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- Rank: Eccentric Mentor
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Yeah, plot holes. So I’ve been writing my novel for about a month now. It was going great until I realized the other day, that I have a beginning and end, but no middle. I’m hoping for advice and maybe brainstorming help. I’ll post a really poorly written mini synopsis I wrote to explain it to @dekreel a while ago.
A girl named Katalina is simply a peasant. When she discovers a vital government secret, she is forced to take a journey in order not to be captured and killed. On her journey, Katalina has to make a difficult choice. Will she be loyal to her country, her family, her dreams, or her love? At the end of Katalina’s journey, she discovers who she is, and how all things work out for good.
SPOILER ALERT: At the end, Katalina will end up marrying a prince. I can give more details (on the prince especially *rubs hands together and cackles*) if y’all need more.
I just need to figure out what should happen on her journey, and how I fill in all the blanks. XD
Tags: @daeus @kate-flournoy @dragon-snapper @sam-kowal @that_writer_girl_99 @winter-rose @audrey-caylin @daughteroftheking @introvert_girl @dekreel @anybody
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This happens to me all the time. :p Hmm…do you know anything about her journey? Like where she goes, who she meets, etc? Or do you have just the beginning and ending?
- Rank: Eccentric Mentor
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@waterlily I’m basically stuck at the beginning and end. I’m thinking she meets pirates, she gets captured by the palace guards, I don’t know. I am not very good at creating details unfortunately. XD
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@emily I don’t know if you’re the same way, but settings tend to get my creativity flowing. What I did for a couple of story ideas was I created a map–the more cities and places, the better. As I named them and imagined what they were like, ideas for mini-adventures/scenes flowed out of the different places themselves. If you come up with a lot of settings–cities, forests, deserts, mountains, etc–you’ll hopefully end up with more mini-adventures/scenes than you’ll need. Then it’s just a matter of making a list of them and figuring out which ones work best with your plot. I did this with one story I never ended up writing, but I got a lot of great ideas from it that I might revisit eventually. Hope that made sense 🙂
@emily Ah, yes, the middle. *glares at my arch nemesis* 😛
I think you’re going to find your answer by looking at the ending. What’s the plot resolution? What is the character resolution? What does your character learn at the end? Then, you can compare that to what you have at the start, and work backwards until you’re at the beginning. I think that’s called reverse outlining.
One thing that really helps me is to free write. I do this with basically all my outlines. I just start rambling on paper, asking “So…what do I want to happen?” Then I might come up with something like:
“Protagonist must fight with her brother. Great. But why? And when? And over what?” Then I go down those rabbit holes and find answers.“What if” questions are also a great thing. Though it might take a little momentum to get going, just keep asking “what if…” Even if it’s a stupid thing or an obvious thing.
I hope all that helps! I’m not going to be able to get on tomorrow, so Merry Christmas! 😀
Ah, yes. The stubborn middle of a book. Makes you almost wish the middle didn’t comprise the whole story, doesn’t it? But. To business.
I struggled with this ONLY MONTHS AGO. But I’m pretty sure I have a rather decent strategy now. Here goes!
First, find really fun stuff. Such as, pirates, lava worms, vessapedes, snowstorms, volcanoes, Tnelns, giant rhino things, changelings, venomous reptiles, and so on. Drop them in wherever you want. This not only creates action scenes, but you can use trials to further character development. (Especially if your couple has to work together to overcome them. Hehehe…)
Second, create minor characters. They are super fun to just whip up, and sometimes I fall in love with minor characters just as much as MCs. The more Katalina interacts with other people, the more her personality, yearnings, and arcs will develop. Make innkeepers, soldiers, peddlers, farm girls, random knights, little old ladies, ferrymen, noblewomen, etc.
Third, make “happenstances“. Little problems that may or may not have any significant impact on the general mission, but HUGELY impact your character. Maybe they stay with a farmer’s family for a night, and helps them bring in their harvest. Maybe they hadn’t realized how hard common people worked before, and they have new respect for them. Or, if they are very closed and aloof, they can be part of a celebration with villagers, and finally be a part of a group.
Fourth, visualize it. My favorite way to do this is before I go to sleep, I lay in my bed, eyes closed, and play out certain scenes in my head. I plan exact phrasing, dialogue, and descriptions. Its really very fun, and its my favorite part of planning.
I hope this helped, @emily! Have fun writing Katalina’s story! (And, um, don’t tell her I suggested vessapedes and tnelns. I don’t want other people’s characters mad at me too….)
ENTP, Aether-borg Hero with cape obsession and fascination with swords.
https://forums.theaetherli- Rank: Eccentric Mentor
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@waterlily Awesome advice! My friend drew a my world for me, and I’ve yet to fill in all the details. My next project! Thanks a lot!
@audrey-caylin Ooh! Great ideas! I am good at rambling. 😀 Thanks for the help.
@aislinn-mollisong That makes a lot of sense. Out of curiosity, what are vessapedes and tnelns? I’m sure they’re not nice since you categorized them with lava worms, venomous reptiles, etc., but what exactly are they? Thanks so much for the advice.Y’all are all awesome!
@emily Well, tnelns are rock-eating lizards that live in Everly. I made them up.
Vessapedes, on the other hand….they’re from a decently written fantasy trilogy called The Vengekeep Prophecies and…they are not fun. At all. They are giant poison wormy things that like to eat people.
Not fun.
ENTP, Aether-borg Hero with cape obsession and fascination with swords.
https://forums.theaetherli@emily Sorry it took me so long to get back to you! I was pretty busy with Christmas and family and all (I’m sure you understand), but I’m kind of excited to share my thoughts on this, because it’s something I really struggled with in the past. I would consistently start writing a project, reach a certain point, and then be unsure of where to go next, or how to reach the ending I had in mind. (I later realized I always got stuck after the inciting event of my story). My advice is to do some reading about the three act structure. This is what helped me. It helped me to understand what I should be accomplishing with my middle, and gave me a framework to build off of. K. M. Weiland has some great articles on this topic, so I’d highly recommend them. But if this seems too rigid a structure, there’s also a part of the hero’s journey called the “road of trials” that might help you. It’s less structured and more about testing your protagonist, and teaching them the things they’ll need to know, tools they’ll need to have to defeat the antagonist in the climax. If you’re accomplishing this with the events in your middle, they’ll have a point and a purpose in your story.
Hope this was helpful! (And Merry Christmas!)And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace.
- Rank: Eccentric Mentor
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@aislinn-mollisong *shudders* I don’t want to meet these things………………………….
Katalina: Aaaaaaaaaahhhhh!!!! A vessapede!!!
Just because I don’t want to meet them doesn’t mean I don’t want Katalina to…
@introvert_girl I totally understand. I was debating over whether to wait to start this topic until after the holidays, but decided I might as well just put it out there.That article is very helpful. I’m an ESFJ, so organizing stuff is my thing. @shannon is an ENTP and she never outlines anything. While I’m the one downloading this and that outlining PDF for my novel. XD
My mom just ordered “How to Write Your Novel” and I’m really excited for it to come in. I’ve never actually read a writing book before so this should be good… 😀 😀 😀
Thanks for the help!
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@emily, You need not mention my lack of outline to anyone. Not like I’m ashamed of it.
- Rank: Eccentric Mentor
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@shannon America gives freedom of speech! I have the right to say anything I want anywhere I want. Got it?
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@emily, Um, ya…that was quite the reply. I’m just saying that my lack of outline probably doesn’t have much to do with my personality type. Except for the fact that you’re way less organized than I am…oh, whoops, I meant that the other way around *sheepish grin*.
- Rank: Eccentric Mentor
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@shannon Whatever. P‘s are not organized. Everybody knows that.
- Rank: Knight in Shining Armor
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@emily For once you are right. I have yet to meet an organized “P”.
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