I NEED HELP!

Hopefull writer said:

I want to write a novel based losly off my life. However I cant seem to get anywhere. I wanted it to start when I was younger. But now i'm 18 I cnat relate back to that age. I was woundering if you had any tips of how I should get the length of a novel. Or should I just give up. I've got like 8 beginings but then I get stuck. I'm desperate to acheive this goal of writing a novel but I dont think i'm going to succeed. Maybe im better to wait until I have more life experience. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Click to expand...

Why do you think people will want to read about Your Life?
Have you done something interesting or amazing that people will be interested in?

Hopefull writer said:

Maybe im better to wait until I have more life experience. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Click to expand...

While life experience does add seasoning to a person's prose, any age is a good age to start writing. You may want to try writing short stories (loosely) based on memorable events from younger years, such as vacations, summer camp, etc.

Keep this in mind—many fiction writers (myself included) will use events/incidents from their real life, and fold them into the story, changing some aspects along the way to fit the characters and/or setting. It's fun having readers try to figure out where you come up with some of the stuff.

Write it from a third person point of view, you looking in as a curious observer, and maybe that will kickstart the whole thing...

You could write with really short paragraphs and repeat things a lot. Also, use capital letters in the middle of sentences. They take up more space. That might bulk-up what you have to a decent length.

Just kidding. I suggest you make up a lot of interesting stuff and put that in your book.

MTF

Write. You learn more from writing than you do from anything -- one thing you should learn from it is if you really want to write as much as you think you do and if you something to say.

Try your hand at a number of things, essays, blogs, short stories, even that book but just write. If after a while you decide you can't stop writing (you may want to, you may need to, you may even stop but you know deep down the drive is still there) and your desire is to see your work published, there are tons and tons of ways to learn about the craft -- books, magazine, groups, even on line stuff

If you haven't actually been writing and aren't even sure where to begin or how, don't worry too much about the "rules" just write.

I certainly wanted to be a writer at 18 (and younger) took another 18 years to actually make my first sale, after writing tons of bad poetry in college then giving writing up all together for a number of years.

Good luck

annie
Luanne Jones
Heathen Girls (available now)

Hopefull writer said:

I want to write a novel based losly off my life. However I cant seem to get anywhere. I wanted it to start when I was younger. But now i'm 18 I cnat relate back to that age. I was woundering if you had any tips of how I should get the length of a novel. Or should I just give up. I've got like 8 beginings but then I get stuck. I'm desperate to acheive this goal of writing a novel but I dont think i'm going to succeed. Maybe im better to wait until I have more life experience. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Click to expand...

Hopefull,

When I was your age, I started to do the exact same thing...

And I had the exact same problem.

The basic problem is that you haven't got the material or the experience to do it well at this point.

I'd suggest the same thing as SC Harrison: Try writing some short stories about the more memorable moments in your life.

I'd also suggest (if you're not doing it already) writing in a journal or diary daily, so that when you're a lot older, you don't forget what it's like to be eighteen.

But mostly I'd suggest that you go out and gather some interesting experiences to write about. Live your life, and have fun doing it! Then, when your forty or fifty or a hundred, not only will you be able to write your autobiography, but people may even want to buy it and read it!

Hi, Hopefull!


Okay, one of the first things you need to do is think of a PLOT. No, I'm not being sarcastic. It's actually one of the most difficult things for a writer to do. If you've started your book eight times and are getting stuck, what might be happening is that you're hoping ideas will come to you as you write. But you might not be that sort of writer. There are two primary types:

One is called a Plotter. A plotter is a person who needs to think through the elements of the book until they make sense. Every element, from hair color to eye moments to dialogue is plotted out on note cards, or Post-Its or on a pad before the writer ever sits down to actually write the book. It takes a plotter longer to start a book, but it goes very quickly afterward. When the book is completed, it's fully formed. Very few edits are needed.

The other type of writer is called a Pantser. Weird word, I know. But it's short for "Writing by the seat of your pants." This sort of writer only gets the ideas DURING the writing process. If a Pantser tried to organize the plot, and write it all down, once the end was reached, it would be over. The book would never get written because it was . . . well, done. No need to write any more about it, and on to book two. Often, a pantser's first draft will be very short because the GOAL is to get the basic plot down. The details will get filled in later, over multiple drafts.

So, you might consider what you think would be a good plot. Since you're eighteen, what has happened to you or a friend that would make a good book? Or, instead --- what would you LIKE to do? How would your hero react to, for example, winning a contest that would send him and two friends on a trip to another country? What would happen once they got there? Would they get involved in intrigue like stumbling into a robbery and getting blamed? Who would they meet while they were trying to prove their innocence? Etc., etc. You can see how many directions it can go.

So, don't worry too much about using ONLY your life as a guide. Let yourself dream a bit and imagine possibilities.

Good luck!

I suggest you make up a lot of interesting stuff and put that in your book.

Click to expand...

So, you might consider what you think would be a good plot. Since you're eighteen, what has happened to you or a friend that would make a good book? Or, instead --- what would you LIKE to do? How would your hero react to, for example, winning a contest that would send him and two friends on a trip to another country? What would happen once they got there? Would they get involved in intrigue like stumbling into a robbery and getting blamed? Who would they meet while they were trying to prove their innocence? Etc., etc. You can see how many directions it can go.

So, don't worry too much about using ONLY your life as a guide. Let yourself dream a bit and imagine possibilities.

Click to expand...

Just make certain that you're not passing off your fantasies as your real life story.

Perhaps you've heard of James Frey?

Hi Hopefull Writer,

I'm not sure if you realized this or not, but you had asked this question not too long ago, and here's the link to the responses you got from some others: http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24989

Best wishes in your writing!

Maybe instead of starting big, first try your hand at a few short stories. Think of them as practice for writing your novel.

Yeshanu said:

Hopefull,

When I was your age, I started to do the exact same thing...

And I had the exact same problem.

The basic problem is that you haven't got the material or the experience to do it well at this point.

Click to expand...

I had the exact same problem as well. I started writing when I was eight, and when I hit eighteen, suddenly nothing worked. I had to write for the adult world, but my experience base was still childhood. I no longer fit the childhood world, but I didn't have enough adult experience to fit in with the adult world either. I wanted to write a novel, but I simply was unable to do it at the time. I kept running into places where I felt like there should be something else ... something more there, but I didn't know what. Twenty years later I understand this was pushing the boundaries of experience that simply wasn't there, but then it was very frustrating because I thought something was wrong with me when it was just an age issue.

The way I worked around it was that I tried a lot of different kinds of writing. I tried poetry, screenwriting, short stories, journalism, broadcast journalism--you name it, I probably did it. Not only did it help hone my writing, it also told me what I wanted and didn't want to write. I also read lots of books, trying to figure out what genre I wanted to write in and read everything on writing. Everyone has good advice--go out and write, write, write. The effort won't be wasted as you learn how. Especially now, work on your grammar skills and get those in the best shape possible so that later you can focus on telling the story and not on fixing grammatical mistakes.

Good luck!

Why don't you tell us about your life (or your fictional life if you prefer) and the rest of us can throw story ideas at you.

I'm not sure what sort of stories you want to write but for some people, the daily newspaper is a wonderful sorce of material about the strange things people do and whether your story is set in the year 1000, now or in 2525, it's still all about people.

When I was your age, I wanted to write but my life experience was limited to going to University in the engineering program and smoking dope. My pathetic attempt at a first novel, which mercifully ended around page ten, consisted of engineers smoking dope while free fall in space station. Go figure.

I am now in my mid fifties and a lot has happened in the intervening years!

My experience: At 16-26, by the time you're 25% into a novel, you've outgrown the theme which was so compelling 6 months ago. Suggest you write shorts!

zornhau said:

My experience: At 16-26, by the time you're 25% into a novel, you've outgrown the theme which was so compelling 6 months ago. Suggest you write shorts!

Click to expand...

It doesn't change. Even at 35 this happens!

I Need Help

Hopefull writer said:

I want to write a novel based losly off my life. However I cant seem to get anywhere. I wanted it to start when I was younger. But now i'm 18 I cnat relate back to that age. I was woundering if you had any tips of how I should get the length of a novel. Or should I just give up. I've got like 8 beginings but then I get stuck. I'm desperate to acheive this goal of writing a novel but I dont think i'm going to succeed. Maybe im better to wait until I have more life experience. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Click to expand...

Don't give up. Have you asked your parents or siblings about events that happened when you were young? They will probably be able to tell you some stories about your childhood. Maybe that will job your memory and you will remember more details.

Janet