Five chapters in and need cheerleaders...

[faithinthesound]

I'm five chapters into writing a book and I feel like I need guidance and cheerleading to keep going lol. I have such vivid ideas in my head but I'm struggling a bit with getting them down. I think my writing is the most fluid when I'm writing a scene that has a point... the joining stuff, the transitions, the exposition, is what I'm struggling.

Oh, and I think I'm better at dialogue than at action lol.

Mostly just looking for a hand hold and commiseration, rather than specific critique? Need somewhere to be able to talk about it, I think.

Hi faithinthesound See my post in the 'I'm Writing a Book' thread as I don't want to repeat myself here but I'll hold your hand hunny. Congratulations on stating your goal out loud! Something I tend to do is just write down anything and everything that comes to mind - scenes, ideas, plots, dialogue (even if I don't have characters to speak it yet) - whatever comes to mind is material to drawn on through the journey. Keep a notebook handy - keep several - in pocket, in bag, by the bed - all to capture ideas and inspiration. Have you ever used character creation sheets, where you draft out who your character is/how they think and behave/personality traits, etc? Keep coming back here and connecting...we all need encouragement and it can be all too easy, when you feel the need to write but are stuck and don't know which direction to take, to then feel that you have nothing to offer after all and it's all just a pipedream. I believe if it's in there, it has to and will come out. And there are all kinds and styles of writing. Do you keep or have you ever kept a journal? That can be a really helpful resource. Best of luck to you. I'm watching this thread with interest x

I'm using Scrivener, which means that all the notebooks and scraps of paper are basically contained within. It's an unwieldy behemoth at first glance but actually, it's a writer's dream once you get started, in my opinion, at any rate.

I have characters sort of... skeletoned out (as opposed to fleshed out haha), and I know roughly what each of their arcs is going to be.

You've just sparked me into knowing what I need to do next though - sketch out the trajectory of the actual plot. When I began I had a rough idea of what I wanted them to do. Now I've got them on the path, but I am painfully aware that the path can't just be linear with various monsters etc jumping out at them periodically.

Oh lord, I'm going to have to flesh out a plan, aren't I?? lol

You don't need to make a detailed plan if that doesn't suit you. For me, I like to know the shape of the story before I start although I don't bother with lots of detail. I use Scrivener and have the Inspector open on the RHS and use the little synopsis box in the corner to note down what needs to happen. I also have friends who write first drafts without any plan and then do a lot of major surgery on their second drafts. And one friend does her plotting on an Excel spreadsheet to a level of detail that would take away all the fun of actually writing for me.

Finding out what works for you is important. It sounds to me that you're drifting a little and that getting a 1500ish word outline of the story might be helpful as a way of just making sure that it all hangs together.