I am not very good at mapping things out on paper. I know what i ultimately want to happen in my head with the story line. As i write though the character begins to build around my writing you know? currently I have a sociopath KGB agent/ government hit man, addicted to killing, and is about to be betrayed by his own country which he has literally spent his whole life in service of. while carrying out a hit in d.c. the city gets hit with chemical nukes that turns everyone into radioactive zombies. i have alot more but ya. it would take awhile to explain all of it. sounds cheesey i know.
My new adult's novel is literally on the first chapter, as I submitted as part of my coursework for university. I'm dead excited to spend the summer writing it though! I've got the synopsis finished and everything, so I pretty much know where to go from here. Right now I'm writing a shapeshifter short story for a paranormal romance anthology. I'm at the part where my protagonist proves to herself that she's a paranormal being by shifitng into her animal - a Doe!
I've taken to writing poetry about my setting, story and characters because the scenes don't want to flow properly right now. I'm also scribbling down thoughts about a sequel, which would follow the children. The characters are quite interesting.
I envy people who are able to bend the story to their will. I can't help but just watch the story go on in my head and then just write it down. I'm writing a chapter 4 of the second 'book' and it's really long because it tells of how the main character gets to get her first love at high school and all the crazy stuff connected to it. The hardest part is to watch some characters die or get maimed and simply not see a way around it. I want to post some info on it on my blog website but this one takes sooo long. D:
Trying to reign my head back in, it wants to focus on the sequel when the main story isn't finished, which I suppose is okay, considering I know how the first book ends, but still. Grr! Maybe I'll write some more poetry and short stories to get a better grasp on where this one is going.
I am revising the first 3 chapters and getting ready to start on chapter 4. I've got the entire story lined out, though, I am just floundering on keeping my MC's tone positive for some reason.
I'm finishing up This is the most intricate story I've written, in terms of subplots and everything, and I cannot believe how satisfying it is to finally weave everything together! I have been writing non-stop, everything is just so exciting at the moment!
I'm not very far. :/ For one novel, I only have random ideas in a Word document. Most of the notes are about the characters themselves, as I really like to go in-depth with them so that I know them as well as I know myself. That way, when something comes up in the story, I know exactly what they would do. Which also means I have to get into their past and all that, which is one of the hardest parts, to align all the years and such. Anyway, I don't really have that much of the plot. I know what my prologue is kinda going to be like, and I know where I want the first chapter to begin, and then I what I want to happen around the middle of the book [the prologue is actually the middle of the book, then it flashes back to however many days before, the novel goes on, then half way through it comes back to that point and continues form there]. But unfortunately that's it. I really have no idea what the plot is going to be like. For another novel, I have most of it all outlined. I need to revise it a bit and rework the characters a lot [I haven't worked on this in a while; it's basically been sitting for a year or so]. So once I get it all ready and revised, then it [hopefully] will be fairly easy to write. Maybe. I've already written the prologue and first chapter or two, but I probably will have to throw away the chapters [but will be able to keep the prologue] and start fresh. Then there's this short story/novella that I'm working on. I have a basic idea of what I want to do with it, I have part of it outlined, and most of the character is ready [he's one of the characters in the first novel I mentioned, too, so this is a story of his past]. So yeah. All in the working stages, and not really the writing stages, unfortunately.
The worst part about writing articles for the school's newspaper is starting them. That's how I am with a lot of stories -- I can never find a way to start them properly. Once I find the right starting point, I can write and write for a long time, but starting is always the difficulty for me.
^Yeah, sometimes I have a hard time starting the first paragraphy Haha, ending one is the same problem. Well, I've got to admit it -- I'm at a standstill with my fantasy story. I've decided to put it away for a while and focus on other things going on in my life. I know it's there waiting for me when I return, so I don't feel completely guilty about abandoning it -- which is what I feel like I've done. But oh well. . . .
Ending them used to be a problem with me, but I've gotten a lot -- a LOT -- better at that over the years. Starting is just the difficult point, because I know what I want to say in the middle and how to end it. After the first paragraph, that's when I usually kick it into gear and write more effortlessly.
Taking a break after finishing my first draft. I'm grumpy. It's only been 2 and a half days of break, and already I've read 3 novels, analysed two of them, and edited 2 short stories of mine. I wish I had uni work to do, but I'm ahead on that, too! It's just 'cause I can't have it, that I want it so badly. Grrr. I'm so looking forward to starting the rewrite!
I'm hitting up B&N today to de-stress from my boyfriend's antics, and edit my WIP. Finally did a work tally, and it's only 19k, but it's coming along, and I refuse to quit on it.
I hit a "eureka" moment last night with a novel that is still in the planning stages as far as the plot is concerned. I've been stressing over the plot for about three weeks thinking it wasn't up to par yet and finally last night, I got a amazing idea that will tie the beginning of my novel to my end. I'm really, really happy now because my novel is not only a strong character driven story, but a heavy plot driven story too. Before it was a heavy character driven story (since it is a coming of age novel) and a weak plot driven story even though I had a distinct theme, direction, conflict and resolution set. Now they're both strong... so I'm happy!
I have the opposite problem! I can write amazing starters all day long but the second you ask me to write Chapter 2 and beyond, it falls to pieces.
I'm laughing at myself right now. If you look at page 2 of this thread on 04-11-2011 I said that I'm stuck in my novel. Well let's see here...erm, it's 05-26-2011 AND I'M STILL STUCK! I'm trying to think of some kind of "mission" that my character must go on, but my mind is just making farts. I've lately been working on other projects hoping to stir something up for my main novel, but I just can't think. I think I'm getting there though (Almost have the idea).
You can do it! It'll come when it's ready. I've been trying for a few days now to write Essie's next segment, but I feel like I'm falling short. If I thought the middle would be easier, I was wrong.
I've had this idea in my head just bouncing around and it hasn't left me alone for more than a few moments. I'm wrapped up completely in this new story, and it's an incredibly sad one; I actually feel depressed at times because of it. I love feeling a new story.
Right now I'm fleshing out the story, trying to come up with nice characters and just having some fun with it. There are also two other stories that's been going on in my head for years I want to write, if I can just find the time.
30,000 words into draft #2, yay! So I'm over a quarter of the way through it. I'm back to writing 5k a day instead of the measly 2k I've been stuck on for the last two weeks. So I'm pretty happy about that.
