From first paragraph to last page.. - Writers Forum

Pluie · 11-09-2006, 04:26 AM

I have this really good first paragraph that I've written, but now I can't seem to write anymore.. Any tips?

This is a stupid question, I know.. I just wanna know how you guys got from the first paragraph to the last page

Fixed · 11-09-2006, 04:56 AM

just sit yo ass down and write, if it's so good why'd you just quit???

Pluie · 11-09-2006, 05:02 AM

I didn't just quit, but after that one paragraph, my head just stopped.. But yeah, I am going to set my ass down, and try and write.. My life has just been a little hectic for a while, maybe that's the problem..

journyman161 · 11-09-2006, 05:24 AM

One: how do you know it is good?
Two: what is it telling you?
Three: what story is it the first para to?

Now, tell the story. This involves writing & finding your way through to the last para in an interesting (to us) way.

Nobody can tell you more than this because you haven't shown us the 1st paragraph & so nobody knows if it is actually any good or not. You have all these ideas & conceptions inside your head that revolve around the para that might make it seem good to you but now it's time to put up or put up the shutters.

Risk it on WF & see if anyone else thinks it is any good

Mike C · 11-09-2006, 07:25 AM

Set it aside and write something else.

Pluie · 11-09-2006, 07:27 AM

Sure.. I can post the first paragraph.. Where do I do that? Here or.. in another thread?

Emerson Darkness · 11-09-2006, 07:41 AM

forget your first paragraph. Time to move on with the writing. A paragraph is nothing if it leaves things unfinished.

i think you should sit down and try to figure out what it is your writing is about. Writing will come easier that way.

Don't get stuck on how good your first paragraph is, and give it all the credit, when it isn't giving you anyhting in return.

chances are before you are half finished you will make several alterations to the first paragraph.

mammamaia · 11-09-2006, 10:02 AM

a paragraph isn't a 'story' or a 'plot'... to write beyond that first one, you have to have the other... if you didn't have a story/plot in mind, when you wrote that paragraph, where did it come from and why did you write it?...

writers mostly start with a story idea or even a full-fledged plot that comes to them, from wherever that stuff comes to us... if you just had what you thought was a nifty 'paragraph' in your head, and nowhere for it to go, then do what mike said and put it aside till you have a story/plot it will fit into...

in the meantime, focus on coming up with story ideas, not just pretty paragraphs... as for inspiration, this is the second time what i wrote in another thread this morning seems fitting, so i'll paste it here, too:

Quote:

no matter how dull your own life is, things to inspire a writer are all around you!

get out of yourself and start looking at everyone and everything else... read the paper every day... watch the news every day... surf the net and google for sites and blogs on subjects that interest you... go out and watch people in the mall, on the street, at church, wherever you can go on foot or by car, bus, train...

i just can't understand anyone who says they want to be a writer saying they're lacking inspiration... imo, all they are really lacking is the second part of your dual 'lack'... desire!

if you really want to write, have to write, then your only complaint would be having too much inspiration...

love and hugs, maia