I have been trying to write for a long time now, and can't ever seem to get started. I'm a little nervous about the planning stages of a novel. I don't want to get going on one of my many ideas and just run out of steam or hit a block in the story with no way out. To make this worse I really know nothing about planning a novel. If there is anyone who can help me out and give me a few pointers about getting my ideas together and getting the frame work done that would be great. I have been trying to get these ideas out for awhile and I really do appretiate any advice.
Quit worrying about a novel. Sit down, and write short stories until you're confident in your writing. Once you have a solid base in short story writing, it will be much, much easier to write novels.
thanks. my wife was saying the same thing. i guess that would be the best place to start. thanks so much.
You're welcome. I just read my post on here, and I just can't believe it. I said.. What the hell was I thinking? You're writing? Good luck in your writing.
first off, you're going to have to excuse my lack of grammatical techniques here. when i'm not writing for a term paper or my novel, i tend to get lazy. it's like taking a break for me, haha anyway, planning is messy. or at least it is for my co-author and myself. We each have a notebook, more like a journal if anything. We write down everything in them. every character, dates, ideas. idea's are huge though- we write down the smallest thought that comes to mind and probably havent used half of what we've thought out in the notebooks. thats a good tip for you- write down everything, even what you think might be the most minor detail that you'll never use. when you forget it later on and want to remember, you'll be kicking yourself. hard. trust me, i've been there many times as for actually planning it out - we tried to write down a chapter-by-chapter outline of what we want the novel to look like. it's more like a timeline though because our the ideas for our chapters may end up only happening in 1 and not 2... that might have been put in a confusing manner but hopefully you get what i mean. what you basically need to start with is a solid idea. a conflict is usually a good place to start. for example, if you start with a conflict, you need to plot out how it's introduced, built upon, finally brought to the forefront of the story, how it's resolved (if it is.. our's is/will hopefully be a series so our conflict isn't totally resolved in the first book) but yeah.. it's hard and planning a novel works differently for different people- you'll find a way that works for you. the only other tip i can think of it right now is to not force it. If you can't think of something right away, sleep on it, etc. Don't just force yourself to think of something bc it may not be the quality idea you're looking for! hope this helps a bit =) JM
thanks JM. that does help a lot. i have been writing out ideas for this story for some time, but i do think i may be forcing a few of the ideas i have. just can't get a handle right now on how to bring these characters together to fight the good fight. but i'll take your advice and sleep on it for a few days and mabey it will come to me. thanks again.
I found that just sitting down and writing for like 5-10 minutes, not stopping or looking at what your writing helps me. Just let your mind go, and practically the book starts to write itself. I normally edit later, fixing things makes my mind work, which makes me stall, which makes me not write. Just write write write, and don't think about it. It will come naturally if you just practice this method.
Why not look at each chapter in your "novel" as a short story in itself. Take 'em one at a time and see how it goes. The hardest part is actually sitting down and starting. Once you get in the habit of doing it, it gets a little easier.
