Hi there, One of the classes I am taking for my masters this year revolves around writing for a teenage audience. I am 29, and have a vague recollection of my teen years - But I was after some feedback on an idea I had for the creative piece I have to submit. Basically, its narrated in first person from a character who is dead, she is retelling her demise giving background from starting as a happy, average student, her meeting of a guy and hooking up etc. I am thinking I will have her fall pregnant, him freak out and go a little crazy at her, her run off upset... Somehow, he'll come to his senses and realise he loves her but alas, too late and shes died somehow (!) and will never know. (Cue swoon and violins). Except that because shes beyond the grave telling this, she sort of will, but HE wont know. Ohhhkay, that sounds confusing even to me. hopefully you can get a vague idea of what I am on about. Is it plausible? Does it have potential? Should I return to the drawing board or give it a go? I have a few months before semester starts so I thought I would just hash out a few ideas and start a few pieces and see which I am happy with by due date, if I can find time to...
Ok... Remember sex sells, but the storis pretty standard format - play with accepted conventions - maybe even avoid characters of ethnicity... depends on the level you're aiming for - throwaway read or some consideration on topics raised I did a short scriptlikething similar to that... was going to end in the guy ramming his car off the M25 to avoid hitting a minibus full off children when a lorry goes into the back of him and ending with the fuel line cut and sparking engine as he fumbles out of the vehicle. I could attempt to find it ince it contained highly amusing sections regarding drug abuse, social groupings and ethnicity. Totally unusual style of format.. and in the school comp the chap making the decisions was a poet - and therefore confuzzled by it. Full of swearing... Like real life really...
Reading your idea sounds quite similar to Ghost (starring Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore) whereby he too had difficulty saying he loved her only to struggle to let her know beyond the grave. So obviously it does have potential for success albeit it's not original other than the first person narrative. You can still write this and avoid plagiarism by brainstorming story events. In short, go ahead.
I'm a kid, but I'm also a guy, so I can't say I'm too interested in that kind of thing. However, to attract guys, you could try switching back and forth between points of view. For example, one chapter could be the girl narrating what was happening- and then the next chapter could play the events from the boyfriend's point of view. This would not only make it more interesting, but would also give your characters more depth.
Excellent, excellent ideas, thank you for those. I should add I am limited to 3000 words which is making things really difficult, I seem to have an interesting beginning, an okay ending, and blathering crap in the middle trying to get from one end to the other. These replies are really helpful, and have given me a lot to play with and think about. Its been so long sice I did some writing, rusty doesnt start to cover it!
Blimey... 3000 words... Pittance... That will be quite hard to do - even with such a comparitively simple story... Maybe write it as blog entries...
Yes, more difficult than I had anticipated. I really like the blog idea, except that that would need to scrap the beyond the grave idea. Which is possible... Ill play around with both and see what works best. I think blogs good too, because it is something plausible. Thanks!
Or even talking through the format of MSN... Many ways to push it. Watch R-Point... ghosts/spirits can use technology/..
It sounds like you are using the typical linear structure. If that be the case then structure the amount of words you are allowed into three sections of beginning, middle and end. Try this structure: I would recommend that you dedicate about 700 words for the beginning, 1600 for the middle, and the last 700 for the end (you probably won't need that much for the ending section though). A word of caution. Don't write straight away to a predisposed number of words otherwise you're going to seriously limit your creativity. At first draft write as much as you can. When you come to subsequent (and necessary) rewrites you'll need to begin the process of condensing and taking out as much unnecessary crap as you can. You don't want to get mixed up in editing and rewrites during the creative phase of your work. This will keep you with the good stuff while the useless crap is conveniently edited out, plus a greater chance to edit it all down to the needed 3000 words. The middle of the story is the most hardest but also the most important, and for this reason: Deep structure. What you set up in the first section of your story is climaxed at the end. What questions are posed at the start are answered at the end. But what's important is how the journey of the characters and the above situations are played out to get to the end. This is what the middle is for. Life begins at the beginning, it ends at the end. But what happens to people in their lifetime between those both points is obviously during the middle. It's a good thing that you have thought of the end as this will give you a point to get to. Trust me, so many writers literally lose the plot because they started their stories with such magnificent beginnings with so much creativity, characterisation and description, but the writer and the story both fell flat on their arses because both were literally going nowhere as the writers in question didn't define where they actually wanted to go. It's the end point that defines the beginning, and vice versa. But the middle is where the drama is supposed to really take off as all wheels are in motion (or should be).
I agree, the middle needs to be as well written as the rest and as captivating as such... right now, its nowhere near, but I find if I just get a vague, rough idea out of my head and written down, then I can start to change things and add things and make connections. In theory anyway. So I agree with that completely, and will see how I go. I also really appreciate the male perspective. As was said, its not really a guy story, and I'd like to try and fix that, or try to. Swiper whats R-point??? No doubt I will return with countless more questions along the way, thanks again!
R-Point is a brilliant South Korean war/horror film about a squad of soldiers sent to find a missing unit... Just watch it and it will inspire your creative side.
