Thread: Needing a little help.

I'm starting a new book, well really I'm having trouble starting a new book. I know exactlywhat it is going to be about and allthe characters but when I was going to start writing I went blank. It is an apocolypitic book and I am not sure If I should start and the end and have the main character telling her story or if I should just start at the beginning. I'm also not sure if it should be first person or third person. I'm definately stuck. If you have any ideas it would be much obliged.

There are already a couple of discussions on this forum for the two points you've raised - whether to start at the beginning or end, and whether to write in the first or third person. These might give you some ideas.

Other than that, try experimenting and writing the opening chapter in the different ways you have said and see which you prefer.

Just start writing. Rearrange/delete/edit later.

If the character is telling the story, then you know they survive...so that rules out that aspect. On a personal note, I think frames or overused too often. TV has gotten bad about using frames, I guess the writers don't have enough confidence the story is strong enough from the beginning... If you are going to use a frame, figure out what it will give you, and if you really need it. Start at the beginning and write till the end.

If you don't have a reason to do first, do third, it's easier to write. If you decide you need another pov character later, then third makes it easy to do so, first does not.

Originally Posted by Lord Darkstorm

If the character is telling the story, then you know they survive...so that rules out that aspect. On a personal note, I think frames or overused too often. TV has gotten bad about using frames, I guess the writers don't have enough confidence the story is strong enough from the beginning... If you are going to use a frame, figure out what it will give you, and if you really need it. Start at the beginning and write till the end.

If you don't have a reason to do first, do third, it's easier to write. If you decide you need another pov character later, then third makes it easy to do so, first does not.

Unless they die after telling the story (in the middle of a nuclear war, etc), or the story eventually leads up to the current time in which they die...if that makes sense...

Yes, and it is more often than not done in a cheap cheesy way that is unnecessary. Too often stories use gimmicks to try and convince the reader they should read the story...shame that good writing isn't considered enough anymore. There are some stories that do use frames for the right purposes, but if you don't know why you are doing it...maybe you shouldn't be?

Originally Posted by Lord Darkstorm

Yes, and it is more often than not done in a cheap cheesy way that is unnecessary. Too often stories use gimmicks to try and convince the reader they should read the story...shame that good writing isn't considered enough anymore...

Ah, yes. The "Instant Gratification" society we live in. It's as if everyone has ADHD, and must be stimulated with crass, obvious 'hooks' lest they be tempted to pick up their smartphone and resume Tweeting.

'730, just write in a way that makes sense to YOU. After you're done, solicit advice from us, if you feel like it. I'm personally sick of the 'cookie cutter' conformity now expected of authors to become commercially successful.
Your work is a piece of art in your head. Your job is to coax it out. No one here can grab your hand and put the brush to canvass. How you do it is a personal choice.
Don't get me wrong. There is nothing wrong with conformity, if that is what you truly are. However, linear story telling (front to back, back to front) can be limiting. I would only suggest that you consider alternatives. For another direction, review Kurt Vonnegut's The Sirens of Titan and Slaughterhouse Five.

Best of luck.

Just curious, but is writing from the beginning and telling a story in the way it happened cookie cutter? While there are many effective and useful devices we can use in writing, to use things not understood is like pulling out explosives to kill a roach. It might work, but probably not needed, and could have many unexpected consequences. Many writers see or read things that seem cool, without a real understanding of why the author used it (and that is assuming the author did), and decide they would like to do it too. If we don't understand what we are doing, shouldn't the emphasis be placed upon learning why to do things over do first and question later? My point is if we desire to write for others, shouldn't we do the readers a favor and figure out the elements of story writing prior to using them at random hoping for something good?

Just wondering if actually learning good writing is now a bad thing....

For first or third person option, you just need to decide. There's a couple of excellent threads on this here.
As for the rest, you can begin with writing a 500 summary that 'says it all'. And follow by synopsis of each chapter, until you finish the story with the last chapter. Then start writing! You can edit, change or modify along the way. There's really no perfect start and enjoy writing along the way.

My advice is to write different scenes out while you're figuring where to start. Write some in first person and some in third person, then decide which you like better. Finally, once you have a pretty decent setting and idea of where everything fits together, pick a point and call it the beginning. It doesn't matter if you change that later on; what matters is that you've begun writing.

Originally Posted by Lord Darkstorm

If the character is telling the story, then you know they survive...so that rules out that aspect.

Or not! How better to spring a protagonist's death on the unsuspecting reader than to have the first-person narrator die midway through?

Or not! How better to spring a protagonist's death on the unsuspecting reader than to have the first-person narrator die midway through?

Very possible, and if mishandled you could loose a reader. Lost readers may never bother again. I believe the concept is that you can break any rule you want, as long as you are willing to deal with the consequences. My point is that using tools you don't really understand means you can't properly deal with the consequences of those choices, which leaves a large amount of room for failure.

I'm sure there have been many trends in writing over the decades, but I've read quite a few early scifi and fantasy books that have varied in age...some over half a century old. There are a majority of them I've read that started at the beginning and told the story to the end. Some used frames, some used other strange ideas for telling the story, but I do know more of the books I put down were ones that were too boring to keep my attention. I doubt a frame, or any other trick would have made a difference. If the story isn't one the reader is willing to read, they won't read it. The more you try and do unique things, the more opportunity to push the reader away. It isn't that it can't be done, any can be done. Should it be done? That is the question, and along with it, why are you doing it that way. If you don't know, then why not just tell the story and see if people like it. Learning about writing is a process, and if you can't tell a good story to start with, then nothing else you do will fix the base issue.