Structure of a Story I Want to Write. Tips?

[CadmarLegend]

So, the plot I want is that an orphaned boy is left out in the wilderness (a secluded island that is quite big, but no one has explored yet.) He has no knowledge — language, maths, etc.— but just thoughts. Miraculously, the boy grows up there by himself. I swear I am not trying to do a knock-off Tarzan. Anyways, the boy suddenly stumbles into a river and gets swept up, and almost drowns in the ocean. He gets saved by a passing fishing boat. The kid wakes up, sees unknown people, doesn't know how to communicate, and is homeless. The people take him in and he becomes their adopted son. This dude learns how to speak, starts going to school, has some normal interactions, and then finds romance which ends like most school relationships. After a while, he wishes to become an ecologist. He goes and studies the island where he was grown, which is still left unexplored (the poor people of the port city don't have the resources to do it.) The grown MC comes back and continues in his work. After a few years, he meets another scientist in his field of study. The two hit it off and they get married. The two become parents. MC takes a break for a while. He goes back to work and becomes busy. Their child is 5 now. MC goes into the woods again to study but gets severely hurt by a bear. There is a research camp there now, so he is rescued. However, a dangerous wound was inflicted, and MC is slowly dying (a few months at most of living, the doctors say.) MC starts to enjoy his final moments with the people he loves. All the while, he starts a diary which lasts until his death... a story readers read which tells about him.

How does that plot seem?

Any tips on how this would be pulled off?

The feeling I'm trying to achieve is "enjoyable, coming of age... and sad."

 

[RepresentingWrath]

Yes.

 

[CadmarLegend]

Yes.

...

yes what...

 

[RepresentingWrath]

...

yes what...

Yes to everything. Just write the damn story.

 

[CadmarLegend]

Yes to everything. Just write the damn story.

I want tips~

 

[RepresentingWrath]

I want tips~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

You get your keyboard, open up google docs, and start typing. The trick here is to force yourself to write even if you don't want to, or you will become like me and procrastinate infinitely. That's it, you got your advice, and now you're good to go, buddy. Go get dem readers, 5-star ratings, and praising reviews.

 

[CadmarLegend]

You get your keyboard, open up google docs, and start typing. The trick here is to force yourself to write even if you don't want to, or you will become like me and procrastinate infinitely. That's it, you got your advice, and now you're good to go, buddy. Go get dem readers, 5-star ratings, and praising reviews.

never gotten a review before...

btw, on the side, is there a way to stop lag on Google Docs? I always get one after 40k words or so.

 

[RepresentingWrath]

never gotten a review before...

Now's your chance!

btw, on the side, is there a way to stop lag on Google Docs? I always get one after 40k words or so.

Sadly, I don't know.

 

[Lloyd]

If humans develop without learning a language early on it severely impacts their mental capacity. The kid would be mentally handicapped.

 

[KoyukiMegumi]

Hm... It will be a difficult thing to pull off if you are going for the uneducated route, then having to force down years of knowledge in a couple of years. Unless the boy is very smart/genius already... Well... you know, it will take the boy years to learn what normal people take 18 years to learn. So he will be older than anyone else in his class. And that leads to the romance problem. Will it be a teacher he romances? Or a school girl? Cuz... you know issues.

It depends on how old the kid will be when he gets rescued and how many years he has missed school. o-o Unless you go the GED route but then no kids to interact. Which one are you doing?

 

[BenJepheneT]

personally i recommend the true, tried, and tested method of "trial-and-error"

literally, take what you know and start writing, since this sort of structure is rarely ever done to the point where constructive advice could be given. build that experience, learn the niches, siphon feedback and improve.

you can't go up without first learning to GO.

 

[RepresentingCaution]

I want tips~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

Wait for someone important in your life to die and use the grief as inspiration.

Hm... It will be a difficult thing to pull off if you are going for the uneducated route, then having to force down years of knowledge in a couple of years. Unless the boy is very smart/genius already... Well... you know, it will take the boy years to learn what normal people take 18 years to learn. So he will be older than anyone else in his class. And that leads to the romance problem. Will it be a teacher he romances? Or a school girl? Cuz... you know issues.

It depends on how old the kid will be when he gets rescued and how many years he has missed school. o-o Unless you go the GED route but then no kids to interact. Which one are you doing?

Forget his language skills. Whose nipple does the kid suck for the first three years of his life?

 

[ElijahRyne]

So, the plot I want is that an orphaned boy is left out in the wilderness (a secluded island that is quite big, but no one has explored yet.) He has no knowledge — language, maths, etc.— but just thoughts. Miraculously, the boy grows up there by himself. I swear I am not trying to do a knock-off Tarzan. Anyways, the boy suddenly stumbles into a river and gets swept up, and almost drowns in the ocean. He gets saved by a passing fishing boat. The kid wakes up, sees unknown people, doesn't know how to communicate, and is homeless. The people take him in and he becomes their adopted son. This dude learns how to speak, starts going to school, has some normal interactions, and then finds romance which ends like most school relationships. After a while, he wishes to become an ecologist. He goes and studies the island where he was grown, which is still left unexplored (the poor people of the port city don't have the resources to do it.) The grown MC comes back and continues in his work. After a few years, he meets another scientist in his field of study. The two hit it off and they get married. The two become parents. MC takes a break for a while. He goes back to work and becomes busy. Their child is 5 now. MC goes into the woods again to study but gets severely hurt by a bear. There is a research camp there now, so he is rescued. However, a dangerous wound was inflicted, and MC is slowly dying (a few months at most of living, the doctors say.) MC starts to enjoy his final moments with the people he loves. All the while, he starts a diary which lasts until his death... a story readers read which tells about him.

How does that plot seem?

Any tips on how this would be pulled off?

The feeling I'm trying to achieve is "enjoyable, coming of age... and sad."

Here are some tips, you can do 0,1, some, or none, of these. This is just to help you brain storm!
1. Create a soft page/word/chapter limit for your story.
2. Outline all of the characters and settings.
3. Make a detailed outline for what you want to happen in each chapter/arc.
4. Don’t be afraid to cut/add things from your outlines. They are there to help both in guiding you, and keeping the story coherent.
5. Make a short one shot of the story, to help see what you want to do in the story. What does and does not work.

If you need any further explanation on any of this I will help!

 

[Agentt]

Forget his language skills. Whose nipple does the kid suck for the first three years of his life?

Monkey

 

[Layenlml]

Does he ever come back to the island? Adding child-like representations of things of he saw in the island could be amazing for this story and how he see them when he grows up.

Like, in the first chapters saying glowing thing in the wall and then some kind of cave glowing mushroom. Glowing rock being gold etc.

This gives a great contrast in how his knowledge and thinking progrosses from when he was trapped in the island, you may even place something fantastical o rare animals etc.

Great idea, hope you can make it.

 

[Agentt]

So, while I don't want to help the likes of Cadmar, fortunately for you, a similar story exist in my English syllabus.

So, start with a prologue, and write abou why you(the kid) is writing this, what he is feeling, what he hopes to accomplish, where he is, and stuff like,
"I was stabbed."

Now that the prologue is finished, you have an opportunity to either remain in first person mode, or switch to 3rd person.
I recommend switching to 3rd person, but your choice.


At this point, don't rush through his childhood, explain the beauty of the jungle, and his thoughts. Thoughts about everything, how the world works, about different animals and insects,

This reminds me of a line from Baki,
Pickle once ate a yellow flying insect when he was a child. Despite crushing the insect, pickle felt his mouth burning when he ate it.
On that day, Pickle learnt that some things can attack even when dead.

 

[SakeVision]

your block of text needs some structure, too

 

[GodlyKamui]

I think that starting at the end where he is dying and writing his diary would really be good as a prologue.

 

[CadmarLegend]

Hm... It will be a difficult thing to pull off if you are going for the uneducated route, then having to force down years of knowledge in a couple of years. Unless the boy is very smart/genius already... Well... you know, it will take the boy years to learn what normal people take 18 years to learn. So he will be older than anyone else in his class. And that leads to the romance problem. Will it be a teacher he romances? Or a school girl? Cuz... you know issues.

It depends on how old the kid will be when he gets rescued and how many years he has missed school. o-o Unless you go the GED route but then no kids to interact. Which one are you doing?

Hmm... let's see...

Let's first have him be home schooled for a few years (and say he learns enough in that time period ) and then have him go straight to high school. There the romance will take place.

Or I could always go the route of 'a mentor he meets helps him a lot.'

Does he ever come back to the island? Adding child-like representations of things of he saw in the island could be amazing for this story and how he see them when he grows up.

Like, in the first chapters saying glowing thing in the wall and then some kind of cave glowing mushroom. Glowing rock being gold etc.

This gives a great contrast in how his knowledge and thinking progrosses from when he was trapped in the island, you may even place something fantastical o rare animals etc.

Great idea, hope you can make it.

Yeah. That's really help build a good 'aged' POV.