Young Writers Society

I've been thinking about an idea for about a year (no, seriously!). It's about a depressed boy who falls in love with another boy, but he refuses to admit it, because he doesn't want to get hurt again.

I've done about 12 false starts on this story, and originally, it was going to be this big, epic novel with 4 main characters. Now I've scaled it down to one main character and two secondary character. This is easily doable, in my opinion.

But the problem I'm having is the possibility of this novel actually getting completed and being interesting enough to read without sounding convoluted.

I've kept the boy about the same, but I've added a ticking clock and a lot of things to add a sense of suspense. To sum the story up in a few short sentences...

Ayden Ferrier is a new kid on Mercer Island who refuses to open up, because of a chaotic freshman year in Dallas. If his life isn't marginally better, he plans to kill himself on his 16th birthday. But he meets someone who will change his life for the better.

Any ideas/comments/questions?

Sounds all right. Just make sure you give him substantial reasons for wanting to off himself, and not just a bunch of cliche angst.

If I were you, I wouldn't toss out this idea. It has the potential to be a beautifully woven story if done right, and I do think you have the skills for it. I'm happy/agree with you that you scaled it down from a big epic novel.Not because it's doable, but because it'll leave a lasting impact on the reader. I found that big, epic novels are usually for series or fantasy, but your story falls in the real-life genre in my opinion.

Also, I wouldn't worry about it sounding convoluted, but helpful. The world is twisted to a gay person and what you write could be reality as the world is usually harsh to the strange. (Most real-life angst are convoluted anyways)

The summary sounds really great, but I'm just wondering, why his 16th birthday? Is there any special meaning behind that? Also, how are you going to write it in terms of POV and do you plan on Ayden (great name by the way) to actually grow as a person or not?

In fact, is the boy who he falls in love with also gay and has a haunting past which causes his to isolate himself. Or, is he just a gay boy who hasn't come out yet but already knows that he is gay?

Also what are you trying to accomplish with this story? What is the message that you're trying to send? And if you don't mind sharing, how are you planning to end it?

If you haven't already tossed out this idea, you could try writing it from both of the boys' perspective and perhaps end with Ayden committing suicide and showing the consequences of bullying/cynicism/refusal of love and hope.

I hope I helped and I really do hope that you'll write this story. At first, it kind of sounds borderline cliche, but the idea of it is beautiful and refreshing.

This idea doesn't have enough to really make a novel. Add more to it (especially on the conflict side) and see where that takes you.