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Hey!! Yes, the Russell & Eliza prequel is published (yay!). Currently, I’m working on Heart of a Father, which is R&E #0.5. It was originally going to be a novelette – yeah, not happening. This puppy is going to be way longer. XD I’m estimating a novella at around 30k words right now, but I wouldn’t be at all surprised if it turns out longer.
How about you? How are you and your projects?
Hey, there! How are you?
Yes, I’ve been on several adventures in the past year(ish), the most exciting of which was joining The Author Conservatory. I’ve worked on two WIPs with them:
- a non-magical fantasy retelling of Gideon… but with pirates 😉
- the story of David and Goliath but told from the view of David’s oldest brother, Eliab
The Gideon retelling is drafted and waiting edits, and Eliab’s story is about to go into drafting! (We have a whole prewriting process, so we don’t start with drafting) I’m hoping to start another WIP once Eliab’s book hits its midpoint. 😀
How about you? How’s college life? You been up to any fun writer things?
@everyone
I don’t know how to start my contemporary novel!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I’ve restarted the first chapter repeatedly
I don’t know how to start it and make it interesting
do any Contemporary writers on here have any tips or ideas??
I really need some help
Do me a favor…. Tell Cress I meant it
-ThorneI don’t write contemporary, but here are some ideas!
Start somewhere a little after the first scene! That way, you don’t feel too stressed trying to make it sound perfect.
Explore your main character in a scene with conflict. The main purpose of the scene is to show off your character’s personality – but you want something to catch the reader’s attention. (So if you have a choice between writing the character sitting on his bed thinking, or trying to deliver a pizza on time, the latter is better 😊)
It doesn’t have to be flashy, just interesting! The situation might even be normal for your hero. That’s okay. Let the readers enjoy the hero for who they are, in their normal everyday life ❤️
Explore your voice! What is your style? If you really like writing poetic descriptions, write some – so your readers know what they’re in for 😂
Write a scene that summarizes the plot of your entire story! …That probably doesn’t make too much sense 😅 Basically, think of Indiana Jones. In the first scene, he gets so close to the gold idol and gets it, only for the villain to take it in the end. But then, the villain never gets what he really wanted in the end. The whole movie’s plot IS that, only enlarged (searching for the ark etc). So you could say the intro scene is a microcosm!
Most importantly, write a scene you love! I know that seems obvious, but some writers power through a scene without realizing they hate it.
Hope this helps ❤️
“Everything is a mountain”
That’s was really helpful
Thanks!!!!
I’m going to go and see what I can write, thanks for the tips!!!
Do me a favor…. Tell Cress I meant it
-ThorneWhat’s your story about? I write contemporary too, so if you still need any ideas I might be able to help brainstorm.
"Real love is for your good, not for your comfort." -Justin Whitmel Earley
@trailblazer @and-anyone-else
here’s the general gist of it,
Note: It’s still in the very early stages of development
and it takes place in Michigan
Okay, so the book is basically about a family with six kids, who are almost all grown.
Tyler (30, firm believer) the only married sibling, Tyler finds himself living in Petoskey Michigan, with his wife and three kids. He finds himself constantly working and missing the memorable moments in his kids’ lives.
Eliana (the main character of this book) (24, mad at God) Growing up she always hung in a group with her best friend Thomas, and her brother Mason, but at only sixteen Mason is lost in a car accident, but Thomas is there for her and the whole family and as she grows so does her love for Thomas, but at age twenty another loss hits her and Thomas is taken from her, she can’t stand the pain of being in her small town or around her family (who have all managed to move on) so she leaves for Chicago and hides her pain, pretending for years she’s okay
Jordan (22, believer yet still doubts) After Mason’s death, Jordan began to act out, being the more wild of the children, so it came as a shock to everyone when he became a cop, now he’s much more cynical and doesn’t really trust that easy. He’s also one of the three children who still lives in Hope’s shards (their hometown and where their parents still live)
Coltan (21, in the middle of faith) him and Payton are twins and they’ve acted like it, they would argue and bicker, yet he also found himself protective of her and they had a close bond. He’s brave and bold, so he fits perfectly into the navy, but since she already lost Mason, Payton is always worried about him, and so are his parents. He’s also the other main sibling in this book, and his struggle has something to do with PTSD (but I’m not sure exactly what yet, so I’d be happy for ideas)
Payton (21, firm believer) She’s always been a writer and she works at her Mom’s B&B, helping manage the place. She’s close to her brothers, Jordan and Colton, and she wishes that her family would come back home, she’s very quirky and dreams of a novel-like romance in her life
Jane (15 believer) Jane has grown up the youngest, to the point where her oldest brother is double her age, she has a few friends in the small town, but she finds that most of her time is spent helping in the B&B, which she doesn’t mind, she’s also very wild and enjoys living every part of life, she mostly hangs out with her sibling Payton and Jordan, and she’s found herself to also be quite mature for her age
But when Eliza and Andrew (the parents, who I’m still working out their arc) wish for everyone to come home for an end of summer get together, they are all in amazement when everyone shows up, including Eliza, who finds herself coming to the realization that she has to face the grief she’s been hiding for four years, and Colton, who’s been hiding the trauma from being in the navy
So it’s very, very rough, and I need to figure out a lot more of it before November (for the writing sprint) so I’d take any ideas from anyone
Do me a favor…. Tell Cress I meant it
-ThorneCool!! I have some questions (although I get that it’s a new story and of course you don’t have everything figured out yet 😅)
What is your main idea? The big unique thing that is going to happen in this story?
What makes you happy while writing Eliana specifically? What makes her the main character over everyone else?
“Everything is a mountain”
Hi!
Where you’re going with this is interesting, I like the idea of having the inciting incident being a bunch of siblings with different kinds of baggage coming together for a holiday at their parent’s house, and here’s some different ideas with where to take it:
- The parents have to share some kind of news before the dad’s 50th birthday, if you’re going a fantasy route, reveal that the family is under attack by something, eg, a family member from years back offended the fae or some other magical being, and now the family is cursed, and something bad will happen when the dad reaches 50 if they can’t break the curse first.
- the siblings have each been entrusted with a part of a great-aunt’s teaset, and they have to do one last party in her honor after her death.
- it’s a holiday, and one of the kids wanders off into the woods and the siblings have to split up to find the kid.
- they have to pack up a mansion that the deceased granparents once inhabited, and there’s disagreements about whether to tear it down, renovate it, or sell it between the siblings and parents, it’d be a slice-of-life story with toned down adventure, and allowing the kids to work through their issues by working together to renovate the house and such, with a little hint of adventure and the unexplainable
- they have to help their aging and ailing parents, and it causes friction.
Well, here’s a few ideas of where to take the story, and I’m sure you can tell I lean toward more action/adventure type stories lol. I guess, think of an external confilct to fit with the internal conflict of the characters, and think about where you could take the conflict and how you want it to end, what the climax will be like, and work back from there.
I hope this gives you some ideas!
We crazy people are the normal ones.
Oh dear i just realized your story was contemporary lol!
We crazy people are the normal ones.
I like that idea! A few things that came to mind that might give you some ideas of how to start it:
- The story begins at the family get-together; I think showing the tension of the family relationships right at the start will give you an opportunity to then dive in and explore the causes of those tensions throughout the novel. However, the downside of starting this way is introducing all the characters at once. I have a tendency to create too many “main” characters, and then it is harder to develop them individually, and it leaves the reader overwhelmed and confused. So if you go this route, be aware of that possibility happening (since you do have a large family).
- The story begins before the get-together; this would give you time to focus on your MC and develop her a little bit before bringing the rest of the family onto the scene. You could always start with Eliana in Chicago receiving a message from her parents about the get-together at the end of the summer and show her conflict in deciding whether or not to go.
Like I said, having so many characters with complex story arcs might be challenging to write, so you could also try writing their stories separately (even if that’s not how you end up, it’s a great way to develop each character personally) and then finding connecting points to mesh them together.
"Real love is for your good, not for your comfort." -Justin Whitmel Earley
What is your main idea? The big unique thing that is going to happen in this story?
so basically all the family has found themselves hiding their grief, anger, and anything else, because that’s kind of their dynamic
and this year was no exception, so when Eliana gets back, all the kids are given orders on topic points they aren’t allowed to bring up (basically her leaving and Thomas’s death)
Payton and Jane hold anger over her for leaving without even a goodbye and the fact that it wasn’t like she was the only one grieving over Thomas (since he was basically another member of the family)
What makes you happy while writing Eliana specifically? What makes her the main character over everyone else?
So one thing to note, is all of the kids are really the main characters, but in this book, Eliana and Colton are the only ones who get POVs (and possibly Payton)
but it’s a series so every book will go through each child and so on and on (basically it’s a never-ending series focusing on the Mckinley family)
Anyway, I decided to start with Eliana since she’s the one who’s holding all the drama and Colton because he’s also hiding a lot (aka trauma)
Plus Eliana’s story is about grief, and that’s a subject I’m pretty good at writing
Do me a favor…. Tell Cress I meant it
-ThorneI’ve thought about starting at the party, but as you said I feel that there might be too much going on
so I’ve tossed around the idea of her starting when she gets to town, or not starting with her and actually starting with Jordan and Payton, and them talking about everyone coming home
but truthfully I still need to figure out the main conflict of the book
why did they decide to all come this time? what makes this get-together special?
where’s the tension?
As I said, it’s still in the early stages of devolvement
but I’m actually really liking @scoutfinch180 of them renovating a house or something
but again I still have a lot to figure out XD
Do me a favor…. Tell Cress I meant it
-Thorne
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