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Well, I have a story... about suicide. It needs to go somewhere. There were only five characters, and they were supposed to last me through the story. They didn't. It was suggested I added another character, and I'd love to hear more suggestions on this.

The narrator--younger sister to the person who commits suicide--Hope, is sent to live with her grandmother, so her grandmother can take care of her. It's more the other way around.

The grandmother is supposed to be rather old-fashioned and strict one moment, and the next calling her her dead sister's name and ranting happily about the good ol' days. The main problem besides getting the grandmother's character sorted out, (suggestions on this would be good) is, I keep imagining how I'd react to the grandmother's actions, but I keep forgetting how Hope would act.

Also, the grandmother is likely to yell at her one moment, and the next ask her why she's so upset, and so on.

Hope is a very angry, slightly depressed fourteen year old girl. She would want to respect her grandmother, but would be fed up with her at the same time. I can tell she'd be angry and upset by being called her older (and sometimes even younger) sister all the time. Any thoughts, or questions?

((Think I'll add an explanation on why only slightly. Hope is much more angry than depressed. There really is no room for feeling sad. Hope decided she couldn't be upset after the older sister committed suicide, and so she let her family lean on her, which in turn led to her resenting them for being so pathetic.))
Last edited by Cooper on Wed Nov 19, 2008 4:36 am, edited 1 time in total.
One day, I'm going to stand up in class and yell "that's it!" When that day comes it better be a pretty damn good idea.




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Oy, think maybe a bit more than slightly on the depression, yeah? I mean, how'd you feel if your sibling, one who's been around for you your entire life, went and killed themselves? It'd be devastating, in all likelihood. It sounds like an interesting story idea, though. Could easily be on the bestseller list, if done justice.

If it's writer's block you're talking about, adding in a character or two can often help ease things along until the story gets moving on its own again. Other writers need to get rid of some of their characters before they can move on. Steven King got writer's block half-way through The Stand. In the end, he had to kill off half his characters to cure it. Add some or lose some, either way can work well, depending on what kind of writer you are.
Necropolis SB / Necropolis DT

Once was Dreamer, is now LowKey_Lyesmith.

Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.



Poetry is my cheap means of transportation. By the end of the poem the reader should be in a different place from where he started. I would like him to be slightly disoriented at the end, like I drove him outside of town at night and dropped him off in a cornfield.
— Billy Collins