN (edited August 21, 2002).]
I bought two notebooks to record ideas and the like in. I've already come up with several new ideas. Never realized how many little jewels are running around in my head.
Anyways, I'm wondering if I should concentrate on a short story or the novel idea? Any ideas?
quote:I'm wondering if I should concentrate on a short story or the novel idea? Any ideas?
Well, you could try the short story ideas first, since it will take fewer words, and if you don't like writing short stories, then try the novel ideas.
You do know, don't you, that it requires more than one idea for even a short story? And novels require lots of ideas.
I had been wondering whether it was better for the novice writer to begin with short stories due to their length. Novels always seemed like huge undertakings in comparison. I am quickly learning that this is not the case. The primary difference seems to be time spent at the keyboard
[This message has been edited by squid-head (edited August 24, 2002).]
posted
Short stories are hard!!! At least for me, because you have to limit the description and setting and everything else to fit for a smaller piece. It's the reverse of a novel, I think, where you have to fit many characters and descriptions and scenes together. It's simply the opposite and just as hard. For me at least.
Also, for beginning to write, I extremely recommend downloading wordweb. I don't remember the download site right now, but you can go to yahoo.com and look up 'download wordweb'. It's a thesaurus type thing and has been really excellent for me, if I get stuck on a word or phrase.
posted
Work out the background in as much detail as you can. Work out the rules of the magic in your fantasy, etc., so that there will never be any question as to what is "legal." I've found by working out my rules (I use science, rather than magic, but it's the same idea), you'll encounter some wierd unintended consequences that will really give your story the extra little bit that makes it seem real.
Example: I came up with an interesting new twist on how to make cyborgs. That's not a story. Once I looked at the science, in detail, I realized that my cyborg would not be able to exert himself without a massive risk of heatstroke -- now THAT made for an interesting story. Same idea as kryptonite -- the invincible character is not so invincible.
SUMMARY: The unintended consqeunces of the rules you make up are where your coolest plot points and ideas will come from.
[This message has been edited by chad_parish (edited August 25, 2002).]
I tried to write several novels (five or six) having only a sapling of an idea. None of them lived passed the 100-page mark. And the reason why was because I hadn't spend enough time planning. Yes, I had the characters. Yes, I had some basic plot ideas. But what I hadn't done was spend time seeing how all of these ideas related.
OSC talks about 1000 ideas per hour seminar, or something like that. He does what Robert Heinlein recommends: change one idea and see what happens to the story. What happens when you do this is that you begin to see gaps in your story--big gaps. You realize you haven't thought the story through enough.
Yesterday, I just started fleshing out an idea for a new story, which will probably end up being a novel. I called a friend and had a two-hour brainstorming session. Later in the evening, after a period of mental digestion, I wrote down my ideas. I used OSC's M.I.C.E. quotient. I had the milieu; I had the idea; I had the characters; but I didn't have the event! In other words, I realized that I didn't have the cosmic story--the story that makes the characters' stories matter! (For example, what would Luke's story be without Darth Vader or the Death Star?) Now I have work to do. I need to think of a cosmic story to go along with the other story lines.
I can say this: I didn't do this with my other novels. I never thought things through in such detail. I don't know if I'll end up being an full-fledged outliner or not, but I think I will be. I am already leaning in that direction.
Stephen King, as you may know, despises outlining. Yet, OSC outlines. My advise it to try one way. If it works, then it worked for that project; it might not work for another one. If it doesn't work, then try something else.
One last point. Tad Williams wrote a 100-page outline for his fantasy trilogy, Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn, and a 20-page outline for his much more complicated Otherland Series. Perhaps you might need to do more as a neophyte and less as a veteran.
[This message has been edited by Balthasar (edited August 30, 2002).]
posted
Have you ever met one of those annoying people that will play a game that you yourself invented with you, and win using some loophole that you never even knew existed?
Posts: 8322 | Registered: Aug 1999
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posted
It's best to know where you're going when you write a novel. It's kind of like planning a vacation. You decide you're going to Disney World. You check the bank account and the credit cards, yup you got the money. You arrange vacation time, squabble for the week you want. You kennel the animals, arrange someone to water the plants and you lock all the doors and windows before you leave. You get in the car and start driving, planning to head south, hopefully take a day or two to get there and probably check into one of the hotels at the resort, or just outside of it....
That's a outline. It lets you have the right clothes packed, the correct people in the car, and the car going the right direction. Hey, you break down next to a crocidile farm and little brother gets eaten, well, you KNEW where the story was going but now this sidetrip has taken over.
If you don't have an outliine, then the novel might go two or five chapters and then die. Basically knowing what you're aiming for is good.
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