I've beeen trying to write a novel based loosely off my life. However can't seem to get enough substance and drag things out enough. Has anyone got any tips or tecqneques that may help me atchieve my goal of writing a novel.
If you're trying to "drag things out"... stop. The more you feel like you're dragging something out, the more it feels like it's being dragged out to the reader.
Novels are set apart from short stories in two ways. 1) the length and 2) the number of plot twists and storylines.
Short stories tend to stay on one story line and stay on it the entire time. They don't add in alot of minor characters that aren't necesary to the plot and are pretty direct.
Novels, on the other hand have surprises and plot twists and new characters popping up all the time, so even if you finish the "main" story line that was there in the beginning, you've already started a different thread somewhere in the middle what was somehow connected and therefore you can then continue that story line.
Take Pirates of the Carribean for instance (yes, I know this is a movie, not a book, but it works for what I'm trying to explain). It opens with Elizabeth Swan being captured and that is the "main" storyline for the first hour or so of the movie. However, while trying to rescue her, Will Turner becomes friends with Jack Sparrow and learns about the "curse" on those aboard the Black Pearl. So once Elizabeth is rescued, the story then shifts to ending the curse.
Also, basing something off your life is hard. You don't know the end of the story yet
My advice there would be to keep it loosely based like you said. Don't be afraid to add something in for the sake of the plot.
The robbed that smiles, steals something from the thief. ~William Shakespeare, Othello Boo. SPEW is watching.
I don't know if this would be helpful but whatever. I would try writing about small things. Write about a whole day in your life. Write about EVERYTHING you did today. Write about a favorite memory, a favorite holiday, and interesting person you met once. Small things you wouldn't think of adding. These small things could add interest and build up your character. I dunno, just an odd pointer. Keep writing!
Instead of writing a contiunous story, have you ever considered writing a series of vignettes about your life? Just write down anything about your life that pops into your mind and write as much as posible about it. Give it A LOT of detail. There's one chapter. To me, a vignette is basicly like this: take someone's dairy, rip out random pages, earse dates, give to random person and tell them to put them in order, bind and publish. Have fun with that.
Imagination is the one weapon in the war against reality. - Jules de Gaultier
I would suggest several anecdotes, which are amusing. Put them together, and voila!
But more importantly, I would recommend doing something that people want to read about. This doesn't mean you should suddenly risk your life by jumping out of an airplane without a parachute! But what this does mean is you have to expand your interests a little. Travel is an immensely useful tool for this -- you don't even need to travel far. And it doesn't need to be expensive.
For instance (being the lucky kid I am) get the chance to romp around some of the most beautiful hills in the world (in my opinion). This costs nothing to me, but the memories! If I were to describe the sea of the brightest green you would ever imagine, dotted with purple lupin, golden mustard, and orange poppies, or the lovely (yet terrifying) rush of wind that would tear through the grass, making a deep rushing sound that seemed to say, even as the wind rushed across, "Hush."
I don't know... perhaps I'm just an environmentalist at heart. But pick some really strong memories, or create strong memories. We're only seventeen... we're still young! Plenty of things can happen. Just sit back. Write some of the stronger memories before you forget them, and don't worry about writing a novel about your life. At least not yet. We're still young, dammit!
And let yourself feel inspired about what you write. I cannot stress how important is is to sit down, ready to write, happy because you get to write about a subject you want. It makes all the difference.
So live and be happy.
Ubi caritas est vera, Deus ibi est.
"The mark of your ignorance is the depth of your belief in injustice and tragedy. What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the Master calls the butterfly." ~ Richard Bach
As one who has done this kind of thing, I know it is quite the challenge. One way of doing this is thinking of a major conflict in your life that you have dealt with. Think of some key events that relate to it, as well as some small events that mean something to you. Dragging stuff out that you may not be ready to deal with is a bad idea. Letting yourself feel detached, as though these events had happened to someone else, is useful. As you said, what you want to write is not a memoir, but a story that is loosely based on your life. Don't be afraid to make things up. Alter certain details if you must, and ignore others. In my experience, the "Make it up as you go along" approach works. As you write, you will remember things and gradually the details will come out.
Please, sit down before you fall down.
Belloq, "Raiders of the Lost Ark"
Mmm...Fiction is usually interesting because the characters arnt real, they dont do real things and interesting things happen to them. Writing about your life may just be too real to be interesting enough to make a book out of. UNLESS you could do like a diary book ie. Little wolf stories, adrian mole. Telling the story though diary entries could prove difficult and I know some people dont like this format.
perhaps you could take your life as a base for this story and extend by adding things and making it "real" fiction.
Not true, not true! The real world is full of amazing stories. People love memoirs and based-on-a-true-story stories. Angela's Ashes is a perfect example. Everything that happened in that book was real.
Please, sit down before you fall down.
Belloq, "Raiders of the Lost Ark"
"The mark of your ignorance is the depth of your belief in injustice and tragedy. What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the Master calls the butterfly." ~ Richard Bach
Keep writing!
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