I would really like to start writing my first real novel, about the past 3-4 years of my life. The events include: -Meeting my husband -our young relationship -intimate advances -Me getting pregnant -Us telling my parents -My husband moving from NC to FL to live with my family and I -Our life up until we had our daughter -Our daughter being born -Us getting married -Early baby days -Us deciding and moving to NC -Our early days in NC and working on the farm house -Us living with my husbands family & the events that happen living with them day to day -Us moving into the farm house -Raising our daughter -Us getting fed up and moving out on our own -Husband and I's breakthrough with our relationship with the Lord -Husband and I getting pregnant again and miscarriage -Us having to move out of our apartment and back with his family -Husband and I getting pregnant for the third time -Our late [triple] honeymoon to Spain -Finding out my parents are getting a divorce - ...And the plot will continue with events that will be happening in the near future Would anyone be interested in reading this? I really believe I could write this pretty well. Any input or advice for starting? Thank you! -Emily
Is it interesting? If it is, then sure. It it's not, then no. This is the advice that has helped me the most thorough all the time I've been writing: Just do it. If you have to plan first, fine, but get to the actual writing as soon as possible. Doesn't matter if you think it sucks when you write, just continue until you get something tangible. Hope it helps
A story concept means nothing. I can tell you now, it has been done before. What matters is how you write it, the characterization, the flow, the imagery, all of it. There's no point to asking what other people think of the concept! They'll either say,"Sounds great," or, "it sounds like a ripoff of..." If the idea stirs you, write it. Then ask people what they think of the final story. After they tell you what they don't like about it, revise it, usually several times, until you're happy with it or until you throw up your hands and say the hell with it. Please read this thread about What is Plot Creation and Development? You need to find an angle to the story that will make it stand out as different. You could focus on the humorous side, or perhaps how your relatioship beat te odds, ... (and yes, this is a template post, which should give you an idea of how often this comes up.)
Hmm this kinda reminds me of an excerpt from a bok i read a few yeas ago (i dont remember what it was...i think maybe someting by Chuck Palahniuk? But maybe not...) that divides the writng that publishers receive as either bad literary fiction or incest stories. This whole personal memoir thing kinda suggests to me the latter...there are already hundreds (if not thousands) of stories of people's lives who have lived through amazing/inspiring/traumatic/etc experiences, and i don't mean to be rude, but the plot you described there doesn't sound particularly dramatic/inspiring/novel-worthy (although i realise that that list represents a gross simplification of your life and maybe it really is suitable for novelisation). Why not simply use all of those experiences to write a really great (maybe semi-autobiographical) novel?
I don't see a plot there. I see events happening. Even non-fiction I have read has a plot, and a theme. What would the plot and theme be?
Cog is right here. It CAN work if you write it well. The Lord of the rings would have SUCKED if I had written it. Seinfield is a great working example of no plot working well under great writing.
They are fairly plotless (in the common sense) but the skill of the writers allowed one to develop. TakesTheCak3's outline has a plot, the life and struggles of a person, but its meaningless if she lacks the skill to develop and deliver that to the reader.
I'd suggest focusing on a few areas of the list you posted and work on that...develop those areas into a novel with a plot/theme and after you've done that, go on to the next few areas and focus on those and make a novel...etc etc. If you want to chronicle your life, you're going to have to write a chronicle. ~Lynn
With something like real events, you need to make sure your story has a definite beginning and end. If you are merely following someone through their life, it becomes episodic and the reader will not be able to discern a "point" to the story. It seems you can make this into a usable story, just make sure you aren't recounting events as they happened, but rather building a story out of your experiences.
I agree; it need a "point" - not that your life is pointless, per se, but it needs a reason for the reader to want to read it. Imagine the book flap in the book store - that's what people read, right? So come up with a quick synopsis of what the flap would say. I mean, Bridget Jones' Diary was a huge bestseller, and it was about something similar - a woman's journey through life. But it focused on romance and humor, and that made it both real and interesting. There's more to this train of thought, but I'm currently distracted by my children wrestling in the floor. Heathens. I think you just have to find your hook, and go with it. Every story is a copy of another story; find what makes your different. For instance, I'm writing a Twilight story for my daughter, but it's about an angel, instead. She loves angels and it's just for her - not to be published. Twilight's already been written; it's essentially the same story but with a biblical twist because we're devout Catholics. Already, it's very unique and fun, and she loves what I've written so far. Same story, different point. Sorry for the rambly reply...
Hi, If you're really passionate about writing this novel, then as Acglophotis said, just do it! Don't worry about getting it published at the moment. As for the part of it being interesting or not, well, do you think it's interesting? To me, it seems like a set of incidents that could happen to anyone starting a new life, and part of it is somehow stereotypical. The thing is, as most of the above mentioned, is how you deliver it. If you've read enough non-fiction books so far and you think you can do a good job in presenting the events is your key to a successful story. Think mostly about what makes yours unique, abnormal if I may say, in a way that would introduce the reader to a new way of dealing with life? Have you thought of writing it in the form of a journal? That would be interesting Good luck with it Keep it up
sorry to say, i wouldn't... ...imo, it wouldn't matter how well you could write it, 'cause it's just 'ordinary' life stuff that wouldn't interest me in the slightest, having had a much more eventful life of my own... nor, i expect, would it interest enough book buyers for any mainstream publisher to find it of any interest... as you've laid it out, that is... ...that said, if the religious angle is that you 'found faith' or whatever, then a christian press might think it worthwhile to take on, if the writing is good enough to satisfy them... ...first, sum up what your book will be about, in 25 words or less... then check out the books that are selling... do you find any on bookstore shelves with a premise anything like that?... if not, then there's probably no market for it... if you do, then see who published them and there's your targets for querying, when you get it written... ...meanwhile, if you really think you have a story worth telling, that total strangers will feel is worth paying a lot of money [in these tough times] to buy, then just go ahead and start writing! love and hugs, maia
It'll work if you write it well. Anything will work if you write it well, because writing is about writing, not a competition to see who can invent the most 'interesting' events. The most 'interesting' life in the world is not interesting to anyone except the person living it, unless they can tell it well. However, if you want it to be published and 'successful'. then you probably need a more plot-and-action driven narrative. Loads of writers make the details of normal lives their subject. Off the top of my head, James Joyce, Raymond Carver, Virginia Woolf, Ian McEwan, TS Eliot, Seamus Heaney, Harold Pinter. They did okay for themselves!
