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 Posted: Wed Nov 10, 2010 8:56 pm
In my plot development, I've hit a road block, but its unlike other circumstances.
I am working specifically on my beginning (which is extremely crucial to me) and I have come up with two possible scenarios. Problem is, I just love them both!
I consider both scenarios pretty good hooks to get my reader intrested, and they bring up moments that really define my characters right from the get-go.
Its driving me nuts to debate between the two of them. As much as I love my story, my mind is actually exhausted. I will get no further without taking a break.
Some time might solve this problem on its own anyway.
So, discuss:
How do you decide what to use and what to cut, when you can't fit everything in?
What are your worst cases with this?
How important is a beginning to you? (Aside from the crucial fact that you need a hook)
And, what do you do when you're 'taking a break'?
You know, I was just going to post this as a side note in my journal, but nobody ever reads journals, and I wanted to discuss this. So, three cheers for a new thread!
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Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2010 1:52 pm
Is there a way to combine both of your ideas for the beginning?
Often, I find out what works and what does not by writing it out, because what sounds good in my head may not work once I actually try to fit it into place.
Recent example: I took Lucy and any girls out of the reunion entirely because I realized one, Crane would have no motive to get to them unless they had been catty bitches to him (which I did not see any of them as, mostly because Lucy was the only one I had any development for), two, Lucy's role would work a lot better if she was not physically present, and three, it just meant I had to deal with having a bunch of innocent bystanders there when it was supposed to be a calculated revenge plot. The best solution was to simply cut all the girls and have an all-male cast for the reunion.
One of my worst cases of deciding what to cut/change came from, of all things, character development. I had this one character who has become a lot more moral since his initial creation, which entirely screwed me over with this scene I needed to kick off other parts of the plot (he would torture one character to get at another). The problem was...the tortured character was an innocent, and he was now a lot more reasonable and would not harm her for no reason, especially since she was an entirely innocent and unknowing/unwitting pawn in it. Thanks to a friend's suggestion, I was able to use an in-character action (among other things, but that was the big one) from the innocent character to provoke the tormentor.
I also had this when I changed the murder weapon for another character. Originally, he was slain by his own sword, which his daughter kept as a memento. And as I wrote, I found the sword was useless except for a means to draw unnecessary angst, so I cut it out entirely. The killed character as now been poisoned, and his daughter has better means of remembering him.
Beginnings are highly important to me because I tend to suck at writing them. If there is one part of the story I will re-write two, three, four times over, it is usually the beginning. I like having a set tone and setting, even before I introduce a character.
When I "take a break," I focus my creative energies elsewhere: an unrelated story (like the fanfic), or an art piece.
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Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2010 2:24 pm
Its nice that I read your story, so now you can refer to it for examples and I actually know what you're talking about.
Anyway, I can't combine the beginnings. Its not actions so much as location and means of traveling. There are also two very different sets of people.
I've thought about writing both beginnings out, and seeing which I like better after that. I just need to work up the motive, and I want to see if a little more time will fix the problem on its own.
It'll be a pain to research for both beginnings.
I don't hardly write anything other than this main story I keep talking about, but I loooove to daydream about other stories. I do that all the time, especially when I'm burned out. Like now.
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Posted: Sat Nov 13, 2010 4:35 am
Writing it out may be your best option, then, and I wish you luck and offer my aid if you need any assistance.
I love to do that too. Sometimes, I intentionally pick out characters I have ignored for a long while and work up something with them. I will do anything from choosing crack pairings to making up an absurd situation to put them in. It is humorous to try to keep them in-character while forcing them to work it out, and it is a good way to both entertain yourself and get a quick release from writer's block.
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Posted: Sat Nov 13, 2010 6:03 pm
Haha, most of my characters act on the fact that most of them don't like each other already. This is probably a result of unintentionally doing what you just mentioned.
I started writing the first part of one of the two beginnings. The words aren't flowing quite like I wish they would, mostly because I haven't done adequate research and its making me nervous.
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