Do writing idea books help?

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JohannaSusan
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Do writing idea books help?

Post by JohannaSusan »

I would like to progress beyond writing short stories and start to work on writing a novel. I seem to keep getting stuck with some of the plot points and character descriptions. Has anyone used writing guides or help books to work through these types of things? Or would you suggest working through it on your own? I have used 500 Writing Prompts and it seems to help me to start writing at least. I am open to any further suggestions!
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HalcyonFlower
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Post by HalcyonFlower »

Is this for one novel? Have you found that it's similar plot points you have trouble with across different novels? If so, I would suggest reading novels or excerpts with the situation you having difficulties with to help develop your points based on what another author has done. As for character descriptions, do you mean physical or personality wise?
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moderntimes
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Post by moderntimes »

Okay... first I want to recommend that you think of your writing in the present tense instead of future tense. If you continue to say to yourself "I would like to start work on writing a novel" you'll never start for real. Instead, think "I'm writing a novel."

I myself had written quite a few short stories, articles, lots of book reviews and such before I started writing my novels. Now I've got 3 which were sold and are now being published, and a 4th in progress. So I've been where you are.

I have never used a writing guide or any other sort of "how to write a novel" aid. But for each author, things may work differently. If a "how to" guide serves to launch you into your novel, fine. But you may also become so immersed in planning about getting ready to begin to prepare to start soon as I can get the impetus and after some more planning start (ha ha) then it's possible you'll spin around and around without actually doing the writing for certain.

With those caveats, let's examine some of the points you bring up, and please provide more info so we can better discuss and help solve what's hindering you...

Plot points: Don't worry or obsess about getting everything nailed down before you start. This is what Prisig in the book "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" calls a gumption trap. An example. I'm writing a series of modern American private detective novels. Now last year as I was making really fine progress on my 3rd book, I wanted my private eye to find a clue which would lead him to the killer but one that the very efficient and smart cops would not have. I did NOT stop writing toward the conclusion. Instead, I just wrote and wrote and worked on the continuing story, and eventually an idea dawned on me (no, I won't reveal it here). But the key was that it would be a 2-part clue. Everyone, cops included, would see clue part one but it meant nothing and was just a trivial matter. Then later, clue part 2 was accidentally delivered to the private eye and the actual delivery was a very nice part of the novel's secondary plot arc. So it all tied together! My point is this: I didn't obsess about this plot point because I assured myself that eventually it would come to me, and it did with bells on.

Here's what I've discovered about plot items... If you just write and write, plot elements will seem to magically come to you. Fact is this: your writer's brain will be activated by the very process of the writing, and clues and other keen plot elements will be cooked up in your mind as you use your creative juices. In other words, as you continue to write, you'll of course be thinking about the actual chapter you're on, which is self evident. But moreover, and this is the "magic" of the writer's brain, new chapters yet to be written, new plot points and such, all will bubble up from seeming nowhere. When in fact, it's your own mind working diligently.

My recommendation therefore is to not over-plan, not become wrapped up in minute details and lengthy outlines or schemas. A general and brief outline is sufficient. Here's my outline for my new 4th novel now in progress:

Member of Vietnamese gang is brutally murdered. Mitch (my private eye) sees this and is familiar with gang the victim belonged to. Later Mitch's friend (I'm not giving his name here) is killed and it's accidental but later it becomes a murder and the 2 killings are linked but only Mitch knows why.

That's it. I also listed some new character names and who they are, so I won't misspell them, and saved this non-lengthy info in a separate "helper" file and I just started writing. If you go to the "Creative -- short stories" section here, you'll see my first 3 chapters posted. And you MUST understand that I really don't know exactly how the story will eventually work out. I just write and write.

My recommendation is to just start! Plug away and revise and re-revise and keep creating new chapters and work forward.

Characters? When I first started writing, I treated my characters as marionettes, forcing them to act out and say the words I put into their mouths. And my writing was predictably flat and lifeless.

What I did next was this: I created characters and then I put them into a scene, let the character speak for him/herself, and I just "took dictation" about what was happening in that chapter or scene.

Think of your characters as REAL. Now my novels are very realistic and so my characters are meant to be "real" people. My protagonist went to college at UT Austin. His father was a successful attorney. He's smart and educated and not the tough-guy stereotype. He has older and younger friends. He has a gay partner. He interacts with Anglos, Hispanics, Asians, all other types of people. Some of the people he meets are decent, some are smart, some stupid, some educated, some not, some peaceful, some not. They're a cross section of our modern American urban life. My private eye's not a superhero or great master gunman or martial arts expert.

Now I don't know the genre of novel you're working on. But if it's fantasy, let me caution you to not think of your characters as princes or princesses or sorcerers or dwarfs or whatever. This is cartoonish and will hamper your character development. Instead, imagine your character as a REAL woman who just happens to be a queen. A REAL man who happens to be a sorcerer. And these REAL people have real emotions, they eat food, they enjoy or don't enjoy certain things. Und so weiter (and so on).

Hope this helps.
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Post by zeldas_lullaby »

Great advice, ModernTimes!

I think as per writing prompts, the best one an author can use is: What book would I want to read? What would my perfect reading experience consist of? Fantasy? Humor? Angst? Mystery?

If you follow that writing prompt, then you'll be writing from the heart, and you'll be writing what (hopefully) other people would enjoy too. It's kinda like the Golden Rule, but for writing.

For character descriptions, I do something similar to MT's advice: I ask myself in a given scene or scenario, "How would character A react to that?" It helps develop the character and the scene, simultaneously. People think of character development in terms of traits (introverted, stylish, etc.) but it can be more helpful to think in terms of reactions (hotheaded, emotional, unbothered, etc.).
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Post by MelMariah »

I read a book on technicalities when I was considering writing but I feel like it really put the pressure on and overwhelmed me.
It made me feel insecure about whether or not I knew enough about literature and writing techniques.
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Post by Connoisseur »

In my experience, no, plotting books don't help. What does help, in my experience, is this exercise:

First, read a bunch of books. Like, a ton. Like 90.

Second, buy a pack of one hundred or more index cards (lined). Make sure there are at least 3 different colors of index card there.

Third, recall your favorite scenes from the bunch of books you read. Use them as inspiration for your story, but do not copy them. They should be recognizable as new, original ideas in your book - you're only using their general "vibe" as inspiration.

Fourth, write all your favorite scenes down on the appropriate color (separate into beginning scenes, middle scenes, and end scenes).

Fifth, arrange these cards by beginning, middle, and end sequences, experimenting with different orders until you find something that feels right.

Sixth, get on your computer and type out a refined summary of what you came up with using the index card exercise.

Hope this helps.
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Post by Amagine »

I'm the kind of writer who need writing books to keep me motivated and give me tips. I have writing books on writing for children, short stories, graphic novels, books on writing dialogue and a book on creating characters. They all serve as important references to me. They all also help to encourage me to keep writing.
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Post by Sushan Ekanayake »

you can use whatever the help is available yet, finally it is you who have to figure out a way to get around the problem because writing is a unique thing to an author.
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