Stuck in the begining, middle, or end

[[deleted user]]

Who here has gotten an amazing story idea and started to write it down, and then gets stuck in part of it? You really want to finish it, but you don't know how.
Well don't worry, you're not alone!

[Veronica, What the neck!?]

ah, it is the middle that screws me up... i run out of things to happen before the climax and I have to make what was planned to be a novel a very long short story.

[[deleted user]]

I know what you mean! I know how I want it to end, but I don't know how to build up to it. I really want to finish it, but I don't know how. It gets annoying!

[Kenzie]

Maybe you could write down the ending. Work backwards. You have the beginning. Write the end. Then find something to happen in the middle.

[[deleted user]]

lol. I've never thought of that before. I might try it. Thanks!

[Kenzie]

Sometimes I amaze myself with my own creativity. Not to toot my own horn of anything...

[[deleted user]]

Where ever you are right now, I can hear that horn of yours all the way in Knoxville Tennessee!
lol.

[Kenzie]

Ditto! I'm in Michigan. You have very good hearing.

[[deleted user]]

Well, thank you! *pats self on back*
I have pretty good vision too. 20 20.
But I really want glasses. They're awesome! Curse my 20 20 vision!
Sorry, I just ate brownies. I tend to get a little off subject when I'm high on sugar-y goodness. :):)

[Kenzie]

I have glasses. They are very nice. I can see without my glasses, but my Optometrist told me that I need glasses. So I have them. I have to wear them twenty-four seven.

[[deleted user]]

Lucky!
My sister just got glasses because she is getting ready to get her driving license, and they look really good! Sometimes, I get really weird and just stare at her then she looks at me and says, "Mom, Katherine's scaring me!"
It's really funny.

[Veronica, What the neck!?]

it does sound kinda funny.

[Kenzie]

I do that too! But nobody yells for my mother. I usually am just staring off into the distance, instead of someone's face. It creeps people out.

[[deleted user]]

:) I just recently found that out. I don't do it anymore though!!! You should be proud of me. :)
I, also, stare off into space.

[Veronica, What the neck!?]

I stare off into space when I am thinking. And I look up. Or I close my eyes. I usually do that last one when I'm taking a test or doing my math homework and don't want to show my multiplication of things like 19*24. It is, by the way 456. And no, I didn't use a calculator and yes, I can actually do things like that in my head.

[[deleted user]]

I love math! And you are very good.

[Kenzie]

My brother thinks he's so smart when it comes to math. But when I ask him a question to solve, like 98*3, he blanks. Although, he expects me to be able to multiply large numbers in my head, like Veronica, and I am proud to say that I can. It's really quite useful...

[Sella, ov vey! i haven't checked this group in months. ><]

That happens to me a lot!! I'm glad I'm ont alone on this. I will start a good story, but after a few chapters, I don't know what could happen next, or how to make it continue!!

[Brigid ✩]

AARGH. I get writer's block a lot, too. I always think of a story's climax first, then the beginning... but I don't know how to start it or how to end it. Sometimes it will last for weeks, and it's really frustrating. But after a while it eventually works out. :)

[[deleted user]]

Sella and Brigid, I have experienced both of those things and I really hate them.

[Kenzie]

Brigid, I'm like the opposite of you. The beginning and the end come easy, but it's the filling that's hard for me.

[Sella, ov vey! i haven't checked this group in months. ><]

That's the same for me. I know how the beginning goes, and how the end will be, but I can't fill in the blank in between!

[Kenzie]

Sometimes I'll write out of order. The parts that just come to me I'll write, but then I have to connect all the peices.

[Sella, ov vey! i haven't checked this group in months. ><]

Yeah. Same for me.

[Xerxes Break(Vivian Ephona)]

Something I hate, having to do the beginning before the climax. Per example, one of my stories take place in an orphanage. I'm having a little trouble going though that first part...

[Kenzie]

Hmmm...I usually just write whatever is clearest to me at that time. If I see the end clear, I work on the end. If the beginning is clear, then I work on the beginning. If I were you Ephona I wouldn't push the beginning, just write what's coming to you, if you try to force it it'll sound like that, forced. It'll come to you in time. It's like getting a title. All of the sudden, it just comes.

[Sella, ov vey! i haven't checked this group in months. ><]

Same here. For one of my stories, I have this whole big scene written in the middle, and I have the beginning and sort of the end written, and I have to kind of connect the puzzle pieces and fill in the blanks.

[Brigid ✩]

what really helps me with my writer's block sometimes is meditating. it doesn't always work. but sometimes if I just sit and close my eyes for a few minutes, it can help. I think what works well is if you just let your mind go over all the options you have. you let your thoughts wander down different paths that your story could take. you start off by thinking, "okay, so what if THIS happens..." and you let your own mind come up with a few ideas, until you find a "path" that you like.

[Kenzie]

I get a writing buzz every time I try to go to sleep. It's so hard to sleep with ideas buzzing around in your head! I have to get up and immediately write down everything, else I'll forget it. I'm not very good at remembering things....now, what was the question?

[Brigid ✩]

haha. yeah, kenzie that happens to me too while i'm falling asleep. i just keep writing and rewriting scenes from my stories in my head.

[Sella, ov vey! i haven't checked this group in months. ><]

Same here. If I'll be stuck for a while, I'll lay down to sleep and suddenly the scene is writing itself inside my head. Of course, then my sleep is forgotten- I have to get up and write it all out. But hey, it was worth it!

[Kenzie]

Yeah, my stories always get longer at night. One of the books I'm working on right now got about five chapters worth of info added onto it in one night. I didn't write it all then, but the ideas came then.

[Allie]

I don't do chapters, really. I think it divides the book 2 much.

[Xerxes Break(Vivian Ephona)]

I always do chapters. Usually when I want to have suspense. If I have to break to another scene and It's not really time to end the chapter, however, I just do a page separator.

[Sella, ov vey! i haven't checked this group in months. ><]

I always write with chapters, too, unless it's a short story. Chapters make the book run smoother, and it's nice to have a break point. Also, they're great for suspense. And whenever I want a scene change but it's not time for another chapter, I just do the *** thing.

[Brigid ✩]

i always do chapters, too. it makes it easier to find certain parts in a story, if you want to go back and edit them or something. and like sella said, it's good to use chapters for suspense. and i also do scene changes with the ***.

[Kenzie]

I like chapters. I started writing a book a long time ago and the chapters were really short, I was adding on, and my last chapter was ten pages. It was weird 'cause I thought I had put in another chapter, but I guess not. My chapters (usually) range between five and fifteen pages. I don't know why, it just happens.

[Brigid ✩]

the length of my chapters really depends on the book. Sometimes I'll write books where all the chapters are really long, and sometimes i'll write chapters that are only like a page. i guess if it's a more fast-paced book, it has shorter chapters, cuz everything happens so fast.

[Veronica, What the neck!?]

My chapters are always short. It just works that way. I still have yet to finish a novel though...

[Sella, ov vey! i haven't checked this group in months. ><]

Most of my chapters are short, since I make them suspenseful and fast. Like the book I'm writing with Brigid, Moon Rise, all the chapters are about only one page, since everything goes ZOOM, ZOOM, ZOOM!

[Sella, ov vey! i haven't checked this group in months. ><]

What exactly is your problem?

[Taylor(d)]

sometimes, i get too involved with what to use for the climax and stuff, so i really have no idea what to do to lead up to it. well, usu. i know what to do, i just have a hard time getting it done. what should i do?

[[deleted user]]

I usually get to excited with making the whole story (at least as much as ive written) perfect, descriptive, and exciting that i forget to think of a good idea for the end, and i go to the computer or the notbook (i cant use a note book very often cuz i get bad writers cramp lol) and i sit there, and sit, and sit, and sit until i realize that i have no ideas and that no ideas are coming to me. So then we i do actually get an idea (usually right before i go to sleep. Grrrrrrrr!!!) WHen i do get back on the computer the ending is almost always to abrupt, or to vague or just plain stupid. so yeah.... any ideas for what to do?

[Brigid ✩]

i usually suck at endings too. argh. although i think i might have a good idea of how to end soul stealer... i wish i could ask for opinions on it but then i would have to give it away. XD oh well. i'm really only halfway through the story at this point so i still have plenty of time to think about it...

[Kenzie]

Well, you don't have to write everything in chronological order. If you have a part of the book that you can see clearly in your mind WRITE IT DOWN! You'll often lose your best moments by not writing it down, trust me, I've been there. It's not fun to know that you had an idea and lost it. A couple of the things I'm working on I'll be stuck somewhere, but I'll know exactly what happens after, so I'll write down what comes after and then link them. It's a great way to keep from losing ideas. Although, if you like writing everything step by step and your story goes in another direction you might not keep that scene.

Sorry, I'll stop now. :D

[[deleted user]]

Thanks Brigid and Kenzie!

[Kenzie]

Hey, you have to give just as much as you take. Not to sound weird or anything...Hope the advice helps.

[[deleted user]]

Thanks! Lol Im writing the end for my story actually! yeah

[Kenzie]

What's your story about?

[[deleted user]]

Its about these 4 kids who are like mutants, and they are crossed with different animals. and there are these other mutants (created for the purpose off hunting down the 4 original kids) that are tracking them down. Then one of the girls (the main character) has this dream and in the dream she basicaly dies, and her dream is her in the after death world. And when she wakes up she is in the 10th demention, but she doesnt know it. So she starts walking around and everyone around her is a skeleton even the other 3 mutants. So in the real world her friends are realy concerned because she isnt waking up, and she wont until she gets out of the 10th demention. But they dont know that she's in the tenth demention. And then they talk to some people and they figure out that they have to get into the tenth demention to save her. So they enter the tenth demention (i havent figured out how yet) and then the ending is still pretty vague. sorry if that ws confusing lol