Writing Project

Yeah, the title's a little vague, but I'm running on empty here.

Put simply, I'm working on a writing project I promised myself I would resurrect after I lost my original files about four or five years ago to unhealthy computer practices. It's a piece of historical fiction I started back in high school and worked on for about two years before my laptop failed and I couldn't recover the files.

I'm currently having trouble working past a prologue. In the interest of full disclosure, I'm having trouble writing much of anything I'm fully satisfied with. If some of you wouldn't mind reading my prologue and offering a bit of constructive criticism I'd appreciate it - sometimes a jolt of perspective can help with a writing funk I've been told.

Spoilered for those who have lost interest by now.

Spoiler

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It all comes back to the lies we tell. Whether we lie to ourselves, to our friends, to strangers, or even to lovers, they all catch up eventually and we must reap what we sow. I sat in bed for hours trying to remember why I lied to Stephanie in the first place. I looked over Stephanie, her arm stretched across the bed as though reaching for me in her sleep, and I hated myself for lying to her.

It seemed innocuous enough, one of those little white lies we tell to everyone because the truth is either too much to say or because they wouldn’t care in the first place. She’d come to my apartment after I missed our dinner date, when I didn’t answer the door she got my building manager to open it for her with a quivering lip and a sad story about the pathetic guy that lived there. The last bit is purely speculation, I have no idea how she got the door open.

She came in and found me drunk, the same state I’d been in for the last several hours. When she asked me what was wrong I told her something I have said to hundreds of other people on thousands of other occasions, and regret now for the first time because she deserves better: “I’m fine.”

To help you with the issue of writing -

Find music that helps set the mood. Sound track music is the best, depending on what you're writing. (For example, a lot of my writing is fantasy based, so I have the sound track of Gladiator, Lord of the Rings, Dragon Age, and the like to try and help my mind capture the mood and feel I am trying to convey).

Plan your story out - not one big arch of "Point A to Point B" - but narrow it down. Specify Point A to B per Chapter. What do you want to happen in each chapter? That way, you can also foreshadow what is going on within chapters that fit.

Develop your character; write out their history. What makes them who they are? Why are they doing what they're doing? What's in it for them? And give each character unique traits and voices, so that they don't come across as cardboard cut outs.

That's a nice prologue, but what happens next? If you know then write it, it doesn't have to be good but just put some words down on paper. I find the best way to do something like this is to put out a lot of crap and find the gold nuggets in it.

That metaphor got away from me but the point is that the only way to write something is to well, write it. In all likelihood you won't be fully satisfied with what you write but that's okay because one of the main things about writing is revising and editing and all that.

If you find you can't write the prologue write something else, somewhere in the middle or the end or anything really, as long as you're writing.

Holy.... Well That blows What I'm writing in to the trash. You have talent, I would read what you write. But what advice I can give depends on what problems your having. And mostly the posts above me answered the advice I have. But really, keep writing.

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Originally Posted by Tawmis

Find music that helps set the mood. Sound track music is the best, depending on what you're writing. (For example, a lot of my writing is fantasy based, so I have the sound track of Gladiator, Lord of the Rings, Dragon Age, and the like to try and help my mind capture the mood and feel I am trying to convey).

Plan your story out - not one big arch of "Point A to Point B" - but narrow it down. Specify Point A to B per Chapter. What do you want to happen in each chapter? That way, you can also foreshadow what is going on within chapters that fit.

Develop your character; write out their history. What makes them who they are? Why are they doing what they're doing? What's in it for them? And give each character unique traits and voices, so that they don't come across as cardboard cut outs.

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1. I agree on the music part. For instance, when I write action and battle scenes I listen to Final Fantasy battle music and during those long, uneventful traveling times I listen to good ol' LOTR.

2. This one really just depends on your style of writing.

3. I agree with this. despite not using this myself, I have a pretty good idea of my characters before I use 'em.

You've caught my attention, that's for sure. Keep writing! Just write non stop and DO NOT READ WHAT YOU'VE WRITTEN! do not go back and reread and edit until at least 24 hours later. Just WRITE!