fairy tale questions

I think it didn't work for you because fairy tales are not constructed in the way that allows for jumping into the action straight away. Try writing it down in the traditional way with the setup and cut it down later if you're not happy with it then.

I agree. Straight narrative, starting with clear exposition, then bring it in to description of specific action and dialogue.

(And there's nothing incompatible with a fairy tale being gruesome. Remember Cinderella's stepsisters cutting their toes off to fit their feet into the slippers? The blood dripping out gave them away.)

Good advice here. That much backstory will likely kill the momentum.

If this is a fairy tale spin off and the backstory is necessary, is there no reason why you can't have a prologue? If the scene is not overly long and is definitely removed from your main story by time and place, it might be a reasonable solution. (I know some are not a fan of Prologues, but accasionally they are necessary.)

In any case, I wouldn't let it bog you up too much at this point. First drafts are for getting the story down--later you can figure out how to make it work better so you do not require info dumps or backstory as much. My first drafts tend to have more of both because it's about me getting the whole story down in that first draft, then later I ca really look at it and see what's necessary and what isn't.

Angela's right. Just put it all down. The project I have scheduled next has actually been in three forms so far. first, I just wrote a straightforward first draft. Then I got stuck and shelved. Then after a year, I came back and just wrote notes. Tons of nothing-I'll-use-in-the-book, but all that backstory. Now I'm about ready to actually write the next draft, and it's turning out totally different from what I had first imagined.

Just dive in and see what happens.

Just write, Sissy. [I always want to edit as I'm writing, too - we have to stop that!] At the edit stage, you might find small bits of backstory that you can just drop in here & there, and that will cut down on the "infodump" intro you're looking at currently. Or you may find parts you don't need, anyway, once you're finished. But you'll likely continue to be stuck if you don't write it down now.

Good luck!!

sissybaby said:

I think I'm trying too hard. Like I said, this is different from anything I've done before, and maybe it's just not for me.
My dog-and-his-boy story has been like that. At least once a month I wonder why I'm bothering, when it isn't what I had in mind at all. But you just have to trust that you are at least learning a new way to approach story-telling. And those skills will deepen your range and help you write the next story, and the one after that.


Must be the holidays approaching and seven months now without a job.

Aw, jeez, that's an awfully long time. Of course you get discouraged. It's just too much stress for anyone to have to deal with.
And someone please tell me how they manage to write with a spouse in the house all the time! It's driving me nuts!
Hah! I can't help you there. My writing career began for real on the day I got divorced...


Sissy

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Chin up, sweetie. It's a good story, and you should just keep working at it.

Since you're my sister, I can say this.

You're an editing freak. (Just like your brother, aka moi.)

Here's some brotherly advice...

You start out writing your story about Kinoppio, the wooden boy.
No backstory. Just start out with the action.
Then you write another book with all the backstory in it.
You sell it as a set of two volumes.

Or not.

But seriously, now. I like the theme of your story very much. I know how difficult it is to pick that perfect starting place, since there's oh-so-much-I-must-tell-the-reader copy that you have to put in first. But readers are smarter than we think. They can pick up the story with much less detail than we feel we have to give them.

After I finished writing and editing Two Hearts, I realized that it was a boring infodump that lasted for two long chapters - with nothing going on. I cut the first two chapters and it didn't hurt it one iota. (well, maybe a half an iota, but no more than that).

So, as others have advised, just keep writing. Write it all. Then let it sit for a while and come back and see what you can cut without severe bleeding and putting the whole thing into a life-threatening situation.

Keep in mind, scary is good. Kids LOVE scary.

And that's all the advice I can give you.

I only write this stuff because I have the brain of a 12-year-old.
(It's in my refrigerator if you want to see it.)

Just wanted to add that in my experience, self-editing gets in the way of finishing the story. Just get a first draft down with all the major points you want, then worry about revising it. Sometimes it helps to put the first draft away for a few days and come back to it, read it over, and think about what's missing (or what's superfluous) from the reader's perspective. Then you can whip it into shape. (Just my experience, for what it's worth.)