Alright,
I've been having a dilemma. I really want to write at least 100-200 page book, but I keep losing inspiration once I get to the 12th page. I've done this for five different topics. I'm kind of basing it off a WW2 book, I don't know why, but it's somewhat enticing for me to write.
I just need your advice, should I keep writing different topics until I get the right one? How do I keep inspiration and flow to one topic. I'm so torn!
I find that if I think of a concept I like, if I just go barrelling into writing it, hoping to make stuff up as I go along, I don't get far before running out of ideas and enthusiasm.
What I do now is before I start writing, I write down lots of notes about what I want the world to be like, what characters I want to deal with, and stuff like that. Then when I do start writing, I already have a lot to work with.
I had the same problem, what helps is to write short stories first, and then start a bit longer story, and when that one is finished start another one, again a bit longer etc.
Work your way up.
Hm alright. Thanks for the help guys.
A big part of being able to write a long work is being able to have a vision of the entire thing. Knowing how an entire thing is going to tie together is a huge, huge part.. it allows you to work in foreshadowing.. chekov's gun bits, etc.
When you watch TV series, movies, anime, etc... think to yourself about just how they tie everything to make it flow well (or don't, if they do a bad job) and how you can do the same things with your writing.
A character should develop over the course of a long story, too.. to make them interesting. More bits should be revealed through conversation, actions, etc. Just having a rambo go through killing people and being completely undynamic is bad for business.
Finally, on a long work you'll probably want an overall theme or idea (or multiple) to get across a point or something. Nearly all books or movies worth watching have something underneath that makes you think, aside from just the main storyline.
In a war story, many times it leaves the reader with a feeling of questioning just WHY there's fighting, and depending on what happens to the main character it has the possibility to be really depressing as they lose their friends, humanity, or even their life.
Ah, and of course, if it's going to be very long, you're going to need to be very descriptive, fleshing out scenes and dialogue as much as possible.
Here's some good advice about organizing and writing a big story: [url]http://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/articles/snowflake-method/[/url]
That said, if you haven't had much experience writing at all then you should probably do some shorter stories, something more manageable before you try and bite off a full-length novel. Otherwise you could just get keep getting frustrated.
[editline]28th June 2013[/editline]
[QUOTE=clutch2;41206983]Ah, and of course, if it's going to be very long, you're going to need to be very descriptive, fleshing out scenes and dialogue as much as possible.[/QUOTE]
I wouldn't recommend this, if you try to pad your stuff out with unnecessary description and dialogue it's going to be boring. Novels are long because they have lots of ideas that wouldn't fit into a shorter story, not because the author padded them out to make them longer.
I feel like the main problem for me is. Is that I don't know the events that are going to precede. So far I'm just writing whatever I get inspired from at that moment. I probably just need to sit down and web it all out. Get my characters in order, settings, how the climax will affect the book etc.
[QUOTE=pilot;41219511]I feel like the main problem for me is. Is that I don't know the events that are going to precede. So far I'm just writing whatever I get inspired from at that moment. I probably just need to sit down and web it all out. Get my characters in order, settings, how the climax will affect the book etc.[/QUOTE]
I have a project I've been working on for the past few years when I find the time (not often).
I got started by writing a really shitty first draft. I knew where the story was going to start, I knew a couple of key ideas/events/situations/plot devices I wanted to include and I knew the ending, but almost everything in between just came of out the process of writing and writing and writing and making it up as I went. I didn't worry too much about the grammar or spelling. If I wanted to change something later on I would leave a note for myself in bold red text and carry on writing forwards.
I got my 50,000ish word first draft. And I had the basics of a story that I could then go back and work on. I had a start, I had an end, I had a good guy, a bad guy, a bunch of other characters and relationships, etc. And I could then start thinking about what I'd written, pull it apart, think about all the conflicts and plot/character developments and rework them or even replace them so that they really told a great story. I ended up making a timeline in excell where I could easily add or remove events as I needed to.
Getting started is often the hardest thing. One thing you can't get caught up in is the idea that you want to 'tell the perfect story' or that you [I]have[/I] to tell the perfect story right at this time. If you get too caught up in that you'll just end up thinking for months about 'what is the perfect story that I want to tell?' and you won't get anywhere. I'd advise that you just pick an idea you have and roll with it - work on it, develop it, and remember that you've got your entire life to write about all the other great ideas you have.
My method above might not work for you. If a method of writing isn't working for you, don't force it. Through doing writing you'll eventually find a method of creating and developing ideas that works for you.
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