LeilaniOtter
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It happens, Talented Author.
You’re sitting there at the keyboard with a blank look on your face, and nothing’s happening. It’s not Writer’s Block, which is different, but Story Confusion; you’ve got the story ready inside your head, but there’s something holding you back. You want things to happen a certain way, and in a certain order, and… poof. So, you end up sitting there, not typing, and feeling really bad about it. Some authors feel so bad about it, they abandon the story entirely, convinced it’s not worth the hassle.
Case in point; I was writing for three different books yesterday, individual chapters for each. I had the scene for one of these, an undersea catfight and a little romance, all arranged in my head and it was going to be really sexy and fun to read. But when I got to the point, I couldn’t decide what characters should do what first, what characters should say what first, etc. So, using “Luana of the South Seas” as an example, here’s a few ways to get control of your story again.
1. Talk it out – This is my favorite way to write anything, but it’s so useful for chapters. Let’s set the stage for mine, as an example.
In this chapter, I want Luana and the rest of the girls, Kalea, Minoa, and Mahalay, with Carlos’ help, to row towards another part of the island to discover fresh reefs with which they can harvest plenty of fish for their people. They all five dive down to explore the depths and find plenty of reefs with abundant sea-life. Minoa, who has a crush on Carlos, leads him away from the others to a reef to begin making out with him privately, for as long as she can hold her breath with him. Things get hot and heavy until Minoa playfully relinquishes Carlos of his pareo, and he swims after her trying to get it back. Luana, who has her own feelings about Carlos, sees Minoa has his clothes, and attacks her to get them away from her. There is a brutal catfight on the ocean floor, with both girls at each other’s throats, when Mahalay, Kalea and Carlos swim down to break them up, then help a near-drowned Minoa to the surface to breathe. Minoa claims to Luana, amidst coughing, that they steal pareos all the time from other divers, and Luana chastises her anyway, before instructing the others to row for home. Pretty much bad feelings all around and it sours the discovery.
So, now that I’ve “talked” this all out, I can write all of this into my chapter, and now I know exactly what I want to do, and I can refer to this as a “notepad” to keep me on track.
You’ll find this is incredibly useful, I promise.
2. Outline it – another favorite way to get things “out there”, out of your mind and onto the screen. Outlining is basically your story in bullet points, showing rising action, falling actions, climactic points of the story, plot points, etc. And you can do the same things with chapters also! Why? Because each chapter should tell a story somehow that moves the rest of your book or novel along. So, let’s take “Luana” again:
a. The five arrive at the inlet by canoe.
b. They dive and discover the reefs hold plenty of fish.
c. Minoa seduces Carlos secretly in another reef.
d. They start to make love but Minoa steals his pareo instead.
e. She races back to the girls, waving his pareo in triumph.
f. Luana sees this and goes berserk, pouncing Minoa.
g. They struggle on the bottom as Minoa tries to keep the pareo.
h. Minoa becomes low on air and starts to drown.
i. The other girls and Carlos dive down and break up the fight.
j. All surface and Minoa grasps the skimmer, coughing badly.
k. Minoa growls at Luana about the “pareo stealing” game they always play with new divers.
l. Luana growls back, explaining it’s different since Carlos is a local and not native.
m. Luana instructs everyone to paddle with her back to the village, her mood shot.
There! Quite a fun little chapter I have brewing here, huh? *^^*
And now, I could paste this into my chapter, and again, use this as reference notes and get back to it. <3
3. Mind Mapping – This is a brilliant tool I discovered a few months ago but I just don’t have the patience to use effectively. - https://www.mindmapping.com/ - Basically, for you folks who have drawn a flowchart before, it’s a “flowchart” of your chapter, with helpful notes, research, and images that will help you “map out” your chapter. It’s extremely advanced though and hard to decipher sometimes, so this should be a last resort if you’re really stuck. Let’s not get more confused, right!? ? (However, if you try mind-mapping, please let me know how you did!)
I hope these tips are useful for you.
You’re sitting there at the keyboard with a blank look on your face, and nothing’s happening. It’s not Writer’s Block, which is different, but Story Confusion; you’ve got the story ready inside your head, but there’s something holding you back. You want things to happen a certain way, and in a certain order, and… poof. So, you end up sitting there, not typing, and feeling really bad about it. Some authors feel so bad about it, they abandon the story entirely, convinced it’s not worth the hassle.
Case in point; I was writing for three different books yesterday, individual chapters for each. I had the scene for one of these, an undersea catfight and a little romance, all arranged in my head and it was going to be really sexy and fun to read. But when I got to the point, I couldn’t decide what characters should do what first, what characters should say what first, etc. So, using “Luana of the South Seas” as an example, here’s a few ways to get control of your story again.
1. Talk it out – This is my favorite way to write anything, but it’s so useful for chapters. Let’s set the stage for mine, as an example.
In this chapter, I want Luana and the rest of the girls, Kalea, Minoa, and Mahalay, with Carlos’ help, to row towards another part of the island to discover fresh reefs with which they can harvest plenty of fish for their people. They all five dive down to explore the depths and find plenty of reefs with abundant sea-life. Minoa, who has a crush on Carlos, leads him away from the others to a reef to begin making out with him privately, for as long as she can hold her breath with him. Things get hot and heavy until Minoa playfully relinquishes Carlos of his pareo, and he swims after her trying to get it back. Luana, who has her own feelings about Carlos, sees Minoa has his clothes, and attacks her to get them away from her. There is a brutal catfight on the ocean floor, with both girls at each other’s throats, when Mahalay, Kalea and Carlos swim down to break them up, then help a near-drowned Minoa to the surface to breathe. Minoa claims to Luana, amidst coughing, that they steal pareos all the time from other divers, and Luana chastises her anyway, before instructing the others to row for home. Pretty much bad feelings all around and it sours the discovery.
So, now that I’ve “talked” this all out, I can write all of this into my chapter, and now I know exactly what I want to do, and I can refer to this as a “notepad” to keep me on track.
You’ll find this is incredibly useful, I promise.
2. Outline it – another favorite way to get things “out there”, out of your mind and onto the screen. Outlining is basically your story in bullet points, showing rising action, falling actions, climactic points of the story, plot points, etc. And you can do the same things with chapters also! Why? Because each chapter should tell a story somehow that moves the rest of your book or novel along. So, let’s take “Luana” again:
a. The five arrive at the inlet by canoe.
b. They dive and discover the reefs hold plenty of fish.
c. Minoa seduces Carlos secretly in another reef.
d. They start to make love but Minoa steals his pareo instead.
e. She races back to the girls, waving his pareo in triumph.
f. Luana sees this and goes berserk, pouncing Minoa.
g. They struggle on the bottom as Minoa tries to keep the pareo.
h. Minoa becomes low on air and starts to drown.
i. The other girls and Carlos dive down and break up the fight.
j. All surface and Minoa grasps the skimmer, coughing badly.
k. Minoa growls at Luana about the “pareo stealing” game they always play with new divers.
l. Luana growls back, explaining it’s different since Carlos is a local and not native.
m. Luana instructs everyone to paddle with her back to the village, her mood shot.
There! Quite a fun little chapter I have brewing here, huh? *^^*
And now, I could paste this into my chapter, and again, use this as reference notes and get back to it. <3
3. Mind Mapping – This is a brilliant tool I discovered a few months ago but I just don’t have the patience to use effectively. - https://www.mindmapping.com/ - Basically, for you folks who have drawn a flowchart before, it’s a “flowchart” of your chapter, with helpful notes, research, and images that will help you “map out” your chapter. It’s extremely advanced though and hard to decipher sometimes, so this should be a last resort if you’re really stuck. Let’s not get more confused, right!? ? (However, if you try mind-mapping, please let me know how you did!)
I hope these tips are useful for you.
