So I'm going to get right down to the immediate problem: I just started writing a plot line that has to do with Angels and a girl who is part of "The Second Level" where these "angels" if you will, can become visible to her. But, of course, the angels aren't what everyone seems to think they are. Instead of being these good guardians, like the bible says, they are actually horrible, murdering things that try to steal your soul through something called Casting. So far, my main has just experienced the loss of her own Guardian, one of the angels that went rouge against the Others. She has recurring flashbacks about when this Guardian would explain to her things about how the "angels" worked. With that as background, the issue is how it comes out sounding. I've never written anything like this but somehow, when I'm writing it, it just sounds...dry. Which isn't the case with most of the other things I've written. I've tried to add depth to my characters and it just comes out sounding odd. I have a lot of interesting characters that I want to add in but somehow whenever I try to write about them, they sounds just...bad. Even the Guardian, which was one of my favorite characters in the first few chapters, has just started to piss me off. "So," you're probably thinking, "why isn't this under character development?" Well, because it's not just my characters. The plot seems flat. The writing style seems flat. I like my original idea, and I think there are a lot of places I can do with it....it just sounds weird. In short: I feel like I spend half my time trying to explain what is going on... Um. So basically I need suggestions: Maybe things I can do for my characters? Some general suggestions in writing the supernatural, like this? Maybe suggestions of articles or authors I can read to give me some pointers?? Help?
You didn't mention the plot at all... what is the story all about? Maybe the problem with it is that you have the setting and the characters but no plot?
Pictures come faster than words. You have a movie of your story reeling in your mind then you try to get the description out and you fall flat. Happens to me all the time. Advice: write it in scenes. Take some time to really see one scene - the location, geography, setting, sounds, lighting, smells, noises, characters. Get that firmly in your mind then write slowly slowly slowly. The more you mentally rehearse the better you'll get. Write all the scenes down one at a time as descriptive as you can then go back and add more detail. Write the entire novel that way and don't cut anything until the end. oh, and when you feel like you are losing it, take a break. Keep it in your mind but don't tell yourself you can't do it / aren't feeling it / suck because it will be harder when you start up again. Always have your story in your head. Always.
You have a point here, there really isn't a plot other than that it is this girl's life. But this isn't weird for me. As odd and untraditional as it sounds, I rarely have completely worked out plots in my head. Very rarely. And I'm not new to this whole writing thing. I've been writing since I was just a kid and I've finished a bunch of unpublished novels. I guess it's just the way I work or something. ALTHOUGH, you did make me notice one thing: I have less plot than normal. You might be right. I have characters and no where to let them shine (so to speak haha) @nhope: thanks for the tips
