Young Writers Society

I've been a writer all my life but I'm also the person who tends to give up on a story as soon as they lose interest in it. I do it a lot with fanfictions, which to me isn't a big deal because it's only a fanfiction and if I don't enjoy it anymore then why would I want to write it, but I've also done it with every original piece of work I've ever tried to write. I've become something of a laugh in my house with my family because everytime I ever mention that I'm working on something my family basically goes "Why? You're never going to finish it anyway," no matter how many times I've tried to explain to them that it's a natural thing for a writer to ditch stories in the quest for one they really want to write. But roughly half a year ago or so I had this idea for a story that's stuck with me ever since, which is the longest period of time I've ever wanted to work on something. I haven't done much work on it yet because life is kicking my butt, between being a Lit major in college and my mom having cancer, but I really want to work on, not only as an escape from my life but also because being a writer is something that I love and my goal in life is to get something published and to be an accomplished author someday. And I think the idea could be a fantastic story or a series (because the way I'm thinking of it, it would definitely turn out to be a multiple book series, although I'm not sure how many books yet) that could quite possibly rival Harry Potter (not that beating Harry Potter out is important or anything. I just want to write a book that I love and that readers will love). Although I only have some ideas at the moment and I don't have anything solid planned out yet, I'll give you a quick rundown of my thoughts.

My basic idea is for a story about parallel dimensions. The main protagonist (who is still unnamed) is a girl who was born in a parallel dimension but, somehow, was moved from that world and placed into ours, for her protection because she is part of a major prophecy in her original world (for the sake of the explanation of the idea, let's call the alternate world World A and our world World B). Her appearance was changed and she was placed in World B to live a normal life. But one day, when she's roughly 15 or 16, she dies (not sure from what yet), but instead of dying and disappearing, she wakes up in World A, in a completely different body (because she's a little strange looking so they couldn't keep her appearance when she went to World B). World A is a world where magic exists and monsters threaten to take the lives of innocents. Long ago, monsters (I'm toying with the idea of calling them Entities) and the people of the world (there are 4 races of people, but I'm still trying to decide what they'll be) lived in harmony. But some of the more powerful monsters/Entities decided they wanted more power and so a war broke out between them and the people. Bascically, a group of the most powerful people got together and tore a hole in the barrier between their world and another one and forced the monsters/Entities through it. However, there is still a tiny hole in the barrier that allows low level monsters through (that is slowly getting bigger to allow higher level ones in). However, because of the way that they were banished and because of the fact that they live in a different dimension, when they come through the hole into World A, they exist on a different plane from the regular people, resulting in only certain people being able to see them (I'm thinking of making it so that only people who have had near death experiences being able to see them but I'm not sure if I'm going to keep that) but they are still able to cause destruction and chaos. After banishing the monsters, the people created an academy to teach future generations how to fight against these monsters. The main protagonist is a descendant of one of the people who originally sealed away the monsters and has a gift that has always enabled her to see these monsters (who existed in World B as well but they were less destructive there because they didn't hold a grudge against that world) and now that she's back in her World A, she's going to start going to the academy to learn how to continue her family's tradition of fighting the good fight.

I hope that summary wasn't too long. I'm not great at summaries -_- But, basically, the reason I'm here is because I'm looking for some feedback on the story idea but also because I have no idea where to start in the planning process when it comes to this kind of story. I know I have to create the whole fictional World A, but I also still have to deal with plotting and characters and all that other stuff. So my question there is, where should I start? Would world building be the best bet to start off with, or something else maybe?

While interest is a big chunk of writing, you need to build up perseverance. When writing a story, start with a basic plot line, draw it out, see if you can and are willing to pull it off before starting. Some ideas die here, dead in the water, others you decide to keep, and once you do, bite down on them until they’re finished.

Some say, and I tend to agree, finish everything you start. Even if you don’t give it the big conclusion you once envisioned, give it an ending, even if rushed, even if short, don’t just leave it hanging. Conclude it, and then move on.

But back to things you actually want to carry to the grand end. It’s all about discipline. Build up a schedule, write every day, don’t look back when writing your first draft, set up deadlines, and them make a habit of it all. If you want to become a writer you need to go beyond interest, because interest and inspiration are fleeting, sporadic, inconsistent. If you only write whenever they visit, you will never finish anything. And that’s ok, if you do it as a hobby or for relaxation, but if you indeed wish to do more, maybe become professional one day, persevere, write even when, or especially when, you don’t want to. Don’t procrastinate, set aside 40 or so minutes a day and just write, anything, stories, stream of thoughts, journal entries, just write. And read a lot. And I mean lots and lots.

As for your story, start by writing a summary of your world and your character (which will naturally be for your eyes only). Then sketch out the plot, draw the chronological line with all the events, points, branching stories, twist and turns. Once you have the outline, write the first draft, as broad as you can. Don’t go back to fix anything just yet, write, jot down any ideas you come up with separately, add to your character summaries and world synopsis, write down the questions that come to mind, even if they don’t have an answer yet. And then when you reach the end, let it rest, for a week, maybe two, do something else. But don’t stop reading and writing even if it’s just journal entries. Then go back to the story, shovel out all you don’t need, build on what you think lacking, tweak the plot, fill any holes, and introduce all the new ideas you came up with. Sometimes entire chapters will be scrapped, rewritten or moved around, and that’s ok. And this is how you begin.

It’s only one of the many methods out there of course, it works for me so I am suggesting it. You can google some alternative methods, test out what suits you and build up your own style of work. But roughly, again, it’s all about discipline, habit and schedule.

i also have this problem and i find my main reason is procrastination. Set a time to write and actually do it, if you don't make yourself write you often won't do it. the idea sounds good.

Okay, here's a bit of a hard truth: we can't tell you where to start. It's your story, and there's a certain amount of magic that has to happen to pick the start that only you can perform.

I will, however, give you a bucketload of theory on beginnings to help you figure out what you want.

Hooks
These beginnings start with the main plot pretty quickly. You start with something extremely attention grabbing, and keep the interest going at a pretty fast pace. You rely on something happening right now, and that thing continues to happen throughout

Slow Burns
These beginnings are a little weird. Or maybe they're not all that weird at all. That's the point. They start off establishing something just normal enough that it's, well, normal. But there's a little tiny something that doesn't make an inkling of sense. That's what keeps you reading, because it's interesting.

In Medias Ras
Aka, thrown in the middle. This can be more intense than a hook beginning, because you pretty literally start the story with something interesting happening right this very second and you'd better hope that your characters are strong enough to make people actually care about what's going on.

General Beginnings Rambles

Start as late as humanly possible. Find the place your story goes "this is early enough that it's not too much at once, but the plot actually starts here." In some cases, that's right in the middle. Others, this is at the very first sign something is different. It can take many, many, many drafts to figure out where this point is, and you'll probably change your mind twenty times, but do keep writing. You'll learn far more finishing a project than you will editing the beginning.

You have to find a place that will make us care about what's going on, or at least grab our interest. That's the job of a beginning. Make it at least somewhat interesting, and keep the progress going forward. Flashbacks often don't work* too early in the beginning, because if they're so important, why not start there?

Avoid infodumping and spilling absolutely everything about how the world works too early. Give us a reason to know things, first.

Hope this helps!

*There are exceptions to everything, but this is a general guideline.

If you're a writer and you haven't read Stephen King's On Writing, you most definitely should, it's amazing and inspiring.
For the loss of interest idea, I highly recommend, along with Stephen King, to start getting into writing one thousand words a day, with only one day a week for a break. This both gets you in the habit of writing big daily and keeps your stories flowing.
Other than that, everyone else has already said what there is to say on the matter!

I want to you to help me! yes offcource n thank u??????????????

compac wrote:I want to you to help me! yes offcource n thank u??????????????

Uh, @compac, what do you mean by that, bro?

Hi, there! I think your story idea sounds awesome! Very interesting and something I would read. It sounds pretty original, too. I myself have had quite a bit of trouble with finishing things. Getting a few chapters in and not knowing where to take it. However, the most recent story I started working on I was able (for the first time aside from one or two short stories) to stick with it and somehow I actually finished the first two novels of it (hoping for a trilogy). So, I think when you find a story that you really love and that keeps your interest, you can do great things with it. Sometimes you just have to get those random story ideas out (that peter out at a few chapters) to get to the great ones that really flow. I also think it helps a lot when you plan out, to some extent, what you want to happen in the story. It sounds like you've already done a great deal of it and are off to a good start on ideas. Just don't psych or stress yourself out about it and if you get overwhelmed, take a day or two away from it. If it's good and important, you won't forget about it. Hopefully this was a little helpful. Have a nice day and best of luck!

I am like that too. I have so many ideas in my head and then once I start brainstorming or prewriting them they get boring and I lose interest. I haven't only noticed that I procrastinate in writing also in many different things in life. To put it short I usually don't finish what I started So my advice to you is just setting a goal of lets just say writing 500 words a day or 1 page a day and stick to the goal everyday and don't jump from story to story. Find the story that yo love and then be creative