Starting points

Wilgetthere

Wilgetthere

Hi everyone I find the same as many other writers that I can have many ideas going on at anyone time. Presently I am excited about an idea I have. But faced with pages of notes and research to be done is there any suggestions as to a starting point to bring some cohesion to my infant idea? I have considered asking a question to anchor everthing too or is character development the most important?

Butterfly

I always have to know my characters inside out before I actually start writing the book. I play with the lead character. Put him in different situations. See where he/she leads me. Do they have any secret sides etc? Or chose a part of your story line and start there, see what happens. You don't always have to start at the beginning. As many will tell you, you often start at the beginning and find that the beginning ends up three chapters in. With all the editing and re-editing.

Jay Mandal

You may also find the opposite - that your first chapter has ended up cut out completely. Start with something unusual that grabs the reader and makes him/her want to read more. You can always go back and fill in the details later.

Jacey

Might some stream of consiousness writing help?

Mjke

I'd have to agree with Jacey. Just sit down and write something. Even if you scrap it later and start over. You can make all the notes you want, do all the research, draw up character profiles, but until you start putting words on a page, it's still just an idea.

Crazy Horse

I started off probably wrongly writing about an event betwen two characters. Then I started witin the profiles, by then the charatcers had established themseves because they had to be who they were from that event. I searched around for real people who would be those people. The characters were then so strong I only recorded what seemed inevitable. Time lines and locations were just what had to b so I have let the whole story follow its own path which seemed quite natural. I worried at first how little control I had over the direction the story took but in the end I have just let it run.