I'm not a writer yet

I'm in a writers forum besides this one. (One with writers, I'm also in one about Latin (the language of ancient Rome).)
 
In the writing forum, I began a diary under the title (something) reluctant diary of my story progress. Then people said "no, no, you're going to make it, come on!" But no, I'm not very confident I will. I'm not very good at writing. I mean, I don't really know how to make an interesting story. I guess I never did one, and I'm struggling because I have the characters but I don't have the deeds...

Enid Blyton ("Noddy's Adventures") used to clear her mind and lie quietly at bedtime-- after a while, the characters appeared in her mind as if onstage, and the stories would unfold before her eyes.

Another very famous author whose name escapes me just now used to sit at the typewriter from 0730 until 5PM and type continuously. If he saved one or two pages at day's end, he considered it a pretty good day.

I know what you mean about the difficulty of creating the action. Even with a great command of the language and well-crafted characters, with no further inspiration, there's no story. Perhaps if you began writing dialogue, a story line would emerge. Or maybe define in broadest strokes an event of some sort and set about the task of fitting your characters into it.

I have the same problem, but I don't dabble in fiction (reading or writing it) very often. Best of luck, though!

GustavusMacer said:

I'm in a writers forum besides this one. (One with writers, I'm also in one about Latin (the language of ancient Rome).)
 
In the writing forum, I began a diary under the title (something) reluctant diary of my story progress. Then people said "no, no, you're going to make it, come on!" But no, I'm not very confident I will. I'm not very good at writing. I mean, I don't really know how to make an interesting story. I guess I never did one, and I'm struggling because I have the characters but I don't have the deeds...

Click to expand...

English/writing was my weakest subject which I needed to improve for my profession.

My professor told me to do a timed, 5 minute writing exercise every day, about any subject. He said do not stop to make spelling or grammatical corrections, just write for exactly 5 minutes every day. And save your work for future reference.

After a month I noticed a distinct improvement in my writing ability. The daily exercise really helped free my mind to become more naturally creative.

There are teach-yourself books which would show you how to draft, plot and edit, though I bought an excellent book called How to Improve your Critical Thinking & Reflective Skills (Smarter Study Skills) by Dr Kathleen McMillan and Dr Jonathan Weyers. Paperback cost under a tenner.

The advice in the book enabled me to adopt a better written practice in critical thinking nd reflective writing. It was a refreshing read, but you would need to buckle down to get through it.


You won't get anywhere unless - you are determined to do it! And you will if the desire is there!

I've yet to make writing a consistent habit. I do write quite often though but usually it's just short thoughts that come to me during the day that I think "resonate" with how I'm feeling at the time or that I find relevant in general. Sometimes I write what I remember of my dreams.
Let's do our best also I accumulate the bits I write for future use/inspiration. if you already have the characters that's still one thing done

Hmm!

I must be a posting freak, according to my PC. She's a good friend to listen whenever I wanted to talk using fingers.

GustavusMacer said:

I'm in a writers forum besides this one. (One with writers, I'm also in one about Latin (the language of ancient Rome).)
 
In the writing forum, I began a diary under the title (something) reluctant diary of my story progress. Then people said "no, no, you're going to make it, come on!" But no, I'm not very confident I will. I'm not very good at writing. I mean, I don't really know how to make an interesting story. I guess I never did one, and I'm struggling because I have the characters but I don't have the deeds...

Click to expand...

You say that you have the characters. What kind of characters are they? What kind of world do they live in? What kind of genre are you looking to write in? All of those things can make a difference to the type of story you can tell. Is there anything you WANT to tell, story-wise?

I think I'm with everyone else.

I read that you just write. Anything. Even if it's mindless words that don't make any sense.

I started writing responses to prompts that are on Pinterest. Some of them are really cheesy.

Now I've written a book. A really bad book. But I wrote one, and I'm proud of it. Now I have to edit it, which I'm not happy about, but I'm trying.

Just set a goal, and write. I do have a journal that I try to write in. My life is boring, so there's not much to say. So out come the prompts. Or I tell memories. About my kids, or friends, or memories. Or I just type anything. Just set a goal.

If you type it, it will come. Really.

pass the forum name

I'm trying to get a novel published at present. I did 100,000 words into book 2 in 2 weeks. Thats just over half the book.

They may not be a good 100,000 words
Editing wise, I would not concern yourself with actually all grammar and punctuation and pergecting the wording. Don't polish the armour 'till its out of the forge.

I start with a very basic plot. Then create characters. How will the characters fit in the plot. If possibe, give each character a story arc that they can complete. Link this in with both plot and hampeeing / assisting protagobist.

When done, do what i call a scene by scene. A short sentence or paragraph for each chapter so you have a rough map. Don't worry if you need to change something.

IM me if you want to talk further or even just discuss your ideas, hit me up.

starr said:

Now I've written a book. A really bad book. But I wrote one, and I'm proud of it. Now I have to edit it, which I'm not happy about, but I'm trying.

Just set a goal, and write. I do have a journal that I try to write in. My life is boring, so there's not much to say. So out come the prompts. Or I tell memories. About my kids, or friends, or memories. Or I just type anything. Just set a goal.

If you type it, it will come. Really.

Click to expand...

I feel you.  I wrote a novel in about a year...thriller/horror.  Then it took me ten years to fix it.  I published on Smashwords.com.  That was ten years ago.  It started getting downloads when I dropped the price to free.  What annoys me is in all that time not having any...not one comment to say what anyone did or didn't like about it.  Not getting any pats on the back is one thing.  Not getting any criticisms either is painful.  We learn to write not by being told how good it is, but how bad it is.  Those twenty years gave me no useful experience.

I have my writing philosophies.  Any story can be made good with good writing.  People read authors, not stories— if you want to have a best seller become famous first.

Now I write for my own pleasure.  I can get lost in my writing and the world goes away.  As you said, you are proud of your accomplishment, as you should be.  It isn't easy creating a world and fitting it onto so many pages.  But in the end isn't it better to have enjoyed the journey even if the rewards are lacking?

Just write.  Make it as good as you can.  If you get one fan out of it then it is a success.  The best praise I had was a beta reader told me she liked so much she read it twice.  For that the effort was worth it.

I bet it is a good book too...I have a story but no writing experience..lol My late husband used to write but never finished anything and the one thing he did finish got us in hot water--so much for writing..priscella

JJW said:

People read authors, not stories— if you want to have a best seller become famous first.

Click to expand...

Yep. Once famous you can dump whatever trash you want, people will buy it, and they'll say you're a genius. It works the same way for most things.