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Kacoshi, Welcome to the forum. I only joined in July so I'm new too. When I read sci-fi fantasy (your favorite genre), I'd prefer some quick action early on, something of visual impact to grab my attention, then the story starts to unfold. But the action (the fight) must not be token action. It should be a necessary opener to your plot. Imagine watching an action movie... what do you usually see in the first few minutes on the screen? Hope this helps, and please post some of your works here.
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Hello. I agree that opening with action is a great way to start a book or chapter. Its a great way to make the reader invested in reading the rest of your story. I'd much rather acquaint myself with the characters through action and then slowly learn about them through narrative or exposition than to be burdened with caring about their inner conflicts and musings after the opening line of the story. If I see a character lift a bus off a small child, I instantly admire his inner character and outer strength which makes me more interested in learning about him as a person and discovering what makes him tick. I'm more enthralled after seeing him in action. Hope this helps.
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Hmm... sounds like to me you're a perfectionist. I'm like that too. I hate to say this, and I apologize for this, but you got to take the picky side and crush it. I know it's hard, but you have to.
A rule: There are no rules in writing. In other words, be yourself.
Maybe you fear the reader won't like it because it's not in an acceptable standard? Maybe it's your inner critics telling you your piece stinks? My advice--be yourself.
Be yourself, you may ask. Well yeah, only by being yourself can you write something well. You could be writing like your idols, and oh, dear, that's a bad way to write. You can' write like your idols because, well, theres only one version of your idols, and that's them. You'll just be a cheap imitaiton if you try to copy them. It'll be ventriloquism instead of real writing.
That being said, Ernest Hemingway once said, "The first draft of anything is worth shit." If this true, then you should write the shittiest draft in history so you can win. Not only that, you have something to work with and you use your voice when you write crap. Sounds contridicting, but it's not.
Do you write outlines? If not, maybe that's the reason why you think your writing is bad. An outline can get you to know where you're heading. Some writers write like this; some don't.
As for whether action or going slow being the best route for your story, I would say this: write the book you crave to read. Write as if you're writing this for yourself.
Some quotes I came up with:
"The rules of writing, after you obtain them all from your quest, will lead you to the ultimate treasure: there are no rules in writing, only guidelines."
"It's better to write as a person considered a fool than to write as a person considered a intelligent."
"What every teacher told you about writing is false, what every book you read on writing is outdated, what every seminar you go to only applies to a foreign country. You, however is of now, and now is never applied in this world, so brace the now in you."
"Rules are like chess pieces: they must be sacrificed for you to checkmate the king."
"Rules are like Go pieces (Asian board game): one stone placed on the board by itself influences the board rather than a line of stones placed next to each other." (If you don't know Go, don't worry about this one.)
Hope this helps!
DeUndrae :)
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Hello again! First chapters are awful. I redid the first chapter of my first novel (which will never see the light of day again untill I'm 50) about 26 times. Seriously. Twenty. Six. Times. *Bangs head against wall* and it's still not great.
This might work for you. I've never seen it done in a novel.
BANG! Start with an onomonapoeia. (I know I spelled that wrong)
Or my favorite formula....character action description. That's the fir.st sentence. But in terms of plot- go to the center of the conflict. Movie/play/TV time- how would it start in a multimedia form? Are there gonna be two huge swarms of winged things, then have a flash and an image of a supreme evil dude? Then another flash with your amazingly heroic character that is suddenly put in danger or raises suspicions about this supreme evil dude?
Sorry, went on a tangent there...if it doesn't help you, eat chocolate. ;)
Sincerely,
~ Dragonwriter
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My best advice would be next time you go back instead of scrapping in write the next chapter and just move on knowing you can come back and put it right later.
Get the rest of the story out in some form the start editing, instead of editing (by deletion) the first chapter over and over again. As you work through the rest of the story, the reasons it's not quite right might be clearer, and you'll have a better idea of what to change, instead of dumping the lot and starting again.
Better yet, next time you write the first chapter, post it for critique and see if you can get some inspiration and feedback.
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