Jackmoore
Jr. Member Writer
Posts: 29
Registered: 4/7/2010
Location: Texas
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Mood: Uh like writing?
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Getting started
The hardest part for me is starting the story. I can get the plot the ending and the character development. Why they care, why they do what they do,
but starting the story never flows well. Ill build and outline and it sounds awesome to me and the others that might read it but i sit down to write
and nothing.
One way or another I beat down the issue and get into the story, but I was wondering if anyone else faces this kind of problem and how they conquer
it.
"Why write its all going to to be turned into movies anyway?"
"Because when the zombies come I want to be entertained after the electricity gets turned off."
"Oh."
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Melanie
Founding Member
Posts: 4762
Registered: 1/17/2008
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Mood: At the cusp of my new writing life.
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I used to, until I told myself that whatever I write first will not end up as the beginning, so not to worry about it.
Melanie 
"Go forth boldly in the direction of your dreams." Thoreau
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Going Forth Boldly -- The Chronicle of Becoming a Professional Fiction Writer
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x3xsolxdierx3x
Jr. Member Writer
Posts: 31
Registered: 5/6/2010
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Quote: Originally posted by Jackmoore  | The hardest part for me is starting the story. I can get the plot the ending and the character development. Why they care, why they do what they do,
but starting the story never flows well. Ill build and outline and it sounds awesome to me and the others that might read it but i sit down to write
and nothing.
One way or another I beat down the issue and get into the story, but I was wondering if anyone else faces this kind of problem and how they conquer
it. |
You could try starting with "Once Upon a Time..."  
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Pamela
Member Writer
Posts: 84
Registered: 3/17/2010
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Mood: 
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Melanie is right. If more writers would completely understand that the first attempt of writing a story most definitely will not be the last, then it
would be easier.
Think of the first draft of the story as a basis for how your story will end up. You can always go back and rewrite sections of the story until
you're happy with it (assuming you're not going to be too critical which is a different subject entirely).
The best way to start is just to sit down and write it. Don't stress out about it, just write it. Don't think about trying to publish it, just write
it.
Then see where the pieces fall and arrange as needed.
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Skwerly
Literary Master
Posts: 3475
Registered: 5/17/2008
Location: Yucaipa, California
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Mood: Determined.
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Odd--I always get the beginning right, but have NO clue where it's going after that lol. Proof positive that it takes ALL kinds of writers to create
ALL kinds of different work.
I seemed to be looking down from an immense height upon a twilit grotto, knee-deep with filth, where a white-bearded daemon swineherd drove about
with his staff a flock of fungous, flabby beasts whose appearance filled me with unutterable loathing.
My AC page:
Derek's Junk
My Horror Writing Forum: http://writersofhorror.myfreeforum.org/index.php
I **love** creepy trees!
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Reprobate
Extraordinary Writer
Posts: 175
Registered: 3/23/2010
Location: Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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Mood: Capriciously Frolicking Through Hell
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I always make a comparison with making a movie - a movie is created in the cutting/editing room. First you film all the scenes and extra footage, then
you shift and arrange the material in a way that makes sense to you, then you cut out all the needless scenes [holding on to them as 'deleted scenes'
for the bonus DVD].
If you look at writing a book that way, just write the material, call every new chapter 'CHAPTER' and write in a more or less chronological order.
Arrange the chapters, 'Omit Needless Words', 'Kill Your Darlings', and number the chapters.
No use fretting over the beginning if you haven't written anything yet.
rep·ro·bate
n.
A morally unprincipled person.
One who is predestined to damnation.
adj.
Morally unprincipled; shameless.
Rejected by [fill in the supreme being of your choice] and without hope of salvation.
"Beware the lollipop of mediocrity! Lick it once and you'll suck forever..."
Calvin: "I used to hate writing assignments, but now I enjoy them. I realized that the purpose of writing is to inflate weak ideas, obscure poor
reasoning, and inhibit clarity. With a little practice, writing can be an intimidating and impenetrable fog!" - Calvin and Hobbes.
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boatkicker
Accentuate Writer!
Posts: 847
Registered: 6/27/2009
Location: Dennis, Massachusetts!
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Mood: sick of the hiccups!
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| Quote: Originally posted by Reprobate | I always make a comparison with making a movie - a movie is created in the cutting/editing room. First you film all the scenes and extra footage, then
you shift and arrange the material in a way that makes sense to you, then you cut out all the needless scenes [holding on to them as 'deleted scenes'
for the bonus DVD].
If you look at writing a book that way, just write the material, call every new chapter 'CHAPTER' and write in a more or less chronological order.
Arrange the chapters, 'Omit Needless Words', 'Kill Your Darlings', and number the chapters.
No use fretting over the beginning if you haven't written anything yet. |
For a second I thought you said "Kill your Daughter" and I was a bit concerned.
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Reprobate
Extraordinary Writer
Posts: 175
Registered: 3/23/2010
Location: Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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Mood: Capriciously Frolicking Through Hell
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Why? If it helps to bring the plot forward, you have to put the protagonist in dire straits - if that means kill his daughter, then kill his
daughter...
rep·ro·bate
n.
A morally unprincipled person.
One who is predestined to damnation.
adj.
Morally unprincipled; shameless.
Rejected by [fill in the supreme being of your choice] and without hope of salvation.
"Beware the lollipop of mediocrity! Lick it once and you'll suck forever..."
Calvin: "I used to hate writing assignments, but now I enjoy them. I realized that the purpose of writing is to inflate weak ideas, obscure poor
reasoning, and inhibit clarity. With a little practice, writing can be an intimidating and impenetrable fog!" - Calvin and Hobbes.
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Thomas Forthe (Tom)
Literary Master
Posts: 4876
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Location: almost certainly
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Mood: persnickative
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You can always re-write the intro once you have the story going if you don't care for it. After getting a feel for the story as a whole the intro
might write itself....
"Two things are infinite; The universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the universe."
Albert Einstein
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LaurieM
Literary Master
Posts: 6353
Registered: 3/3/2008
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Mood: Lost
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Sometimes my stories flow from beginning to end and sometimes I get sections here and there, an ending first, a middle first. It seems to vary. I know
I will not end up with the exact thing I started with anyhow with editing, new brainstorms, characters or plots that take over and change my original
ideas. Writing is a work in flux until it goes to print and even then I sometimes see things I would like to change.
So I follow whatever flow is leading me at the time, then worry about getting it all together once I have the pieces. The muse does not always call in
logical order.
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Laurie's Author Website
The darkness is swallowing me. Bastian where are you? |
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Sir Robert
Jr. Member Writer
Posts: 20
Registered: 5/16/2010
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I love Reprobate's comparison with movie making, I find myself using film editing techniques of moving whole scenes back and forth in my book.
Now I was raised on movies and TV and that is how I think.
My first book I started with a teaser type opening leaving the reader wanting more then I followed that thought logically and the book sort of
wrote itself but I could not find a good ending so I kind of made a circle back to the beginning. Works fine. For example start with a baby boy
following as he grows to manhood then end it with the birth of his own son. The movie Spartacus ended with Kirk Douglas crucified and his GF holds
up his son. Full circle.
War Movies always seem to end at the end of the war, well duh, but in real life there is something afterwards. I went to serve in Iraq after
Sept. 11th, I was there a year came back to no wife, no home, and no job. Not a cool ending but it is true.
So you start with a "Where were you when the Japs bombed the Alamo?" follow through the story and a little epilogue to show the new path.
Example: WWI led to economic disaster which led to WWII which led to more economic disaster which logically should have led to WWIII right? Wrong,
new path to peace and love and capitalism. So the story of WWII starts at the end of WWI and ends in the 1970s. Does that make any sense?
Gentleman Adventurer, Soldier, all around nice guy.
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