I'm a fairly decent writer, but certainly no expert. I have recently gotten hooked on writing fiction, but can't seem to formulate much past 3 or 4 pages of writing. I want to finish the story but I have no clue how. I thought it might be helpful to get some general tips on writing from community members (as opposed to single lists written by one author). Also,-and please don't criticize for wanting to rush into this-for reasons of my own, I may end up starting a novel/novella soon of about 200-300 pages. Any tips for writing your first novel/novella?
I think it's easier to write when I have a solid one sentence idea that gives me the conflict: What if X thought they had to do this thing but couldn't because of this and that? Then I think through a couple of characters that interest me and figure out how they might get in one another's way.
What's stalling you is not knowing what to write next, so the logical thing would be to plan out your novella/novel before you write. There are lots of ways to plan, but a simple one would be a one/two sentence summary of each chapter. Things to think about when planning: What's your main character's (or characters') arc? How does he or she change from page 1 to page 300? What is your main character's goal? What's stopping them achieving that goal? What's at stake if they fail? That gives you the basics of your story. Your character will pursue their goal, the antagonist (villain) will try to stop them. Your character will overcome these challenges and learn something along the way which changes them (their arc). And don't forget the key to a good story is conflict. Nobody wants to read about a character who breezes through life with everything going their way - boring! Good authors make their main character/s suffer.
Thank so much! Character development is what is the hardest for me. I can describe individual scenes very well, but struggle to connect them together with characters and a story. So that was exactly what I was looking for. Thanks again!
