Sorry if this is in the wrong section but i wasn't sure where to put it,So feel free to move it if its in the wrong section Could any writers give me advice on.... 1.How to come up with idea's 2.How to come up with a good beginning for a story 3.How to come up with creative and original characters? 4.How to not get writers block all the time? I always get writers block and then i quit on the story . Thanks ~Chris~ Also How to stop restarting on the story all the time after awhile and going onto a new idea? I never get to write a full story, the longest i have gotten is 2 pages or 1. Also how to make the story not sound like a little kid wrote it? I have that problem a lot -_-, i read other stories on the internet and they sound way more professional and don't sound like a little kid wrote it at all. I know they might be older but even people that are 13 years old (like me) write better!
Welcome to the forums! How to come up with ideas: What means something to you? When you watch movies and read books, which ones stick with you, and why? What themes are you most passionate about? Also, what particular issues or scenarios threaten you the most? You don't have to answer these out loud on the board, but thinking about them will help you flesh out the motivations of your protags and antagonists. Then, if it's applicable to the story you want to write, figure out how to translate your basic plot to fantasy or scifi if you take that route. For the beginning, I'd recommend something that shows your characters' personality. You never want to write out something like "John was an uptight person, he always had to have everything perfect, etc." Instead, show it by how they interact with others and how they react to situations. Open with a beginning that SHOWS your characters in action somehow -- it could be dialogue, a conflict of any kind, etc. but something that gives insight to their personality via "show not tell." Try to avoid the type of beginning where someone gets out of bed, looks in front of a mirror to describe themself, and then thinks about their personality and what they are like. This is pretty cliche. After all, when you look in the mirror, do you think out loud "I'm 13, I have brown hair and green eyes and I'm 5 feet tall?" Chances are no, so probably your MC wouldn't either. With writers' block, keep in mind that the 20,000-30,000 word mark is where it's easiest to suffer from bad writers' block. Fight to make it past that, and then it gets better. At least for me. As for not looking like a little kid wrote it, make sure your spelling/grammar/puncuation/sentence structure is professional. Also, stick to the "show, not tell" guideline and slip info in naturally, rather than going on huge info-dumps of describing everything in a lengthy way. Good luck and welcome again
firstly welcome to the forum chris (tigerxbunny)! hope u have a good time in this forum. 1. what i generally do to come up with an idea is to look at the world around me, check out the news, investigate history, etc. ie if there's a news story about some soldier in afghanistan that died you could write a story about him, or to make it a little different, you could write in the perspective of the person that killed him or you could change the actual news story/historic event by maybe having that the soldier was in fact murdered by the general of his very army because he found out a dreadful secret about the war. 2. a good beginning is one that catches the readers attention and wants them to continue reading. so with your prologue you would want to make it suspenseful at the end, while also making the beginning one of the most exciting parts in your book. 3. what i do to come up with "different" sort of characters is by looking at my own family and friends. i get characteristics from them and mould them together to create an original character. for example: my friend is a funny guy, so ill make this character funny, my brother is very timid so ill also make this character timid. he has now become a timid comedian whose hilarious but is generally too scared to share his jokes in a public setting, resorting to telling a joke to his best friend who then shares it to the rest of the crew. 4. Writers block happens to everyone, and it generally happens in the middle of the story where you either cant think of what next to do...or you can and cant be bothered. what id recommend for this is two things: 1) leave the story for a couple days and just think about it and after that, come back and continue or if that doesnt work then 2) write another part of the story that youre really interested in writing thats closer to the end. finally to make it not sound like a kid wrote it, the only thing to remedy that is to practice! just keep practicing and your writing will improve. the reason why these 13 year olds' stories might sound better is simply because you havent been writing as long as they have. good luck with your next story chris!
Read every single book you can get your hands on and when you are finished, write down why you thought it was a good story/ bad story and what you did/ didn't like about the way it was written and the characters. I have started making notes on the books that I read and it really helps to see what makes a good book. Writing can be very subjective and knowing what you do and don't like in a book is the first step to finding your own writing voice, I think. Good luck on your journey
Coming up with ideas: I'm not sure it's not something i do consciously. It might come from a Movie or something i see when i'm out. Something someone says to me or something i read somewhere. I think it's a natural thing you either can or you can't, you have to be insightful, wirters tend to pick up and think about things that other people miss, it's more about hanging your thought process in someways. A good start: Something that grabs the readers attention and keep them reading, it can be quite subtle i find that interests me more than an action scene. It really something you get better at through practise. Creative and Original characters: Every character will be fairly creative because unless you've copied it'll have your own personality and the way you write can give character originality. I usually write my character out in a plan then question things that i feel are to familiar to me. If blonde hair and blue eyes in common i change it, i give the character equal flaws and good points. I make their personality relevant to the story. If i'm writing a book about WW2 for example i give my character traits to help her through but i also add traits throughout the book so she grows. Maybe she's a coward or feels she is and the exposure of such horrible events strengthens her. I creative my characters as the story demands. You can't have a detective whose thick, terrible at solving problems and has no knowledge of Law or can you? Writers Block: There's no such thing really. You block yourself from writing, close work with characters and a plot you really love it what will keep you going. Maybe make a plan so it's all worked out that way you know where your taking each chapter. But if your new to writing i would suggest short-stories first. Good Luck
What you've just asked are four of the questions this forum is dedicated to finding the answers to. The short answer is that the jury is still out, but here's my two cents: 1) Very few people "come up with" ideas, they happen to you. Inspiration can come from any quarter though if you want to manufacture it, try looking for a few prompts and messing around with those. Most of what you'll write will be worthless to publishers, but the experience of writing will lead to a development or a character that may inspire you to write an entire novel. Inspiration is ubiquitous for those with the perception to see it. 2) Story beginnings are something I happen to love. Something you'll notice writers do is use the opening chapters to set the stage, not by explicitly stating every detail of the world but by running the story through a series of elements that make the most important details apparent. George R R Martin, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman are people I use as examples: You mention objects, creatures and elements in passing, allude to their function and move on. Establish facts as accepted truths and let your audience work out the details. You also might want to use the opportunity to establish some sort of tension or stakes to keep the audience interested while you unpack everything else. 3) Characters don't have to be original at first - archetypes save you a lot of trouble in the story's infancy. Remember that characters grow as you write them, so don't ever feel pressured to have one completed straight out of the mold. As far as being "creative" goes, I think "engaging" might be the word you're looking for. An engaging character is one that your audience can relate to in some capacity - either with empathy or hostility. As long as they have depth and humanity, you're fine. 4) I have 16 (at last count) stories on the shelf and I go back to them when I think of something. I occasionally force myself to write purely to see what happens and even if I end up back at square one, I'll have explored a series of possibilities that can either be used later in the same stories or brick-walled and definitively canned. You'll find plenty of threads arguing over the "right" way to do these things (not that a "right" way exists, mind you). Hang around and you'll find something that suits you eventually.
