Well, if this is the case, then you're doing something wrong. I've stumbled upon this problem quite a lot of times. I've come up with the history of my story, the characters and the storyline; yet when I start it, I fall out of love with it.
Don't worry. There's always a solution. So don't delete your story, it can be saved.
Solution 1: if you're writing about romance, make sure you know how to write romance (Stephine Meyers/Abigail Gibbs/Maggie Stiefvater did not all suddenly open a text document and make an amazing romance novel. Each of them knows how to write romance. They understand it the way an author should do). Don't fret, I'll tell you how to write romance in another post. This post is going to be long enough! Furthermore, if you're writing about action, make sure you know how to write action - what techniques you must use. If you're writing about a supernatural, futuristic world, make sure you know how to write that. Get it? Visit sites that show and tell you how to write and know these themes of stories, how to unfold these elements so they can breathe life into your story.
Solution 2: Depending on what you're writing about (action, sci-fi, romance, war etc.), read a book that reflects these elements. So if you're writing romance, read a romance book, if you're writing about action, read an action book. You get the idea. Sometimes this works, sometimes it doesn't. If you're writing right after you've been reading a book, you might start to reflect their writing - your writing will echo what there's was. You might not even realise it; before you know you'll be copying an event that happened in their book. Don't get it? Well, it's a bit like if you're reading a sci-fi novel - and you're trying to write a book about sci-fi events - then you might suddenly start writing in the way that the author of that book did. For example, you might describe your character's fear in the same way that they - the author - describes their character's fear. It's a bit tricky to understand, but it's one of the major disasters that authors experience in their career. But, reading a book based on the same theme and writing a book based on the same theme can help. Remember, a dry source of inspiration - a vital part of story making that you need - is terribly hopeless. Eventually, your story will die. It's happened to me many times. So you get the idea: reading books of a certain theme, which matches your own story's, is a source of inspiration that you definitely need.
Solution 3: Seeing as we are talking of inspiration, lets go deeper into that. Well, for starters, think about physical inspiration. If you're writing a story that is taking place in a desert, go to a desert. But there's a major problem there. People don't just fly to a desert everyday - especially if it is for a source of inspiration. You'll need money. You'll need equipment to survive in that place. Yes, writing a book really is an adventure! But if you can't visit a desert - due to e.g. money problems - don't worry. Buy a bag of sand. Yes, yes I know it sounds pathetic. But, in your spare time, pour the bag of sand somewhere suitable, stand in it, scrunch your toes up, feel that sand. Close your eyes if it helps. Know the feel of sand beneath your bare feet. Listen to it sighing, squelching beneath you. Scoop some up in your hands, feel the texture. Is it damp? Is it dry? Is it nice? It is soothing? It is horrible? Think about your character. Would they find it horrible or soothing and/or nice? But you don't have to buy a bag of sand. You could easily go to the beach; if you don't have time for that, the bag of sand would be best!
.jpg "Hands holding the sand: Physical Inspiration") |
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These options of sources of inspiration are important. But if physical inspiration doesn't do it for you, you can always go on google images and type in woods or desert or seventeenth century city or Greek city etc. Sift through images and see if they inspire you. I've tried this before and it does actually work. One of my chapters for The Awakener, the book I am writing now, is placed in a wood I have glimpsed through a google image. So there, you have physical inspiration and mental inspiration. But maybe you don't want any of them. Perhaps you have a memory of a place that you want your story to be set in. Maybe you could remember what the place smelt like, what the coffee tasted like, what the sky looked like, what the sea looked like as it rolled up onto the shore, what the air felt like. Maybe you remember the people, what their voices were like, their accents, what they wore? This all counts. But maybe, if you're really imaginative and extremely creative, you can create a world of your own. You can make up the clothes that the people wear, make up their voices, their accents, their hairstyles, the weather of the area, the rules of the city and so on. But this would take a lot of thinking time and you would have to be a very skilled writer to be able to do this. If you're writing your own story/book, I would recommend you not to do this. There is danger in creating your own world. People, readers for instance, have to be able to relate to it. They have to care for that world just as they care for their own. They have to, say, care that the main character's world is coming to an end, even though it's nothing like their - the reader's - world: even though it's not their world. You get the idea. Moving on.
Solution 4: Make sure the history of your story works. When I say 'history', I mean the history of the world that you have created - if you're making your own world up - and the history of your characters. Make sure it is made clear throughout your story. Make sure your reader understands what the history of your characters and their world. Without history, your story has no anchor. Without an anchor, your story won't be successful or very readable. This matters.
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Solution 5: Perhaps your characters haven't been planned completely? Like I said in the paragraph above, they need a history. Have you made that history? Have you wrote down what the history of their family is? Have you jotted down what's their favourite food, their favourite place in the world, their favourite person? Remember, get a source of inspiration. For example, the people around you, your family, people at school, people uptown... Look around you. Also, your characters' appearances matter. What do they always wear? What colour is their hair, their eyes, skin? What would they wear, looking at the context of your story, the place in which they live? Remember: your characters must be planned. Without them, there wouldn't be a story. And without them being planned and refined, your story will have Holes in it and that's a problem.
Solution 6: So you may have noticed that I keep using the term: Holes. Maybe you know what I mean by this. If that is so, just skip this paragraph. If you do not know what I mean by Holes then feel free to read on. What it means: is basically, that there are holes in your story or story idea/plan. For instance, you might have planned your whole story plot, say, why a war started, what part your characters play etc. However, while you were making your story, you may have come across a few struggles: naming your characters, naming the place in which your story is set in, the year in which the story is set in, deciding whether they love this person or that person and coming to a conclusion on what their favourite food is. Holes in stories vary in significance. Nevertheless, all Holes matter. Each story must be filled, each Hole must be filled. You get the idea. Anyway, if you go on with your story, despite having Holes in it, it will be a disaster. You will struggle to fill in the Holes and if you do come up with a solution or an idea, you might find that fulfilling that solution will mean altering your story plot - but by then, you would have written the first 10 chapters or so. Not a good thing to end up with when you're story writing.
That is all I have to offer at the moment now. I hope my advice and solutions have been very helpful to you and that you can become successful with your story. Don't forget to check back soon! I am always posting more bits of advice every month, little or large. Thank you for visiting my blog.
Gemma Out
