Posted by wayne collins on February 14, 2008 at 12:15am
Hi everyone. I am new to the group. I am trying my hand at writing, but I keep running into massive walls of redundancy. I think I have a great idea, but am having trouble tying it all together to form a cohesive and interesting flow. Any suggestions or ideas would be greatly appreciated.
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You can also make a timeline of events. Determine which scenes happen before or after another. This will help identify which holes you would need to fill to get from scene A to scene E.
But don't fret. If you feel God gave you this idea then He will inspire you to move it along in his timing. And I agree with Jon. Find a person you can trust with your idea. Maybe God wants you to step out in faith and let yourself grow and mature by taking advice and encouragement from others.
well, I have no interests in stealing anything of yours, and if there are people who think they could help and you think you can trust them to not steal, send them a message. that way they are the only one who ever have an oppurtunity to steal. and the daily soap idea is good too, although some plots unless there are major changes made don't support the secret thing. it can cause problems with momentum, or at least that is my experience trying to map out my characters.
The secret idea is to help establish a characters past and motivations. It helps if you make the characters secret relevent to the plot. For instance, it probably wouldn't be wise to have someone reveal they're from outerspace if your setting is the biblical old testament. And not every character has to have a secret. Play around with the idea till you've got a good idea to help pull your story along.
I developed this technique by watching to much soap operas on TV. LOL
Draw a relationship chart for your characters. Who hates Who? Who loves who? Who is related to who? Who harbors jealousy or hatred or envy toward another? Who are rivals? What are they rivaling for? Or what is the source of their hatred or jealousy?
Now after you do that ( here's the fun part ) give each character a dark secret. ( ie. is someone a murderer? an adultress? A con artist? Is someone secretlyin love with someone else? Is someone trying to lie to get ahead in a relationship or business?
A secret so shocking that they would do just about anything to keep their secrets- secret.
Now determine WHO knows WHO's secret. How do they HELP or HINDER that person in keeping that secret. Does someone resort to blackmail? Forcing a good character to do bad things?
NOW drop your characters in the enviroment you have written. And have them respond accordingly.
Be sure not to reveal the characters secrets all at once. Start by alluding to them. Then one by one as a secret is revealed your characters are forced to respond , good or bad, to how it affects them.
Friends become enemies amd enemies become friends.
By doing this excersize (sp?) you can develop what motivates a characters and their hidden agendas. And develop PLOT TWISTS and CLIFFHANGERS.
Sounds like a great idea, except that I despise daytime soaps. We had one TV in my college dorm, VCRs were a thing of the future, and the other girls would schedule their classes around their soaps! LOL!
I would have my characters' secrets be that they are actually space aliens, holograms, androids, cyborgs and the like. Then one character's startling secret would be that she is the only human being in the entire cast.
The main thing is to write. Runners run. Writers write. Get it all down on paper, then when you've got it where you can stand back and look at it, you can rearrange it to the perfect shape that you want.
Hi Wayne. That's a probelem I struggle with to. The only help I get is from God which is rather spordaic but is better than nothing. There are a lotta book and references I suggest but I'm still feeling rather vague over waht you want....
Gerard Lee > UnchartedSpiritMarch 11, 2008 at 5:18pm
Dear Wayne,
I'd like to encourage you to share your ideas with people. Consider joining the "Alpha Omega" APAzine, which is perfect for people wanting feedback on their works in progress, though the zine is on a bimonthly schedule, which may or may not be a bit slow for you.
Please don't let worries about theft of ideas keep you from working on your ideas. I used to never write because I was afraid I'd do my story ideas 'wrong', and the years flew by and I had nothing to show for it. It made me feel guilty and bitter and that was so wrong of me.
Trust God:) If someone steals this idea, He will give you a better one. And it may be that He wants you to partner with others He has in mind for your project?
For what it's worth, I'm always willing to look at your ideas, though we've only just met, ha ha:)
Replies
But don't fret. If you feel God gave you this idea then He will inspire you to move it along in his timing. And I agree with Jon. Find a person you can trust with your idea. Maybe God wants you to step out in faith and let yourself grow and mature by taking advice and encouragement from others.
don't worry the redundancy happens to everyone.
Draw a relationship chart for your characters. Who hates Who? Who loves who? Who is related to who? Who harbors jealousy or hatred or envy toward another? Who are rivals? What are they rivaling for? Or what is the source of their hatred or jealousy?
Now after you do that ( here's the fun part ) give each character a dark secret. ( ie. is someone a murderer? an adultress? A con artist? Is someone secretlyin love with someone else? Is someone trying to lie to get ahead in a relationship or business?
A secret so shocking that they would do just about anything to keep their secrets- secret.
Now determine WHO knows WHO's secret. How do they HELP or HINDER that person in keeping that secret. Does someone resort to blackmail? Forcing a good character to do bad things?
NOW drop your characters in the enviroment you have written. And have them respond accordingly.
Be sure not to reveal the characters secrets all at once. Start by alluding to them. Then one by one as a secret is revealed your characters are forced to respond , good or bad, to how it affects them.
Friends become enemies amd enemies become friends.
By doing this excersize (sp?) you can develop what motivates a characters and their hidden agendas. And develop PLOT TWISTS and CLIFFHANGERS.
Just like a Daytime Soap Opera. LOL
I would have my characters' secrets be that they are actually space aliens, holograms, androids, cyborgs and the like. Then one character's startling secret would be that she is the only human being in the entire cast.
I'd like to encourage you to share your ideas with people. Consider joining the "Alpha Omega" APAzine, which is perfect for people wanting feedback on their works in progress, though the zine is on a bimonthly schedule, which may or may not be a bit slow for you.
Please don't let worries about theft of ideas keep you from working on your ideas. I used to never write because I was afraid I'd do my story ideas 'wrong', and the years flew by and I had nothing to show for it. It made me feel guilty and bitter and that was so wrong of me.
Trust God:) If someone steals this idea, He will give you a better one. And it may be that He wants you to partner with others He has in mind for your project?
For what it's worth, I'm always willing to look at your ideas, though we've only just met, ha ha:)
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