I’d like to hear talk on starting your story, as in how to get your characters rolling without ending up boring the reader with some backstory and that in order to let the readers understand who the character is and how they got there.

Regaining momentum after extended interuptions might be an interesting topic, as would showing character motivation in the early stages of a novel. I also Second Donna’s request for getting characters moving without backstory dumps.

Donna and Eleyne suggested something interesting, I’d be interested to hear that, but I fear it might be a bit of a broad topic to discuss in one blog entry.

I actually have a more specific question on that. I heard that your first three chapters should lay the groundwork, give your protagonist a clear objective, etc… Especially editors need this (so I’ve heard), but readers need something interesting to read or they will put the book down or not even buy it.

Here’s my question: How much of what do you need to write down early in your book to get editors or readers interested in buying your book? Also, if not in chapters, how many words should you do it in?

Cheers,
Christophe

Both suggestions for topics suggested so far sound interesting. I’d also like to hear more about time management for writers who also have other obligations in life.

I think both topics mentioned above would get us all refocused. And they don’t have to be addressed in one blog.

Also: a recent read of Noah Lukeman’s First Five Pages gave me a cerebral hemorrhage/epiphany. The light came on and I saw that I have some chapters that don’t progress the character’s particular story. I confess, the chapter is there basically to give the reader more insight about the character. Which I think a writer can do, as long as there is an actual point to the chapter that has nothing to do with the reader. Am I starting to get it?

I took a story I know well and picked a random chapter to analyze. Knowing what Lizzie Bennet’s personal storyline is, I looked to see if the random chapter progresses her story, and it does. It wasn’t full of action, (well, there was that one car chase scene) but in this chapter, Lizzed learned something that further increased her prejudice of Darcy, which is a key part of HER storyline.

So I am using this kind of analysis to go back and make myself write out a one sentence summary of each chapter and see if it stands on it’s own, if the story would collapse without the chapter. If it doesn’t, then I should either cut it or include in it a stronger element of disaster, conflict or at least have the character learn something that is vital to the progression of his/her storyline, whether they know it or not.

I’d like to see you cover the subject of safe-but-effective explosives for setting a writer’s keister in motion after years of “putting in my time” learning the craft.

Topic: any tricks for getting on with something you have a committment to finish when it has gotten so stale everything seems awful (despite critique claims that it is great), and a different story keeps knocking on the brain?

…ME too!

You know, it almost sounds like marriage. The “other man/woman” knocking on the brain looks good because we don’t know it fully yet, the way we know our spouse (wip) inside and out. So the new one sounds flashy and exciting, and apparently without fault. But I bet once we dig into the new story, we’ll find the same hard work and stale times required to put up with it.

What do you think?

It doesn’t have to be with prizes, I think it’s just a good way to internalize a concept.