I have always wanted to write, I have had a love of books my entire life. I have always been drawn to books based on real life events such as books Lurlene McDaniel or A child called it. I also love fantasy books like Harry Potter, Hunger Games, or the Divergent Series. I have a couple different ideas I could go with. I am drawn to the idea of writing about the birth of my daughter (title 'Birthing Emma'), I also would love to write about bullying in middle school(something I personally went through and my 10 year old is currently experiencing) and how I used my love of books to cope, another idea is also based around my son, who lost is paternal grandma to terminal cancer in 2013, and the bond they shared up until she passed. However this last idea, is something he is still struggling with today and I am not sure how he or his father would feel about me writing about it, even if i fictionalized the story. I am not sure if any of these ideas are even any good, so any advice on where to start would be amazing.
Okay, first off, go to the Journal Section of this site and start a progress Journal. - Here is one of my blurbs to help people get their ideas organized. There is fives point you should have figured out before plotting. They are as followed. Lead: Your MC. Try to use nouns and verbs when you describe your MC and a single-well-picked adjective. Objective: What is his or her goal? It should be a physical goal that serves to satisfy a spiritual goal. Conflict: What stands in his or her way? Knockout: What would victory look like? What would defeat look like? Situation: With as few words as possible, what is your character's life like before the start of the story? A little bit of Background info works here. A note on irony: Either the goal or the conflict (or both) should be Ironic in terms of your MC. An example of this would be "A serial killer who tries to save someone's life." A note on the Spiritual goal: While you need to know what the spiritual goal is, you don't need to state in the logline. Spiritual goals are mostly for subtext and theme purposes, not so much for plotting. A note on groups: A Group counts as one character if they all share the same physical objective. What will separate this cast of characters is they will each have different spiritual goals. - Here is my Index page: It has a few free resources and blog series that may or may not be of value to you depending on your goals. (More will be added as the year(s) go on.) https://www.writingforums.org/entry/orys-writing-notes-introduction-and-thoughts-on-style.63609/ - I wish you the best of Luck, and Welcome. -OJB
Since these story ideas are autobiographical, have you tried writing them first as memoir rather than fiction?
You could start with writing them. I don't think we can really tell how good an idea is until it's on the page. And short stories are quick. You can easily do all of your ideas one after the other. So, is there really any hangup?
I didn't know where to start or how to start or anything like that. But I think I may have found a beginning.
Remember Hemingway Of course, that won't turn it into a short story: it may become anything. Sometimes it will just sit there, all alone, because you have nothing to add. Sometimes it will turn into a title. And sometimes it will lead you right through a short story and on into a novel. For myself, I would never use autobiographical material for fiction, unless it was an incident involving no other people who might feel embarrassed, invaded or betrayed. Ultimately, the only important thing is what you give to the reader. He's unwrapped this package: where is the present?
I think our own lives are a great place to go mining for story ideas. Just remember there is a difference between memoir and fiction and they are written a little differently for the most part. I think it's great that @Teera Case already has some ideas and now it seems like she's off an running with one of them, which is awesome. My biggest advice on this topic would be to allow your truth and the true story you lived through turn into fiction. I think all good fiction as some truth in it, but just because it's the way something really happened doesn't mean it's the best story. And even though it's now fictionish, sometimes the truth is harder to believe then fiction. Just don't forget this is fiction and you are no longer tied to the truth. You can take a good story and make it an even better story, an amazing story. Have fun with it and good luck.
Thanks, I created a progress journal to hopefully help me along the way. This is the idea I think I am going to go with. Everybody hates me, I have no friends and no one understands me. Being bullied by his classmates, he starts to think he will never fit in, or have a true friend. But then he comes across a hidden magical society, and the best part, he belongs to and meets his first real friend. I don't know if that is any good and am open to advice on how to make it better.
Not a bad start. I would think of replacing the word bullied with what this kid is actually going through. Bullying can mean so many things. I'm sure you are planning on doing it, but depending on how bad this kid has it at school, it could be a very powerful opening scene. Just something to think about. You've got this. And welcome to the club.
There are three very different types of school bullying: there is the individual bully who, for whatever psychological reason of his or her own, picks on weaker classmates; the culture of systemic bullying, as in military schools; the mainstream majority bullying an individual misfit. Since you seem to have begun with the third type, you must now explain how this particular child is a misfit. The story will then pivot on how his handicap this world is an asset in the alternate world he enters. Be very, very careful to steer clear of Harry Potter echoes!
In my opinion writing autobiographical is a good place to start. I am currently writing my first short story and it’s based on something that I actually experienced. I have several unique experiences that I would like to turn into short stories and I consider them practice so that one day I can write a genuine piece of fiction.
Basically , write anything you like . The only caution I can offer is, stories based on personal events can be a bit boring . Most writers do use their experiences within works of fiction , but most of us don't live lives that make good fiction. I have no idea what your planning or how good it will be , but think of an evening with a friend, showing you hours of holiday snaps .
