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Posted: Oct 07 2009 11:14 pm

So here's the deal: I am an excellent writer...sort of. Technically, I have a mastery of the English language (despite my intent on constant swearing). I understand grammar and phrasing and all of the stuff that is required to write competently. My problem? I'm not terribly creative. Like...at all. I'll have great ideas now and then and I can think of really cool scenes, but trying to create an entire story is more than I seem to be able to focus my attention on, if I even possess that sort of creativity.
So now I have what I think is a really, really good idea. An idea that would be almost criminal not to use in a story. The thing is, I don't really know how to build a story around this. I know it can be done, and I know it will be fucking amazing, but I don't know where to begin. Does anyone here have a lot of experience in creative writing (books, short stories, screenplays, whatever) that can give me some ideas on how to plot out a story? I know I can't just start writing and expect everything to work. I have a beginning and a huge, important event that takes place, but I don't know how close to the beginning or end that is. Any help people have is awesome.

Posted: Oct 07 2009 11:16 pm

not i, said the brown eye...'d guy.

unfortunately i also suffer from this bug. in fact, i was supposed to take a creative writing class last year (one of my 'resolutions') but that fell thru of course.

so, i wish you the best of luck. hopefully you can find someone to help you.

Posted: Oct 07 2009 11:21 pm

I do, as a matter of fact. I'm as yet unpublished, but I have done a lot of very hard work in that area, and hope to get myself published once school is over and I have the resources to devote to flogging my stories through publishers and magazines (which is a fulltime job in and of itself.) Been a writing tutor since I was in high school, usually essays of course but I've done my share of editing short stories and nonfiction prose as well. In addition to practical experience in that vein, I love reading books about the writing process. I'd be happy to help for what that's worth.

Also, if you do need help with writing, go read "On Writing" by Stephen King if you haven't yet. Amazing book, and very inspiring too. I can't remember the title off the top of my head, but Orson Scott Card wrote a pretty good book on the process as well, although its specifically geared towards fantasy/sci-fi writers.

But yeah, drop me a line if you like.

Posted: Oct 07 2009 11:28 pm

I'll just have to do that!

Title: Hugh Joined: Sep 23 2007 Posts: 1591

Ahem, most everyone seems to have thought I'm a bit of an English prodigy since I was like, six, and I might be getting a book published soon-ish, and I write lots and lots, it's one of my main jobs. Anyway, what I tend to do is just write scenes as they come to me, and then string them together later on. Sometimes I have a big plot over it all, but I'll still just write certain scenes of that plot when they come to me, and worry about stringing everything together later on. I hear a few other authors do this, too. A note, though: if you're a super left-brained person, this obviously won't work at all.

Joined: Aug 26 2007 Posts: 2752

I've been reading from 'The Element of Style' and it has some really good tips. I've been trying to write for my whole life. I've written chapters of stuff that at the end i read again and feel is garbage then i have written stuff that I still feel proud of doing but yet to publish. There is one story i feel confident i can publish but it's pretty damn long, i'm like only 1/3 the way through the story. My problem is i have too many ideas and not enough skill or time to get it down on paper fast enough. At the moment i've been improving my literacy to get inspiration and a knack of the structure of a book. Reading other's work does help give you an idea of how you want to deliver a story and write a book.

I wish you luck, Jeebus, let us know how things go.

Title: Titlating Joined: Dec 17 2007 Posts: 5042

Alan Moore's: Writing For Comics, despite the title does more than just teach you how to write comics and is really the only how-to writing book I've read so I definitely suggest it.

Posted: Oct 08 2009 10:36 pm

I'm gonna pass on Alan Moore's suggestions, unless he wrote that in 1984.

Title: Titlating Joined: Dec 17 2007 Posts: 5042

It was written in 85 and reprinted later, it's more of an essay than a full length book and can be found free on the net pretty easily.

Posted: Oct 09 2009 12:02 am

i remember editing my buddy's essays and reports in high school. i guess i was a better editor than writer.

Posted: Oct 09 2009 09:47 am

The trick to a good story, is to find the right hook to start it. You need to start it at some point that will draw the reader in. If nothing happens in the first chapter, then they may give up on it.

Also, good stories tend to write themselves. Once you have a Point A and a Point B, you'll have ideas flowing faster than you can write them down.

Gallery 2 · Posted: Oct 09 2009 03:07 pm

The one advice that I may be able to give at the time being is to start writing your ideas down. From there you will be able to pinpoint your strong and weak points and edit them accordingly. It's more than likely that you'll be tru 10 to 15 edits until you get the desired result.

If you want further details, I can advice this book; it is really great:

Story: Substance, Structure, Style and The Principles of Screenwriting (Hardcover)

While it seems it only applies to movies, it covers facts that work on stories in general.

In fact, I got an entire list of books on the subject recommended by a Sequential Art Graduate. If you want the whole gist, lemme know.

But, if you don't have the time for that, you can always do it the easy way:

http://www.seventhsanctum.com/generate.php?Genname=storygen

Joined: Dec 06 2007 Location: Connecticut Posts: 11244

Jeebus,

I was the best man at a wedding yesterday and had to deliver the toast/speech at the reception. For weeks I couldn't write it down. No matter how hard I tried, the words wouldn't be right. I actually had all of the elements of the speech, but not the actual words to make it sound good.

One night my wife wrote a paragraph for me just to get me started. I ended up not using a single word out of it, but her writing got me thinking about how to write and before I knew it, it took me about an hour to finish it.

Joined: Feb 16 2008 Posts: 832

Honestly? Write a fantasy story. It's the most easy thing to get your creative juices flowing, especially if you're writing a traditional stock sotry. I had a paper to deliver for a college class and I couldn't for the fucking life of me come up with a story. I did a fantasy story about an alcoholic detective

A+, more or less.I came up with the whole thing in five minutes.

Posted: Oct 13 2009 10:39 am

Well I already have the basic idea for the story and it's a matter of flushing it out into something that can be published. SH is giving me the help I need though, so hopefully the next thing you'll hear from me is that we've made millions.

Title: Hugh Joined: Sep 23 2007 Posts: 1591

Pshh, real authors can write all by themselves.

Posted: Oct 13 2009 07:58 pm

Captain_Pollution wrote:

Pshh, real authors can write all by themselves.

Now why on Earth would he do that, when I could share the millions? Duh. Rolling Eyes

Posted: Oct 13 2009 08:02 pm

Captain_Pollution wrote:

Pshh, real authors can write all by themselves.

I would reply and say "Oh, Stephen King isn't a real author?" all sassy like and stuff, but I know there are plenty of people who would argue that no, he's not. Regardless, it's enough of a miracle that I have an idea worth writing; there's no way I could possibly flush this out on my own.

#edit: and yeah, the millions. I don't need ALL that money. I'd be happy getting out of debt with enough money left over for a sushi dinner, and getting to go on late night TV plugging the book and announcing my run for president in 2020.

Posted: Oct 13 2009 09:27 pm

why make billions, when you can make millions?!

I just want to tell you both good luck. We're all counting on you.

Posted: Oct 14 2009 03:21 am

I know I'm late to bat at this, but I find that a good mind-dump can really get the juices flowing. You know, just start writing down whatever is in your head, and fill up about a page.