I am looking for advice on how to get a first story completed.

[KJ_A]

I thought that I should ask the writers here how you managed to go from wanting to write a story to getting your first story written and posted?

You see I have been wanting to do that for the last couple of years. I made up my mind that this year is the year I will do it but getting over the hurtle of moving from idea to written word has been stymieing my all year. So far each time I start to get a first chapter written in one of the three story ideas I have tried I seem to get bogged down in how to do the dialogue which results in get frustrated and then I set it aside only to come back to it and get frustrated all over again. As a result I am not getting anything accomplished. I thought if I had some other writers to talk to maybe I could shake lose whatever is causing my hang up so that I can start writing like I want to.

I have read some writing advice sites and have a book on dramatic writing but those are static and I am hopeing something with a little more interaction like a fan fiction forum would be more helpful.

Thank you.

 

[The Badger]

I might not be the best person to offer advice, as I've only attempted one fanfic so far and that is not yet completed, but there is a little trick that may help you. I read about it in an interview with the Australian writer Clive James.

Whenever you hit writers block, go round it. Insert a place holder into your text, then get on with the next part. Suppose, for example, you want Picard to give a short speech on ethics before deciding to help an alien race, you could write something like:

Picard left his ready room and entered the bridge. He looked round at the duty crew, all waiting for his decision.
"I've given the matter due consideration. [PLACE HOLDER: Picard explains why it is right to help.]"
Riker nodded. "Agreed. I'll begin transporting rescue teams immediately."


Later on you can go back through what you have written, replacing the place holders with suitable dialogue. With more of the framework of the chapter in place, you may find the fine tuning easier.

 

[Count Zero]

This is certainly good advice.
Another one would be to not try to make everything be perfect at once. Consider what you're writing a first draft. Once you have completed that you can work it over any way you want. So don't feel pressured if things don't sound right just yet.

Of course, the more complex your story is, the more difficult it will be to complete and the longer it will take. The only fan fics I've finished so far are shorter stories for the challenges here. Maybe you should try something like that first?

 

[DarKush]

I think Badger offered a really unique idea. I hadn't thought of that before. My advice would be to keep writing. Similar to Badger, go to another scene, and just come back to it later.

Or just write through it. Finish the story and then revise the finished product, like Count Zero suggested. Sometimes we can be our own worst critics. It might not be as bad as you think it is. I think all writers have that internal critic, that doubt they have to contend with. I've written quite a few fanfics which have been posted here and I'm working on an original product, but that hasn't stopped my doubts from cropping up to sometimes block my creativity. So, you're not alone. Trust me.

Another thing you might want to do is post whatever chapters you have here or elsewhere-not for comment or feedback necessarily-but to accomplish one piece and move on. And maybe try to get into a habit of writing and posting once a week, every two weeks, once a month, whatever, until the story is completed.

Doing short stories might be another tactic. Don't start out on anything too complex. As for dialogue, listen to how you and your family, friends, associates talk, and maybe use that. For Trek fanfic, memory alpha, memory beta, and the novels, comics, etc. are good sources to get the technobabble. There are even websites that have transcripts from Trek shows. I used to use a Voyager one a lot, and those were really helpful to me in getting the technobabble part.

 

[TheLoneRedshirt]

I agree with what everyone said above.

Regarding dialogue, resist the tendency to over write. Typically in real life we speak in short phrases or fragments. Don't feel like every character needs to be verbose. Sometimes less is more.

 

[Count Zero]

Also, if you're writing canon characters, I always feel it can be very helpful to watch a significant episode (or two) before you sit down to write something dialogue-heavy. It usually gives one a good feel for how the characters might say something.

 

[The Badger]

If you are having trouble with dialogue, don't forget you can simply explain what some one says, rather than quote it. For example, instead of:

'Deanna turned to Lwaxanna. "Mother! How many times have I told you not to call me 'little one' in front of my patients! I work very hard to maintain the proper image, I don't need you undermining me like that."'

You could write:

'Deanna turned to Lwaxanna, admonishing her for the use of the nickname. She explained how it undermined her image to her patients.'

This can be an effective technique, though is a little impersonal and must not be overused. Still, it might help deal with the worst cases of writers block.

 

[Whtstr314]

I would advise, as my dad would say, "just start writing, cause you can always rewrite it."
PS: Don't stop writing and rewriting until you're satisfied with what you're working on.

 

[Shatnertage]

I do mostly non-fiction, but I'd recommend just letting the ideas flow to start with.

I like to tell my students about "scaffolding." That's a term I borrowed for writing stuff that you know is not going to stick around, but it gets you started. If you're facing a blank screen, you might be over-awed. But if you just start writing, even something dumb like, "This is the neatest thing to ever happen to Captain Picard," eventually you'll start getting something good down. Once you do, just get rid of the scaffolding.

Lots of good ideas in this thread.

 

[unusualsuspex]

I can only tell you what works for me but it certainly encompasses some of the above ideas.

1. Start with the obvious, begining and end. You need to know roughly where you're heading to stand any chance of getting there.

2. Draft out the characters you're going to feature, including physical descriptions, personality traits and a little background history. For the 'Angel' series I'm writing, I even selected well known film stars to play each part just to give me something to eventually hang the dialogue on.

3. I usually plan out a chapter at a time and as you'll see in my stories they tend to be three or four scenes to a chapter. Each scene will have a location, date and time and I'll put a placeholder in for a generic description of what will happen and who will be involved.

4. I'll then start fleshing out the scenes, once again using a placeholder for dialogue if it doesn't come to me straight away.

However, there are a couple of MUST DO items I always fall back on.

MUST DO 1. Write something EVERY DAY! You might hear an argument in the street with some wonderful (and natural) dialogue. WRITE IT DOWN! You might read a great piece in the newspaper on on the net that encompasses something in your story. WRITE IT DOWN! You may have a mental block on your story, so just write something else, but KEEP WRITING. Its exercise for the literary muscle!

MUST DO 2. Stuck on dialogue? Go somewhere quiet, close your eyes and imagine your characters in the scene you're writing, I mean really imagine! How would you like it to appear on television? Imagine every detail of the location, the dirt on their faces, the lack of birdsong, everything then WRITE IT DOWN!

MUST DO 3. Don't be afraid to re-write. Just because it sounds good when your fingers hit the keys, doesn't mean it will READ good when you come back to it. Tweak it but don't over-tweak it. The comment above about being your own worst critic is most definitely true.

MUST DO 4. If you're not sure, ask. Maybe get a friend to read it or post your problem here. The boards are really friendly and helpful like that. Out of four or five answers you're bound to spot one that screams YES! You may even end up combining those answers to form a completely new one!

And finally, MUST DO 5. You have to enjoy what you're doing. There's no point doing this if YOU don't enjoy it. Once you start posting, ask for constructive critique. (Read MUST DO 4) but don't take it to heart if somebody doesn't like your lead character. You've provoked an emotion!

Ok, now I've written my own mini-novel, I hope there's something in here that you can use and WRITE IT DOWN!

 

[Dancing Doctor]

It's been a while since I've actually sat down and written out a story, but I'm half-planning things all the time.

I tend to sit down and have one or two big, multi-hour chunks of time where I just write out the things I want for my story. Right now, for example, I'm working on a story set during the Dominion War. So, for starters:

1. Do a general flesh-out of idea.
2. Identify key areas for further expansion (and they can go in any order. Like, I'm not too worried about the time period, so I'm focusing for now on the setting and the characters)
3. Plan plan plan. I've done "fly-by-night" writing where I make it up as I go along, but those stories I found needed much more revision and rereading than when I've sat down and plotted things.
4. Multiple rough drafts. I'd recommend at least 2 rough drafts.
5. Betareading ftw. I try to get at least one or two people to read it before I even think about posting.

Edited to add: Dialogue, especially if you're using well-known, already-written/seen canon characters, can be a major pain in the ass. My only advice there is to give it your best shot. Also, dialogue can slow things down.

If you want to get a feel for how characters speak, watch episodes (especially the bottle-shows, where dialogue is, in my opinion, given more importance and is used more), and read the scripts and transcripts of episodes. Trekcore.com has the scripts.

 

[Kaziarl]

I can only tell you what works for me but it certainly encompasses some of the above ideas.

1. Start with the obvious, begining and end. You need to know roughly where you're heading to stand any chance of getting there.

This is usually a good idea, but to offer a "devils advocate" opinion my own style differs. In my own writing I often don't know where it's going, and let the story develope as it progresses. I usually know the major key points (bad guy A is following plot B for universal domination C) but how things will pan out is a mystery to me.

2. Draft out the characters you're going to feature, including physical descriptions, personality traits and a little background history. For the 'Angel' series I'm writing, I even selected well known film stars to play each part just to give me something to eventually hang the dialogue on.

Agree here. Although don't over do it. I (and I'm sure others as well) have gotten myself hung up over every minor detail of backstory that I forgot to write the story.

3. I usually plan out a chapter at a time and as you'll see in my stories they tend to be three or four scenes to a chapter. Each scene will have a location, date and time and I'll put a placeholder in for a generic description of what will happen and who will be involved.

4. I'll then start fleshing out the scenes, once again using a placeholder for dialogue if it doesn't come to me straight away.

The rest of this is good advice that I think I may try to follow myself.

However, there are a couple of MUST DO items I always fall back on.

MUST DO 1. Write something EVERY DAY! You might hear an argument in the street with some wonderful (and natural) dialogue. WRITE IT DOWN! You might read a great piece in the newspaper on on the net that encompasses something in your story. WRITE IT DOWN! You may have a mental block on your story, so just write something else, but KEEP WRITING. Its exercise for the literary muscle!

MUST DO 2. Stuck on dialogue? Go somewhere quiet, close your eyes and imagine your characters in the scene you're writing, I mean really imagine! How would you like it to appear on television? Imagine every detail of the location, the dirt on their faces, the lack of birdsong, everything then WRITE IT DOWN!

MUST DO 3. Don't be afraid to re-write. Just because it sounds good when your fingers hit the keys, doesn't mean it will READ good when you come back to it. Tweak it but don't over-tweak it. The comment above about being your own worst critic is most definitely true.

MUST DO 4. If you're not sure, ask. Maybe get a friend to read it or post your problem here. The boards are really friendly and helpful like that. Out of four or five answers you're bound to spot one that screams YES! You may even end up combining those answers to form a completely new one!

And finally, MUST DO 5. You have to enjoy what you're doing. There's no point doing this if YOU don't enjoy it. Once you start posting, ask for constructive critique. (Read MUST DO 4) but don't take it to heart if somebody doesn't like your lead character. You've provoked an emotion!

Ok, now I've written my own mini-novel, I hope there's something in here that you can use and WRITE IT DOWN!

I wouldn't call these "must do" but they are very good techniques. People often have their own styles and what works for one may be different then what works for another as you said in the beginning. Good example here is with dialog. You suggest going to a quiet place. I often write the best dialog in a noisey place where many people are talking (mall food court for example).


One other thing that might help, and many friends have claimed I am crazy for this but it seems to work. Don't think of your character as a character, think of them as a person who wants to tell you a story and listen to them. Let them explain how things sounded, heard, or felt to them. Let them tell you about the fear in their heart when staring at the business end of a phaser, or the relief when they survived the ordeal.

 

[T'Girl]

2. Draft out the characters you're going to feature, including physical descriptions, personality traits and a little background history.
4. I'll then start fleshing out the scenes

Go somewhere quiet, close your eyes and imagine your characters in the scene you're writing, I mean really imagine!

Beat me to a couple of suggestions. I usually start with a straight forward outline of my stories, more of a timeline of events really.

Sometime when I get stuck, I get a long piece of paper, tape it to a wall, draw a line on it. There are a series of balloons where I want a character to enter the story, when major events take place, if there's a B-story there can be two lines. At various places there are labels like "dialog," "combat sequence," "clues," "romance." If there is a big revelation towards the end, I'll draw arrows leading back to previous parts of the story (that would be the "clues").

Then I write the sections that drew me to the story in the first place, these are usually the big dialog sections. After I have all of those, I write the connecting sequences. I just keep fleshing it out until it's finished. As unusualsuspex suggested, I have brief personal histories for all my characters, also when I'm working out dialog I'll stand in the middle of the room and speak the various "roles," complete with hand movements (my people wave their arms a lot). And yes this sometimes wigs people out, but it really seems to help. You might try it when you get stuck on some big speech by Picard (use his style of voice too).

 

[Mistral]

First, go Here:

http://adastra.shadowknightonline.com/viewstory.php?sid=369

and read that piece on characters.

there's lots of different methodologies listed so far so I'll take a different tack.

1-Eat. Don't write on an empty stomach-but not only a newly filled one, either. You don't want to get spacy from hunger and lose an idea-but you don't want to fall asleep 'cause you're stuffed.

2-Write when you are rested. Your patience is better, your attention sharper and your fingers don't get as tired from typing.

3-if you like music, select something that fits the mood of what you are trying to write. I wanted an antiquated feel to my entry this month so I listened to Cole Porter. When writing a very dark story some time back I put on Tubular Bells. I try to avoid distracting, lyric-filled songs but other than that the sky is the limit.

4-I don't know your personal habits, and I'll probably get slammed for this, but don't be afraid to alter your mind-set to find a new approach when you are stuck. I often drink a cup of coffee before sitting down to write. I find it stimulates the thought process wonderfully. A piece of chocolate can also help. Sometimes I'll have a glass of red wine, instead. I intentionally wrote one story(a 9,000 word novelette-thingy) only after having one or two too many beers. I would go back the next day and edit the numerous typos and dangling participles in the latest scene. It took a while, since I wasn't boozing it up nightly, and there was one whole chapter I don't recall writing(LOL-long night out with friends just prior) but judging by the commentaries I got it came out OK. NOTE:marijuana and other narcotics are not a good idea-they affect short-term memory and can really screw you up when writing.

5.-Get a comfy chair. A bad chair is a distraction that pulls you away from what you are doing.

6-sleep on it. Whatever you write, go back over it after a good night's sleep and participation in some other activity besides writing-it helps distance you from the creative moment and gives you some perspective.

Hope that helps. And like some of the others said-Just write. It will all work out in the end.

 

[KJ_A]

Hello again everyone. I must say that I am grateful for the friendly advice. That is part of the reason I decided to ask this question here at TrekBBS because in my reading it seemed like there is a nice group of people here. I tried to post a reply on Monday but my browser crashed just before I was going to post it and I lost the whole post. As such it has taken a couple of days to get over the frustration of that and get a reply back to you. I did this one in the word processor first.

The Badger, thanks for the advice about Place Holders. I would not have thought of that but it is a good idea.

Count Zero, I have often had difficulty doing proper multiple drafts of things I write, even in my term papers. Partly it is because with my dyslexia and phonetic spelling I often find myself having to rewrite some words five times before I get close enough for the spell checker to identify what I am typing although less so now as a graduate student than when I first started collage. I usually find that I redo paragraphs as I type as I go with a final proof read at the end. I also have not written anything longer than 30 pages double spaced before.

Darkush, Thanks for the encouragement. I actually something like 16 different story ideas in need of development at present but have been trying to focus on three of them in the past six months. Only a couple are Star Trek related the rest are a mixture of Stargate, Buffy, and one Star Wars as well as a few crossovers and an original novel idea I would like to develop. Your comment about a short story however has given me an idea. I have a three scene Buffy short story that I have the first scene done on. I think I can use “The Badgers” advice of going around to doing the final scene which I know how I want to go and then go back and fill in the middle.

TheLoneRedshirt, I see what you mean as I went looking at dialogue in a few of my favorite books and fan fictions and can see how it is often a series of short lines connected by descriptions of what the characters are thinking and doing in relation to the conversation.

Shatnertage, Thanks for the advice on scaffolding. In one of my English classes advised using what they called the one inch picture frame to keep the focus on only a small piece of a task at a time to avoid being overwhelmed but your advice sounds great as a way to start. I understand how the blank page can be overwhelming. With my dyslexia, I think, unless it is the ADHD, there is a start stop mechanism in the brain that does not work right for me. For most people allows them to go from idea to idea when writing. For me it can sometimes be like starting a completely new task just to go from one paragraph to the next to the next.

Ususualsuspex, thanks for the guidelines. Your number one in the one I am going to have to work on the most as I need to change my habits so that I trade in reading time for writing time. I also think your others are useful in how you break things down into short concise statements.

Valeris, thanks for the planning advice. This one thing I have a problem with is how to lay out an outline or plan of what I want to write. Nobody ever seems to lay out how to do this in an organized process or even show a collection of notes to see how an effective writer could possible arrange things. I am very much an audio visual learner.

Kaziarl, you sound a bit like me. When I write a paper for class I know only my main points and I build it from there. I think the second point of Ususualsuspex that you commented on is one I am going to have trouble with. I am very good at doing this in my head but I have never been good at getting it written down. So that is another thing I will have to work on getting better at.

T’girl, Kaziarl's final paragraph and your advice are something I get very well. I think it is a combination of my Asperger and Torrets Syndrome but I am very good at being able to stand up and work out a scene or conversation between characters or even like fighter pilots do with their hands to represent ships and vehicles. It is getting it onto paper that is the problem. My typing speed is terrible. It has taken me about two hours just to write this point.

Mistral I took your advice today and it seems to have helped in me getting a number of things I have wanted to write for the past week, reviews, E-mails and this post for one, done. Thanks for that. Once I get my insomnia under control again, which I have been working on for the past two days, I should be able to get some more consistent in writing.

Thank again everyone.

 

[Mistral]

Ok, I gotta ask-is this guy yanking my chain, or what? How does he get through a single day of college classes like this?

he mentions:

dyslexia
ADHD
Asperger and Torrets Syndrome (I assume Tourette's-part of the spelling issues he also mentions in the second paragraph)
Insomnia

Seriously, is this some kind of belated April Fool's Joke? If he/she is really that messed up then I apologize but I dunno...

 

[Whtstr314]

As someone who has Asperger's, OCD, PTSD, General Anxiety Disorder, agoraphobia, and clinical depression, and has succeeded thus far in school, I can certainly tell you it's more than possible to do it.
PS: By the way, what artist doesn't have problems???

 

[RobertScorpio]

I would just say this; make sure its fun for you. And when writer's fatigue sets in, and it will, let it pass until that fun aspect comes back.

Rob

 

[Dancing Doctor]

Valeris, thanks for the planning advice. This one thing I have a problem with is how to lay out an outline or plan of what I want to write. Nobody ever seems to lay out how to do this in an organized process or even show a collection of notes to see how an effective writer could possible arrange things. I am very much an audio visual learner.

It's different for everyone. There are times when I use columns "Setting" "Characters (Primary)" "Time Period" "Main Plot Points". There are times when I just throw ideas onto a page and from my word and number stew on the page, I start to write.

It's whatever you feel the most comfortable with.

 

[KJ_A]

Ok, I gotta ask-is this guy yanking my chain, or what? How does he get through a single day of college classes like this?

he mentions:

dyslexia
ADHD
Asperger and Torrets Syndrome (I assume Tourette's-part of the spelling issues he also mentions in the second paragraph)
Insomnia

Seriously, is this some kind of belated April Fool's Joke? If he/she is really that messed up then I apologize but I dunno...

and

As someone who has Asperger's, OCD, PTSD, General Anxiety Disorder, agoraphobia, and clinical depression, and has succeeded thus far in school, I can certainly tell you it's more than possible to do it.
PS: By the way, what artist doesn't have problems???

Whtstr314, thank you for your support. Mistral, it is not a joke. It is not easy to deal with four different neurological disorders and hearing impairment, all likly related to my premeture birth. If it were not for a lot of support from my family I would probably be a failed high school dropout right now. Instead due to a lot of hard work and persistence on my part as well as support from others who believed in me I am now just twelve credit hours away from my master’s degree.

I would just say this; make sure its fun for you. And when writer's fatigue sets in, and it will, let it pass until that fun aspect comes back.

Rob

RobertScorpio, thanks for your comments. I do need to keep it fun for myself. Sometimes it can be difficult to separate my own writing from a professor asking for three five page papers in 48 hours. On a side note, you would not happen to be a General Hospital fan would you?

It's different for everyone. There are times when I use columns "Setting" "Characters (Primary)" "Time Period" "Main Plot Points". There are times when I just throw ideas onto a page and from my word and number stew on the page, I start to write.

It's whatever you feel the most comfortable with.

Valeris, in response to your reply and as a general note to everyone on this thread, in looking over your advice I have applied some of it in conjunction with some of my spare this weekend to assemble a writing plan for myself that should allow me to make a go at seriously getting my writing from an idea stage to a concrete form and allow me to effectively map my progress in stages. As one piece of advice from DarKush said that it is good to post regularly a marker of progress so I am going to use this thread to post updates on my progress in completing segments of my writing plan. It is my hope that any further advice or encouragement from doing so will help to further strengthen my focus in getting one of my ideas developed and in progress before the year out.