Emily Needs You!

[Broadway_Baby_]

I've had this account for a while now and I finally am going to ask you guys a few questions.

1. How would be the best way to get my idea into a plot? How would I get from point A to point B on a tiny bit of idea?

2. Scenes....I've always had trouble with them. I just fail to grasp what makes a good scene other than dialogue How do you show action well?

3. I've been writing for a while now and cannot get past chapter one. How do I stick with it and go on until the end?

Multiple responses with different ways would be wonderful. I'm sure you guys will pull through. Thanks!

[Imelda]

Read. Read. Read.

That's pretty much it.

[Claudette]

Melda gave a good answer. Also this is an awesome book: Writing Fiction (http://www.amazon.com/Writing-Fiction-Practical-Acclaimed-Creative/dp/1582343306/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-3399930-7766232?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1184121055&sr=8-1). This book helped me a lot before I knew what I was doing.

[Broadway_Baby_]

That's the problem, I've been reading writing books I have about 10. I take in everything, besides the things I'm having issues with.

[Claudette]

Then just keep writing, and keep trying. Eventually things will click. Though, Writing Fiction is better than most books on writing that I have read.

What you seem to have problems with seem to be very simplistic things, and if you can't grasp these it will be hard for you to move up and improve. So, just keep writing and getting it critiqued. I ... can't really think anything else up. The specific questions you have are hard to answer because they come naturally for me.

[Tie Dye Tuxedo]

don't read "writing books" they will only help if you can see the concepts it motion. Sure, there examples, but novels are complete. I recommend loading up on several differnt kinds of fiction, so you can find a niche, your own style. Read some Steinbeck, some Vonnegut, Meiville, anything. Read literary fiction and prose as well as science fiction, romance, and mystery.

[Willis]

Don't think--write.

It's deep; you'll get it when you hit the sack tonight.

[Imelda]

I agree with the two people who told you to write. I've been critiquing so much that I'm seeing the faults in my own writing before I even commit them to paper, resulting in me not writing anything. Throw all that information out of the window and go with what feels good. It doesn't matter if it's bad--that's what edits and revisions are for. :)

Good luck!

[writer23]

it is really hard to get from point A to point B on very little ideas. trust me i no. been there done all that.
the best ways to get your ideas into a plot...well..if they are ideas..aren't they already a plot? hear me out.
okay so you have these ideas that are probably far stretched out from one another. and all you have to do is find a way to connect them all together. maybe like....some article of something or important figure keeps appearing and from that article or something all your ideas are put together. if you have little ideas...you have to work on expanding it.

if you can't get past chapter one then that means that there isn't enough drama. when i'm stuck on chapter one (because i rarely plan out my writing - which is truly a bad idea and i encourage you not to do) i usually say to myself what would happen if i killed my main character. i no thats mean but it works. serioulsy i mean wouldn't everything go totally wrong? everything would be hetic and eventually there would be some drama thrown in there and then bata-bing-bata-boom you have a story (bata-bing-bata-boom...i've heard that from somewhere haven't I?). i'm not saying that you have to kill off your main character, and i'm not saying that you have to have a lot of drama, and i'm not saying that you have to listen to any of this that i'm writing. it's just that if you can't get past chapter one, you have to think of something bigger and better down the road.

you also had trouble with scenes....
i am not the one to go to with scene trouble. yeah, dialouge is a big concept in scenes which i cannot write. i have the hardest time writing dialouge isn't not even funny. you just have to show action from the reaction that your character is getting. the characters have to react to what each other is saying or what is going on in different ways.

you ask how to stick with something and finish it til the end...if i had that answer i would let you know but sadly i don't. you just have to get really commited to your writing. maybe try to make it something personal or something that is important to you. yes, it can be extremely diffulct to stay with an idea that in the beginning you think is leading you no where. again: been there done all that. i've missed out on some really good ideas because i said to myself 'this is going to get me no where'. just continue to work on that one idea and let it snowball from there.

yes reading and reading also helps!

pm if you want help.