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Writers Retreat > Student Talk > Course Lessons > Assignment 2 > stuck on assmt 2
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srwriter
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« on: March 13, 2009, 07:36:49 PM »
I am stuck, period.  The whole idea of planning out a story is driving me crazy. I finally followed some suggestions in From Inspiration to Publicationabout how to really see the main character and about how to make the events in the plot fit that character's personality and situation.  It takes so long, and I feel so whiny as I try to go step by step.
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jfields
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« Reply #1 on: March 13, 2009, 07:42:59 PM »
Do you know generally the sort of story you want to write? (realistic? mystery? fantasy?)
Do you have an idea what age kid you'd like to write for? (preschoolers? elementary? preteen? teen?)

If you know those things, I could make some suggestions that might help. It's hard to work really from scratch because the possibilities are endless.
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srwriter
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« Reply #2 on: March 13, 2009, 08:03:40 PM »
Quote from: jfields on March 13, 2009, 07:42:59 PM
Do you know generally the sort of story you want to write? (realistic? mystery? fantasy?)
Do you have an idea what age kid you'd like to write for? (preschoolers? elementary? preteen? teen?)

If you know those things, I could make some suggestions that might help. It's hard to work really from scratch because the possibilities are endless.

I started with a preteen character and a realistic situation. I had a beginning and an ending, but the middle wasn't worked out.  I wanted to have the story closely parallel something that happened in my family, but this character is not me nor any of my relatives, and I wound up changing the setting, the events and the secondary characters so that I really had a different story altogether, only it wasn't all together.  It isn't connected up well.  And I realize that I don't know how this character is going to act by herself nor how she will relate to the other characters.  I set the story aside and worked on some poems.  This fiction stuff is too drawn-out and compicated.  it brings out the whiner in me.
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Gin
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« Reply #3 on: March 13, 2009, 08:28:57 PM »
ah but fiction is da bomb cause you can say anything in the world and be anybody in the world!
Try this imagine 1 character whatever you want it to be with all the special talents in the world. Then take this special creation and imagine 1 thing that will trip him/her up. rather it another character that is the complete opposite...or a mean one or one that has one talent your character doesn't have. make em' work it out and come together.
in that you have your MC...main character and one more...you have a problem (middle) and they work it out (end)
for example you got a 6 year old...what do they like? that will give you an idea of what kind of traits your MC has.
Then find a weakness for him/her. It could be faer of something, or having to wear glasses when nobody else does....things like this will bring on other issues and problems and will further guide you in plotting a good story.
works great if you try! Wink
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« Reply #4 on: March 13, 2009, 08:42:34 PM »
on second thought...if you really want to make this parallel to something that happened in your family...yet the character is not you....try this.
the story IS fiction afterall. Put yourself in the shoes of whoever whatever happened to. Make that person become you...heck you can combine both of your qualities if you want....but make yourself be in the shoes of the character.
you can go back to the original setting, events and secondary characters. Tis fiction...who says you cant become this preteen character? Think about this...or should I say try to follow me....have everything as you first intended it to be, only make you that preteen...and in doing so you will most likely be able to create a "middle" and bring it all together.
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« Reply #5 on: March 13, 2009, 09:05:50 PM »
Make sure to introduce your self near the top of the boards so people can say hi Smiley  I like Gin's advice and hope you can get over your *stuck* mode for the lesson...
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« Reply #6 on: March 13, 2009, 09:38:14 PM »
Gin gave you some great advice (see, Gin, you're already an expert). I'd also add that maybe you should read some stories of similar type so you can see what they do in the middle.

Angelia
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« Reply #7 on: March 13, 2009, 10:15:50 PM »
love new picture A+...you're looking even smarter Cheesy
No, YOU are the TECHNICAL expert...I am just the master how to CREATIVELY think a fiction story up Grin
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srwriter
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« Reply #8 on: March 14, 2009, 03:45:54 AM »
Quote from: Gin on March 13, 2009, 08:42:34 PM
on second thought...if you really want to make this parallel to something that happened in your family...yet the character is not you....try this.
the story IS fiction afterall. Put yourself in the shoes of whoever whatever happened to. Make that person become you...heck you can combine both of your qualities if you want....but make yourself be in the shoes of the character.
you can go back to the original setting, events and secondary characters. Tis fiction...who says you cant become this preteen character? Think about this...or should I say try to follow me....have everything as you first intended it to be, only make you that preteen...and in doing so you will most likely be able to create a "middle" and bring it all together.

I like the feel of this idea.  I appreciate receiving responses from other writers who have already gone through this assignment.  This fiction-writing place doesn't seem so isolated and fog-bound. 

Like my grandmother would say, " 'Let me see,' said the blind man." Let me see what I can do with this becoming-the-character idea. 
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« Reply #9 on: March 14, 2009, 04:09:38 AM »
See we got a helpful bunch here Srwriter! Good luck on your assignment and let us know how it works out you got some wonderful responses here. Smiley

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« Reply #10 on: March 14, 2009, 09:14:42 AM »
One way I work out a plot is to look at character and challenge...

Mitch comes home to discover his icky girlie creepy cousin is going to spend the whole summer with them!!

So what does he do? [This is a key question to be asked over and over...I look at what the character is facing at any given time and ask, so what does he do?]

Mitch comes home to discover his icky girlie creepy cousin is going to spend the whole summer with them and he throws a fit. He insists his parents send her back -- return to sender!

Okay, characters don't always choose to do smart things. What's going to be the result of this choice?

Mitch comes home to discover his icky girlie creepy cousin, Amanda, is going to spend the whole summer with them and he throws a fit. He insists his parents send her back -- return to sender! For this, he gets sent to his room to pack up his stuff since his cousin is going to get his room and he's going to sleep in the family room in the basement since his cousin is scared of the basement. This gives Mitch an idea -- what if Amanda got the idea their house was haunted? Then she might insist on staying somewhere else.

Now I'm starting to see a plot shape up in this kind of compressed action synopsis. I keep doing this until I reach story resolution. It all happens for me as a result of
1. picking a character and a challenge
2. asking what the character is going to do when faced with this situation
3. asking what will be the result of THAT choice
4. repeating #2 and #3 until I get a whole story action synopsis. Then I can begin writing the story because I know where it's going.
« Last Edit: March 14, 2009, 01:54:09 PM by jfields » Logged
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srwriter
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« Reply #11 on: March 14, 2009, 10:05:35 AM »
Quote from: jfields on March 14, 2009, 09:14:42 AM
One way I work out a plot is to look at character and challenge...

Mitch comes home to discover his icky girlie creepy cousin is going to spend the whole summer with them!!

So what does he do? [This is a key question to be asked over and over...I look at what the character is facing at any given time and ask, so what does he do?]

Mitch comes home to discover his icky girlie creepy cousin is going to spend the whole summer with them and he throws a fit. He insists his parents send her back -- return to send!

Okay, characters don't always choose to do smart things. What's going to be the result of this choice?

Mitch comes home to discover his icky girlie creepy cousin, Amanda, is going to spend the whole summer with them and he throws a fit. He insists his parents send her back -- return to send! For this, he gets sent to his room to pack up his stuff since his cousin is going to get his room and he's going to sleep in the family room in the basement since his cousin is scared of the basement. This gives Mitch an idea -- what if Amanda got the idea their house was haunted? Then she might insist on staying somewhere else.

Now I'm starting to see a plot shape up in this kind of compressed action synopsis. I keep doing this until I reach story resolution. It all happens for me as a result of
1. picking a character and a challenge
2. asking what the character is going to do when faced with this situation
3. asking what will be the result of THAT choice
4. repeating #2 and #3 until I get a whole story action synopsis. Then I can begin writing the story because I know where it's going.


This sounds so organic.  The connections between the plot and the character are built-in.  I was too outside of the main character.  And unwilling to just set up a series of steps I impose on her without feeling her out. Thanks!  What you've given me is a kind of organic outline, not like the old Roman numeral/alphabet things I resisted so in high school and undergrad English. But an organic structure for the meat of the story.  Ok.
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« Reply #12 on: March 28, 2009, 10:10:53 PM »
I'm also stuck on Assignment 2. I'm unused to writing short stories-- my shortest short story is around 50 pages, and now I'm finding it a challenge to squeeze a small plot into four pages. I pretty much know what should all happen; I'm just annoyed with how much detail to use/how far to go in with the plot.

Any suggestions?
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« Reply #13 on: March 29, 2009, 12:05:27 AM »
Hi Truth, hope you find some good answers.  If you get a chance make sure to intro yourself at the top Smiley
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« Reply #14 on: March 29, 2009, 09:24:27 AM »
Super long stories usually grow out of one of two things:

1. Not reading kid's short stories but reading lots of novels. If you feed your brain nothing but long forms, you're going to produce long form no matter how hard you try to do something else. If you really want to write short tight stories easily, you need to go on a "short story" diet. Either collect a pile of fiction-focused magazines like the Cricket literary magazines or collect up some children's short fiction collections from the library like David Lubar's Wienies books or some of Vivian vande Velde's short story collections and read those while NOT reading any novels...read nothing but short stories for three weeks and read as many of them as you can. Then when you sit down to write a story, it will automatically be shorter than anything you've tried before with no special additional effort on your part. Your brain will just begin putting out what you've put in.

2. Also, long stories can come if you
-- trying to have more than one plot, many times when I get a super long story from a student, the story is trying to juggle several plots.
-- side trips in the story that have nothing to do with the plot. This is really common for those who just sit down, start writing, and see where it takes them. After you've written the story, try to compress the action into a quick and dirty synopsis like I wrote above her on this thread. When you do that -- do the synopsis follow a strong forward momentum toward your ending or do you find you have a lot of stuff not part of that core plot.
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