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  1. flyingkite

    flyingkite New Member

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    Stuck in my story

    Discussion in 'Plot Development' started by flyingkite, Sep 10, 2020.

    Hi.

    I'm stuck in my story and would appreciate some help. The story will have 7 chapters, each of which takes place over a year.

    I will try to summarize as best I can (not my strong side).

    Prologue: The mother abandons her daughter in an orphanage.

    Chapter 1: It's a lot about how the girl handles life at the orphanage. She feels excluded from the community and constantly misses her mother and wonders why she was abandoned. Eventually, she starts to hear her mother's voice in her head, but it's a version of her mother as loving. Therefore, she clings to the voice to until she can’t handle it anymore. It ends with the point that she is a child who grew up too fast.

    Chapter 2: The voice still affects her and therefore she tries by all means to stay distracted. That is why dance becomes a central part of her life. She wins a local talent show that gives her the opportunity to perform in front of an audience a few times, which arouses a new interest She learns to hide her feelings and finally once rebels against the exclusion. It ends with the caretaker forcing her to clean while the other children are watching and laughing. The chapter ends with her wondering if she will get out of here.

    this is where I’m stuck... the ending will be that she gets adopted by a family who loves her, and there is where she finally finds her peace in herself.
     
  2. Auspere

    Auspere New Member

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    Maybe she would retreat more into her own mind again, having lost some of her mental fortitude she built up before, because of the physiological stress caused by the situation where she is forced to clean in front of the others. Perhaps she begins hallucinating or making up an ideal fantastical world where also her loving mother is present, to cope with the humiliation but also to find strength to get through and find a way out, though unknowingly to herself.

    Maybe her dancing becomes the connection between the real world and this fantastical world? With a special dance taking her in and out of there.
     
  3. MusingWordsmith

    MusingWordsmith Shenanigan Master Contributor

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    I think it sounds like you might be getting a bit hung up on how you decided to 'outline' versus what's happening when you actually go to write. Maybe go ahead and skip ahead to write the end, since you know it. Maybe you'll get ideas while you're doing that to fill in some gaps, or maybe it'll work just fine as a short story/novella where she pretty quickly gets adopted.
     
  4. EFMingo

    EFMingo A Modern Dinosaur Supporter Contributor

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    This is plotting, it takes effort and time and no one else can really do it for you. Sorry, but that's kind of how it is.

    My suggestion is to write out these first two chapters. Get some work on the page and see what comes of it. You'll know where you are at and you'll be quite a bit more comfortable with your characters. Then you should be able to determine their future and the progression of your story from there. It doesn't matter if you suddenly don't like the direction you created. This is editing and rewrites. Sometimes you spend a few chapters just getting to know a character on the page. Later on, you can mold the environment into something that works with them. You can place them into a plot that would directly antagonize them in a way only you could write because you know them a certain way.

    In other words, just get those chapters out there. I'm dead certain you'll figure out a new path or two just from that alone.
     
    DK3654 likes this.
  5. GraceLikePain

    GraceLikePain Senior Member

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    Work backwards if you have to. So she gets adopted by a family in the end. Who are they? What job does the dad have? How does this impact his ability to adopt a child? How accepting are the members of the family to the adoption? What problems will the girl have once she has a family that they will need to be sensitive to and help her with?

    The key to writing is to ask the right questions.
     
    jannert likes this.
  6. jannert

    jannert Retired Mod Supporter Contributor

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    I'm with @GraceLikePain on this. Start to concentrate on the family who will adopt her. Adopting a child (at least in today's world) is a difficult process, so they will need to be very committed to pull it off. Do they meet her first, then decide to adopt? Or do they decide to adopt 'a child' then start looking ...and realise she's the one they want? What are their motivations? What kind of people are they?

    And you also have to deal with how your protagonist deals with her birth mother ...voice, presence, etc. Where are these sensations coming from? Does she want to get rid of them? You've made it sound as if the ephemeral presence of her mother is loving. So if that's the case, why would she want to be rid of it?

    Does the story involve her finding out about her real mother? And that her mother IS a loving person, who was forced into giving up her child? Or is this all about your protagonist finding herself, and realising her real mother didn't actually love her—so there doesn't actually NEED to be a connection? Does she end up with the knowledge that you create your own family as you go through life?

    I might, if I were you, want to downplay the horrible way she's being treated at the orphanage. That can become a bit of a sympathy wallow, and may end up not making sense. If she's being treated like Cinderella and made to scrub floors, etc, how does she end up becoming an accomplished dancer at an early age—good enough to win a talent show? That doesn't quite add up, at least from the summary you gave here.

    I would encourage you to think about these questions. I don't need to know the answers, but maybe you do. :)

    Anyway, good luck with your story. But you do need to make story decisions for yourself.

    Don't get hung up on the need to write the story in chronological order from start to finish. If you don't know 'what happens next' just skip ahead to another part of the story, and write that. You can start in the middle of the story. You can write bits as they come to you, as you envision them, and fit them all together with transitional chapters later on. Let your story evolve.

    Writing fiction is a risk-free activity, so don't be afraid to take some risks and take some chances. Tell yourself that nobody will see your work till YOU decide to show it.
     
  7. psychotick

    psychotick Contributor Contributor

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    Hi,

    The question for me is what's the story about? A girl growing up as an orphan? That's not much of a plot. Even adding her mother's voice doesn't add to it. What you've got is some sort of a biography which doesn't have any real direction. So I'd suggest going back to basics. Who is this girl? Who is she going to become? What struggles is she going to overcome? Then go back to your chapters and see how they advance the story / plot.

    Remember anyone can write a journal / biography. But for most people the journal is of a mundane sort of life. Do you want to write the story of someone who overcame hardship to become an accountant? Or do you want her to do something outstanding? To become someone outstanding? If so, show her becoming that. Chart the milestones and the struggles.

    Hope that helps.

    Cheers, Greg.
     
    jannert likes this.
  8. MaryLo1988

    MaryLo1988 Banned

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    Really good advices!
     

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