McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft

How do I start a first novel?

<< < (3/3)

Razzazzika:
I haven't come to these forums in a while, but I decided to poke around and came across this thread.

I'm exactly like you Beef. I have 5 distinct 'universes' in my head, each with its own novel, one universe is a clearly defined trilogy in my head, and one universe, an urban fantasy, I've thought of ideas for 5 individual books now. But when I try to put them down on paper... It's just hard. I only get about 2-4 chapters in before giving up and either experimenting with another idea, almost feeling like it has gone sour. But the thing I've started to tell myself recently is that, yeah, the ideas my seem sour to ME, I've been running through them over and over again like a song stuck on a loop, but the REST OF THE WORLD has yet to hear of it.

Take my urban fantasy, I recently had written to chapter 6, and realized there was a scene that was stale, not much was happening, but the reason it was stale was because of how I started the book. See, my main character is a private eye, like Dresden, but he had fallen on hard times. Initially I had begun my writing sort-of how meg is suggesting, with an average, everyday activity for my main character. I knew WHERE I wanted my plot to go from there. So I had him hunt for a lost cat in the park. It wasn't very exciting from a reader's perspective, which is why I cut it later, but starting with him hunting for the cat and rescuing it from a tree, I was able to lead into the other elements from my story.

Once it was established that that arc with the cat needed to be resolved, I realized it was an inessential part of the book, but I had doled out 5 chapters after the cat scene.

(I've been going to another more active writing forum, and You can see exactly what i'm talking about as I posted a before and after http://www.writingforums.com/fantasy-sci-fi-horror/120326-urban-fantasy-first-chapter-revision.html )

I don't really know if I... helped... any more, I basically repeated what meg said, or rather confirmed that what she suggested worked for me, and my brain seems to be wired the same way as yours.

Snowleopard:
As some writer said - get black on white.
Don't overthink as someone suggested - just start writing - don't try to follow
an outline or conform to anything - just see where your mind and computer take you.
Wishing you much luck.

Jaeh:
personally i prefer planning the novel before i write - it helps when you get stuck somewhere, especially if you have some sort of an outline. and it's fun. :D then, after planning and everything else in between, Just. Keep. Writing. just keep on it until your fingers fall off - you know, in between real life and stuff. don't let anyone, not even yourself, tell you that the book you're writing is crap and that you'll never finish it. before you know it, you're typing out "the end" at the bottom. :D

this might help too: http://jimbutcher.livejournal.com/  - i love jim's lj and his thoughts on writing and stuff -  it helps me lots. lol.

ALTHOUGH, that's for planners like me. if you're more of a jump-straight-into-the-fray type of writer...

just start writing and don't think much about it. just see where your characters, story, and fingers will take you - let it flow and all the metaphors that come with it. take the idea and run with it, and before you know it, you'll be finished. :D

and if ever you need a driving force, a deadline, a challenge to get you *started* have friends place a bet and give yourself a deadline, or, you could try NaNoWriMo. :D

That's what works for me, at least. :D

right now i'm stuck with the problems of self-editing. haha.

trboturtle:
The key is to get it onto paper -- either by writing the story, or writing down the details.

Beefstew, you say you have a complex world? Good for you! Just take some time and start writing down the details. Start with characters, situations, events -- Everything that make your world complex. Don't worry about really sorting things out -- get it down so you don't forget it!

In another file, start with the story plot. Again, just get the points down. Once you have enough, then you can worry about structing it. There are a few story-writing aids out there, or use index cards. Just get everything out of you mind and onto paper.

Here's an important point: you don't have to use everything you come up with. A lot of authors have complex backgrounds on their characters, yet don't use more than a feaction of it. Yet, because they know the character so well, they can stay faithful to that character actions and thoughts.

I tend to be more of the Steven King-type writer -- I write like mad, then go back and revise it. It works for m,e, but it may not work for you....

Craig

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[*] Previous page