Comments on: Starting Your Story http://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/blog/2007/08/10/starting-your-story/ America's Mad Professor of Fiction Writing Sat, 22 Nov 2008 16:12:25 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.1.3 By: yeggy http://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/blog/2007/08/10/starting-your-story/#comment-1864 yeggy Sat, 11 Aug 2007 09:41:01 +0000 http://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/blog/2007/08/10/starting-your-story/#comment-1864 Hiya Randy, I'm at the stage where the first draft is finished and now I'm going back into rewriting keeping the PEE in the forefront of my mind. Recently I had a book rejected(YA Fantasy)from Harper Collins because there was too much back story. On Monday of this week I met with Erica Wagner who is the YA/Children's editor at Allen and Unwin in Australia. She read the first 10 pages of my new novel - a YA ScifFi. Said she loved the pace, the character and the idea but wanted more back story. (sigh) Finding the balance will be the challenge. BTW, I have restructured the rejected novel, taken a leaf out of Garth Nix's book. In the first volume of the Seventh Tower, The Fall, he calls the first chapter Chapter Zero. It's where the action starts. It get you in quick smart. Then we go to Part One: Before. On page 94 he picks up the thread of Chapter Zero with Part two: After. So, thanks for starting this blog! Hiya Randy, I’m at the stage where the first draft is finished and now I’m going back into rewriting keeping the PEE in the forefront of my mind.

Recently I had a book rejected(YA Fantasy)from Harper Collins because there was too much back story. On Monday of this week I met with Erica Wagner who is the YA/Children’s editor at Allen and Unwin in Australia. She read the first 10 pages of my new novel - a YA ScifFi. Said she loved the pace, the character and the idea but wanted more back story. (sigh) Finding the balance will be the challenge.

BTW, I have restructured the rejected novel, taken a leaf out of Garth Nix’s book. In the first volume of the Seventh Tower, The Fall, he calls the first chapter Chapter Zero. It’s where the action starts. It get you in quick smart. Then we go to Part One: Before. On page 94 he picks up the thread of Chapter Zero with Part two: After.

So, thanks for starting this blog!

]]> By: Carrie Neuman http://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/blog/2007/08/10/starting-your-story/#comment-1865 Carrie Neuman Sat, 11 Aug 2007 16:33:58 +0000 http://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/blog/2007/08/10/starting-your-story/#comment-1865 Beginnings are such a tricky thing. I plotted out a longish short story to work on. I got my first three scenes down and loved them. Then it dawned on me that my back third introduced and bunch of new characters and completely changed style, pace, and tension level. So I plotted out a new ending and didn't touch the WiP again. It was the ending I loved, not the beginning. So I cut out the first two thirds, and I don't think the story suffers for it. From my one line summary, I know I can condense all the stuff that happened into a couple lines and it'll still make sense. I had to change PoV characters, but I get to keep the stuff I really liked. I think it was worth it. Beginnings are such a tricky thing. I plotted out a longish short story to work on. I got my first three scenes down and loved them. Then it dawned on me that my back third introduced and bunch of new characters and completely changed style, pace, and tension level.

So I plotted out a new ending and didn’t touch the WiP again. It was the ending I loved, not the beginning. So I cut out the first two thirds, and I don’t think the story suffers for it. From my one line summary, I know I can condense all the stuff that happened into a couple lines and it’ll still make sense. I had to change PoV characters, but I get to keep the stuff I really liked. I think it was worth it.

]]> By: ML Eqatin http://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/blog/2007/08/10/starting-your-story/#comment-1866 ML Eqatin Sat, 11 Aug 2007 19:09:54 +0000 http://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/blog/2007/08/10/starting-your-story/#comment-1866 Like many of us who are at the upper end of the communication scale, I suffer from an itch to dispense far more information than my recipients want. But in story, the trick is to make readers want more information than you are telling them -- yet. Thinking about our real stories helps me a lot withthis. From birth on, each of us enters a world with a long backstory that we do not know and could not understand. Why should fiction be any different? The reader will not be bewildered by what is a natural state for all life. You just have to make it important to him/her to find out what happens in your pretend reality, whien his or her own real world also wants discovering. (Gad I hate having to make everything gender-inclusive. Reminds me of the writer who suggested a new pronoun to cover all bases - 'she-he-it' pronounced shee-it!") By the way, I also came up with a better tagline for my History and Hope brand to communicate what I write. 'Rennaissance animals -- and their people.' What would ya'll expect to find in a book from somebody with that sentence? Would you be annoyed to find that there were a lot more people than animals? -MLE Like many of us who are at the upper end of the communication scale, I suffer from an itch to dispense far more information than my recipients want. But in story, the trick is to make readers want more information than you are telling them — yet.
Thinking about our real stories helps me a lot withthis. From birth on, each of us enters a world with a long backstory that we do not know and could not understand. Why should fiction be any different? The reader will not be bewildered by what is a natural state for all life. You just have to make it important to him/her to find out what happens in your pretend reality, whien his or her own real world also wants discovering.
(Gad I hate having to make everything gender-inclusive. Reminds me of the writer who suggested a new pronoun to cover all bases - ’she-he-it’ pronounced shee-it!”)
By the way, I also came up with a better tagline for my History and Hope brand to communicate what I write. ‘Rennaissance animals — and their people.’ What would ya’ll expect to find in a book from somebody with that sentence? Would you be annoyed to find that there were a lot more people than animals?
-MLE

]]> By: ML Eqatin http://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/blog/2007/08/10/starting-your-story/#comment-1867 ML Eqatin Sat, 11 Aug 2007 19:12:47 +0000 http://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/blog/2007/08/10/starting-your-story/#comment-1867 PS I do really know how to spell Renaissance. But hey, I'm still working on signing the pseudonym without a 'u'. PS I do really know how to spell Renaissance. But hey, I’m still working on signing the pseudonym without a ‘u’.

]]> By: Diane http://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/blog/2007/08/10/starting-your-story/#comment-1868 Diane Sat, 11 Aug 2007 19:37:30 +0000 http://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/blog/2007/08/10/starting-your-story/#comment-1868 Where to start the story has really messed me up with my rewrite (2nd draft). I had timing problems, where I had originally started out with a very important event that happened to the main POV character but then I needed a lot of time between that event and the main time setting of the story. I ended up, on the rewrite, referring to this event in a very brief prologue (in character) and then I jump right into the "present" which is three years later with chapter one. I don't even indicate the time that has passed until the first scene that shows that character. I think this works better, but it did take out a very powerful emotive experience for that main character and deflates the beginning. The redo was necessary, but I'm still worried about it. On an aside, I found when I read back through my first draft that I not only spent a lot of time telling unnecessary back story, but that I told it over and over again in numerous places throughout the entire length of the book. That may be a symptom of my taking too long to actually finish the first draft. But I've seen this in books I've read before, the repetition of things already revealed, and I'm wondering if that is indeed an indication of the length of time it took to write the book or just a lack of good editing. Where to start the story has really messed me up with my rewrite (2nd draft). I had timing problems, where I had originally started out with a very important event that happened to the main POV character but then I needed a lot of time between that event and the main time setting of the story. I ended up, on the rewrite, referring to this event in a very brief prologue (in character) and then I jump right into the “present” which is three years later with chapter one. I don’t even indicate the time that has passed until the first scene that shows that character. I think this works better, but it did take out a very powerful emotive experience for that main character and deflates the beginning. The redo was necessary, but I’m still worried about it.

On an aside, I found when I read back through my first draft that I not only spent a lot of time telling unnecessary back story, but that I told it over and over again in numerous places throughout the entire length of the book. That may be a symptom of my taking too long to actually finish the first draft. But I’ve seen this in books I’ve read before, the repetition of things already revealed, and I’m wondering if that is indeed an indication of the length of time it took to write the book or just a lack of good editing.

]]> By: Gina http://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/blog/2007/08/10/starting-your-story/#comment-1869 Gina Sat, 11 Aug 2007 21:40:18 +0000 http://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/blog/2007/08/10/starting-your-story/#comment-1869 My opening usually changes several times before I really get into the story. (Thanks to me crit partners telling me where they think the story really starts!) BTW, I wanted to say thanks for giving me permission to "write bad" a while back on your blog. Finishing a WIP has always been a struggle for me, but I did it. And it's not that bad! My opening usually changes several times before I really get into the story. (Thanks to me crit partners telling me where they think the story really starts!)

BTW, I wanted to say thanks for giving me permission to “write bad” a while back on your blog. Finishing a WIP has always been a struggle for me, but I did it. And it’s not that bad!

]]> By: Donna http://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/blog/2007/08/10/starting-your-story/#comment-1870 Donna Sat, 11 Aug 2007 23:37:22 +0000 http://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/blog/2007/08/10/starting-your-story/#comment-1870 This helps tremendously, Randy. Thanks! My next question would have to be, since my WIP is a historical piece, how do I not add too much in the beginning but give a good sense as to the time period or even a specific year? This point is pretty well stopping me on my first draft. This helps tremendously, Randy. Thanks!

My next question would have to be, since my WIP is a historical piece, how do I not add too much in the beginning but give a good sense as to the time period or even a specific year? This point is pretty well stopping me on my first draft.

]]> By: yeggy http://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/blog/2007/08/10/starting-your-story/#comment-1871 yeggy Sun, 12 Aug 2007 01:38:56 +0000 http://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/blog/2007/08/10/starting-your-story/#comment-1871 Hiya Donna, have you thought about what happeded in that particular year and having it impact in some way on your character? Who was president/king/queen? Wars. Rumors of wars. Endings of wars. What famous names do we assciate with that time period? Jobs also help define a time period. Worst Jobs in History is on our TV at the moment. A wonderful resource to connect the writer with all the sences. When I come to bits I need to research when writing first draft, I just put (RESEARCH THIS)and keep writing so that the story keeps moving forward. Later I can do a search for 'research' and fill in the gaps as the second and subsequent drafts progress. Hiya Donna, have you thought about what happeded in that particular year and having it impact in some way on your character? Who was president/king/queen? Wars. Rumors of wars. Endings of wars. What famous names do we assciate with that time period? Jobs also help define a time period. Worst Jobs in History is on our TV at the moment. A wonderful resource to connect the writer with all the sences.

When I come to bits I need to research when writing first draft, I just put (RESEARCH THIS)and keep writing so that the story keeps moving forward. Later I can do a search for ‘research’ and fill in the gaps as the second and subsequent drafts progress.

]]> By: Donna http://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/blog/2007/08/10/starting-your-story/#comment-1872 Donna Sun, 12 Aug 2007 01:59:58 +0000 http://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/blog/2007/08/10/starting-your-story/#comment-1872 Thanks yeggy! I have researched things that happened in those years and didn't think to include the monarchy at the time and such, and to find a way to sneak it in without it looking obviously placed. I've already researched a lot about the area as it's, of course, another time period and another country. Couldn't start anything until I understood what I needed to know. Why my muse chose then and there I don't know but it has. Now to fit it in without being boring (hence the topic of this blog). I can usually start one decently out for a chapter or at least half of it and then I start adding in too much backstory figuring that the reader would need the info. It's a hard habit to kick. Thanks yeggy! I have researched things that happened in those years and didn’t think to include the monarchy at the time and such, and to find a way to sneak it in without it looking obviously placed. I’ve already researched a lot about the area as it’s, of course, another time period and another country. Couldn’t start anything until I understood what I needed to know. Why my muse chose then and there I don’t know but it has.

Now to fit it in without being boring (hence the topic of this blog). I can usually start one decently out for a chapter or at least half of it and then I start adding in too much backstory figuring that the reader would need the info. It’s a hard habit to kick.

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