Here is a brief description. This book is based on 3 characters. Nicole is a church girl who gets in with the wrong crowd and gets raped at a party and strays from God. She gets in with a pimp and becomes a prostitute and a crack head. Needless to say a lot of things transpire in her story. She meets a character that will help her find her way. Derrick is the next character and he is gay and also the character that help Nicole. His story strays from his story with Nicole and goes into his struggle with acceptance within his family and everyday life and at the end of his story he makes a decision that can be life or death. Jason is the final character and he is the crack dealer from Nicole's story and his story goes on to elaborate how his actions in the drug game affects his family and with the things that occur change him for the better or worse. All the characters interact around each other kind of like in the movies Crash or Brooklyn's Finest. They all are around each other but their stories are told separately in 1st person. Please Help!!!! I had started once before but I misplaced it and have been stuck ever since.
It sounds like Nicole is the main character, so start with her. You can start almost anyplace, but it should be at a crisis or decision point. From what you've given us, I would make it either the point at which she gets raped or the point at which she has to get free of her life on the streets. Derrick and Jason provide you with ample opportunities for subplots, but there are also lots of chances to fall into their personal backstories. I would avoid this. I would also avoid telling multiple stories in 1st person, because it is difficult to do effectively and it sounds as if this is your first major effort. Make things as easy for yourself as possible. I would stick to third person limited, which will allow you to provide three distinctive points of view while at the same time not causing confusion for the reader. I would also do an outline before you start. It will make it easier for you to keep track of where the stories of the three characters intersect while at the same time making it easier to keep from your story running off the track. I speak from experience on this one. All in all, it sounds like an idea with a lot of promise. Good luck with it.
'' Nicole is a church girl who gets in with the wrong crowd and gets raped at a party and strays from God. She gets in with a pimp and becomes a prostitute and a crack head. '' sorry but that's the funniest thing I've read today.
@EdFromNy I appreciate the feedback and you have given me some things to work on thanks. @Louis1 lol What's so funny?
start with your protagonist the beginning of your story should be concerned with introducing us to him or her. is Nicole's nick name Lucky lol
It sounds like you're in the Christian Fiction genre - just be careful not to make your characters either too tragic, too perfect, too cliche or too "sinful" as it were. I've read two or three Christian Fiction books - don't fall into the cliches of "hey look but Christians can be cool too! Look at this guy here with a great big dragon tattoo and he's leading worship in church!" I'm not saying that's what you're gonna do - but be careful not to fall into that if it's the genre you're going for. And be careful not to end up making your Christians perfect either. If Christianity wasn't the thing at all that you were exploring, then I apologise for my assumptions - it just sounds like you've got all the typical ingredients of a Christian novel, that's all. If you're gonna write about prostitution and pimping, I'd strongly encourage you to explore anti-human-trafficking organisations and also church ministries in that area - there're often first hand testimonies of what it's like in a brothel, how they break the women. This an extremely sensitive topic that I plan on writing on myself in a few years - be very, very careful in how you portray the women, who are often dehumanised and whom society like to ignore with the excuse of "Oh but she wants to do it, she chose to sell her body." 9 times out of 10 that's not the case, and even the professional women in the sex industry who DID choose their way of life tells others in the trade how dangerous it is. As a writer, you have the responsibility to portray truth if you choose to illuminate certain areas, you are responsible for the messages that you're spreading. Do a LOT of research - and to be honest, I think if you did find stories of ex-prostitutes recovering and coming out of the industry, and even finding God - I think that might inspire you to write again On youtube, check out "Exodus Cry - Nefarious" - it is a very thorough documentary on the sex trade with particular focus on trafficking (though it details voluntary prostitutes as well as the selling of children) across the globe.
Captive your audience with believable humanity. Make your audience feel as if it could be them, their friend, or cousin that could fit in your character's shoes. Why should we care about a Christian girl's fall out? What makes Derrick's thoughts of suicide believable? To do this by throwing them to the wolves. The only reason I feel as if I should throw this tip out there because I've actually begun a novel myself and I know how difficult it is. Keeping your head up is the main thing.
The first chapter should introduce us to the character and give us the initial if not overall conflict. Though I don't understand how one rape could send you into a depression such as this. I mean, it can cause a person deep depression, but the trajectory you have set for her is extreme. Why doesn't her family or friends help her through this? Is she shunned out of society because they are blaming her for the rape? You need to establish the rape and probably explore why her community has rejected her.
I want to thank you all for your feedback, it has helped me approach and hopefully write this book better than I ever thought. Yunirone - I don't think it's the rape itself but who it is by that sends her into the depression. I my initial thinking I was thinking that her father was going to be the offender.
Start with action. Start with the most interesting plot point and thrust the reader in conflict. Conflict creates a hook which will draw the readers in.
That's a pretty emotionally-heavy plotline. Make sure you know how - and that you have the stomah - to write it realistically.
I think that if you are truly going for Christian genre, then it is better to leave things black and white. Good vs. evil. Jesus wins. The end.
What the hell are you writing? Anyways, you can begin with Nicole and give her a set up of where she lives and how she got involve into her conflict.
I don't think this is necessarily true. Jesus doesn't always win and sometimes people decide to reject him. I wouldn't have everyone 'come to the light' as it were. You'll want to have characters that, like Judas, wind up taking the broad road instead.
Thats how I planned for it to happen. Everybody deals with their situations different and not all turn out the way we would imagine.
This story sounds right up my alley. I like to start my stories with a pivotal scene that portrays the main character's struggle and maybe illuminates something about their personality. And then I usually find that the real story starts a few paragraphs or pages after where I thought it'd start. Many times our first efforts are just warm ups.
What you've received is how other members would write their stories around your premise. Find you own voice! What you've seen is a few first planning strokes in response to a writing prompt. Maybe it's helpful to see how other writers take those first steps, but every writer has his or her own process. You need to discover your process, and although your first attempts might stumble a bit, it is important to go through the process.
I appreciate that feedback Cogito and that points you have are so true. I was actually going to go about it in a way that I know how and pick up valuable pieces of feedback I received as a helping tool in doing my way.
As Cogito has already said, what you are recieved is feedback from users on how they would start their story, if yours were theirs. Although I would say to start with Nicole, she is the most important character and linked to both of the other ones.
