Today I am left with a question that is left unanswered every time I try to begin my amazingly awesome novel. So, I will dedicate this blog and my next series of question(s) to anyone who might happen to read this.
How do you do it? I mean, once you do find the inspiration to put pen to paper, or fingers to keyboard, how do you begin? Do you just start writing and see where it takes you? Do you figure out your plot or general concept and then write and expand on it, or do you sort out what you want your characters personalities to be like and go from there?
Finding Forrester was a great story. Jamal Wallace, the inner city kid befriends writer William Forrester. Part of the story that fascinated me the most was where Jamal was in Williams apartment receiving a lesson. When Jamal couldn't think of what to write, William yelled at him not to think, just write. I have tried this method once or twice, but maybe I just haven't been disciplined enough to follow through with it. A lot of it is just me writing stuff like "blah blah blah I can't think of anything blah blah blah blah", despite that this method is fascinating to me.
I've also had people tell me that they sometimes jump all over the place when writing. They may start their story somewhere in the middle, and then go to the beginning and then go to the end and piece it all together. Another friend has said that she ALWAYS writes in chapters, and often posts what she writes forums so that she can get other peoples opinions on her stuff.
I have never written in chapters ever. Every time I write, I just write until I feel like I'm finished or until I have an ending.
I'm really excited to write my award winning novel. Or, maybe it won't be award winning, maybe not a single soul will want to read it, maybe I'll be too scared or nervous to even show anyone. But tell me, how do YOU do it?
I have often found that brainstorming can help. For example, your characters- brainstorm each ones personality so you can reference the brainstorm when you write. It also helps you sort out ideas.
ReplyDeleteThe just write method is a good one to. If you have anything at all come to mind, don't worry about WHERE it falls in the story at that moment, just write it and don't stop till you have no idea's left to write.
Try starting with basics. Your plot - whats your conflict? Whats your theme? your characters - who's your protag. who's your antag. and who's just support., consider basing them off yourself, or people you know, it can help make a character deeper because you already know them. Where does it take place? And know your voice, is it written in first person, or third person? I would say for a first novel, first person would be the easiest.
If the just write method isn't helping you, I definitely would suggest attempting to brain storm out some of those things I mentioned...sometimes getting the ideas out onto paper (or onto computer) can really help.
reccommended sites for digital brainstorming tools
http://www.xmind.net/
http://www.mindmeister.com/
both are free to get and use. I use xmind a lot for projects.