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trouble with writing


  • lexy3643
    Oct 11 12:45 PM
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    i love writing stories but i can never seem to write a good story. i just seem to list events that happen and they never really lead to anywhere. i need help with changing my technique. any ideas?

  • Valkyrie
    October 11 ↑
    Reply
    First, welcome to Storywrite.

    Second, make sure you know the ending to your story before, or soon after, you start writing. That gives you a goal to write toward.

    I usually make a rough outline so I know where the conflict comes in, and how I force my story to wriggle toward the ending. Conflict is what makes stories interesting. Characters fight, break up, get kidnapped, attack bad guys they shouldn't, shout at their boss, drive drunk, etc, which drags them out of where they thought their lives were going, and makes for great reading.

    As far as endings, usually you start with your protagonist doing all right, then things go downhill and get rocky and unsure, and at the end, it evens out so that they're successful and had some interesting journeys that may or may not have made them any smarter/wiser/left scars.

    Sometimes, like with horror and tragedy, you'll get things that start off badly and go to worse, with deaths and loss and gore and screaming, and at the end, there's that inevitability of failure.

    It also depends on if you're writing short stories or long stories. Short stories need to remain simple to get their point across without much interference. Long stories (novellas, novels) can and usually do have a ton more details and really fill out the world you're reading about, but underneath that, there's still a plot that takes you from A to B to C.

    Whether your ideas start with a cool character or a plot seed, you'll want to know the plot's end before you start.

  • lexy3643
    October 12 ↑
    Reply
    thank you so much! this has helped alot!

  • p.g.Leja
    October 12 ↑
    Reply
    Lexy- why not sign up for some of the classes they have on here.
    Valkyrie actually runs an Intro to Fantasy class and it was very helpful.
    I will add that knowing your characters help, work out their flaws and talents, how they react to certain situations and how it affects them afterwards.
    What drives your characters? What are they hopeing to achieve?
    How will they attain this goal?

    • Valkyrie
      October 12 ↑
      Reply
      Aww.

      You have a good point about characters. I wonder if there would be enough interest to make a class just for designing them. I'm fleshing out my characters for my NaNo project this year, and found a useful site to help me out. I bet there's others who could use a hand, even if they don't know it.

      • p.g.Leja
        October 12 ↑
        Reply
        I think others would be interested. There are plenty of month long writing challenges throughout the year that this would help, as well as the sane writer's who need alittle help with characters.
        I would certainly join a class about characters, can never learn to much about the writing process.

  • lexy3643
    October 13 ↑
    Reply
    thanks guys!

  • darthnider
    October 20 ↑
    Reply
    Thanks for starting this topic Lexy3643 Its helped me out a lot too ^_^

  • lexy3643
    October 20 ↑
    Reply
    no problem!

  • FaIIen One
    October 23 ↑
    Reply
    Is it better to approach creating a story by creating characters and letting them play it out (as they progress and change during the story) or is it better to drive your characters yourself?

    I guess what I'm asking is should you ask yourself what the characters would do or should you oversee every action and then check to see if it is consistent with their personality?

    Another way of looking at it: Do you create the beginning and ending and let the rest unfold as you go, or should you know exactly what you want to write at any given point in the story, only filling in minor details as you go?

    • Valkyrie
      October 24 ↑
      Reply
      Personally, I start with either a beginning, an ending, or both most of the time. The starter ideas I get are plot based. Then I craft characters who will fill in all that middle drama for me. Ultimately, it doesn't matter so much what happens in the middle as long as it's dramatic, interesting, and gets the readers from the prologue to the epilogue.

      Once I flesh out my characters, I let them decide how to act, based on the personalities I've given them. That's how I come up with the middles of my stories, IOW.

      But I let them figure out that middle part before I write it down now. Otherwise I end up with characters taking me on tangents that seem interesting at first, but ultimately end up wandering around and wasting the reader's time.

      That brainstorming phase is the best part of the whole process, I think! I get to come up with several plot sections, and I'm always moving to a better one, as long as I remember not to get too attached to anything until the whole story feels really secure and tight: all loose ends seem to be accounted for.

      Sure, it's cool if the young mage panics and betrays his mentor at a weak moment late in the book, but it's better (IMHO) if he does that early on in the book and learns from it, so at the time when he WAS gonna panic before, I can have him bond with a magical spirit from another planet, which is trapped in the shape of a large dog.

      Yes, that's actually a thought process from my upcoming NaNo project. No, it probably doesn't make any sense.

      I really try to streamline the journey from A to Z. Drama is cool and all, but drama with purpose is the Awesome I'm looking for.

      All that said, you can always go back and edit stuff. But the more you get right the first time, the less time you'll spend editing. That's what I have learned the hard way.

  • Skip454
    October 26 ↑
    Reply
    If what Valkyrie said at the begining is true then I in heaps o' trouble. I have 7 books in a series of 120,000 to 187,000 words each and I never had a clue how they'd turn out until I hit the end. Actually, 3 are still being written.

    I think more like a story teller would I guess. Give me a start and I run with it. If I told the same start three times all would be totally different stories BUT I don't claim to be a writer either.
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