My story is somewhere around a million ideas. It's mostly a story, but I only have the main events, there's nothing stringing them together, and I am unsure about how I am going to do that. My MC's biological father isn't the one she thought it was. She is supposed to find out about her dad through her mothers old journal/diary. I was going to have her find it in an attic...but I think that the whole idea...the whole story, actually, is too cliché. But how am I going to get her into the attic? And once she's there, how does she find this journal thing? And then how do I connect that to the next major event? Any ideas or suggestions? -Alex
What I do is I write out scenes on different pieces of paper, then sit back and try to put them in order while thinking of ways to connect the ideas. One thing I'd suggest you do though is stop adding ideas. If you get an awesome idea, write it down and use it to plan a different story some other time (unless this awesome idea also provides linkage between two of the ideas you want to use in this story). When you need to find a solution to a problem, look at what you've already got and try to find a pattern. This has worked for me in the past. For your specific problem: is her mom alive? Maybe she finds the journal in her mom's room and confronts her about it? Who is her biological father, and why should the reader care about his identity? Going from there, decide how the story will take shape.
I have been thinking about this. Yes, her mother is alive, but I haven't really decided wheather she is going to confront her mom about it right away. Knowing me, that's what I would do. But I don't know if that's what I want my character to do. Thanks for the advice! It's getting me thinking. -Alex
sounds like you need to do more reading of stories/novels, before attempting to write one... once you've read enough for long enough, you won't have to ask that question, because you'll have seen/absorbed how successful writers do it and be able to figure out on your own... there are too many ways to go with what you have there... and only you can tell which works best for the story you want to tell... for starters, i suggest you just put yourself in that girl's shoes/mind and then write whatever you would do if you were her... what would make you go up in the attic?... what would you do there?... and what would you do, if you found that diary and learned your dad wasn't your 'real' one? love and hugs, maia
